Return to Home (RTH) is Hovermap's autonomous behavior for bringing the drone back to a safe location during a Pilot Assist or Autonomous mission. Rather than flying in a straight line to a recorded home point and descending there, Hovermap retraces the route it has already flown and mapped, so it returns through known space. This article explains how Return to Home works, how to start it, when Hovermap triggers it automatically, and how to take back manual control.
How Return to Home works
Hovermap follows the trail it has already explored back to home. This keeps the drone on a route it has already navigated safely, which matters underground and in other confined spaces where a direct route home cannot be assumed to be clear.
When Return to Home runs:
The status bar shows Running – Going Home.
A purple line appears in the 3D view, showing the retrace path.
The path may not be the shortest route back, because it follows the previously explored safe route rather than a direct line.
Once Return to Home is triggered, Hovermap holds its position for 10 seconds before it begins retracing its path. The drone does not move during this time. This is expected behavior, not a fault, and the pause gives you an opportunity to abort before the retrace starts. The hold applies whether you started the return yourself in Commander or a failsafe initiated it.
The Lidar Data Integrity failsafe is the exception. It begins the retrace immediately, so that the drone leaves the affected atmospheric conditions without delay.
The drone returns to the Home point (the location the flight started from) or, if one is set, the Rally point. When it reaches that location, it rotates to face the direction the scan originated from.
Start Return to Home
Start Return to Home when the drone is airborne in a Pilot Assist or Autonomous mission and you want to bring it back. Tap Return Home in Commander, then confirm the action when prompted. For the return and landing steps in the context of the full mission workflow, refer to How to perform a mission (Mapping & Autonomy).
What to expect once the return starts:
An audio message plays and the status bar shows Running – Going Home.
A purple line appears in the 3D view, showing the retrace path.
The drone holds position for 10 seconds, then begins retracing its path.
An audio message plays when the drone reaches home, and it rotates to face the direction the scan originated from.
Land the drone from Commander once it has returned. Commander disarms it automatically after landing.
Landing manually with the remote control is a backup for experienced pilots only, for use if landing from Commander is unavailable. For the procedure, refer to step 11 of How to perform a mission (Mapping & Autonomy).
When Return to Home happens automatically
Most operational failsafes end in a Return to Home. Only one failsafe can be active at a time: Hovermap acts on the single most urgent condition and shows it in the Active Failsafe area in Commander.
The failsafes that initiate a Return to Home are:
Battery Low
Path Planner Stuck (Heavy Dust)
Lidar Data Integrity
State Estimation Degraded
GCS Link Loss
RC Link Loss
Data Storage Critical
Each failsafe has its own trigger conditions, priority, recommended operator action, and abort behavior. For those details, and for the failsafes that land the drone instead of returning it home, refer to Operational Failsafes.
Abort Return to Home or take manual control
You can stop a Return to Home and fly the drone yourself. There are two ways to abort:
In Commander, tap Abort on the active failsafe.
Double-toggle the flight mode switch: move it out of Hovermap mode and back into Hovermap mode twice, returning it to the Hovermap position. This aborts the return and leaves the drone in Hovermap mode. It is not the same as leaving the switch out of Hovermap mode, which hands full control to the drone and is an emergency procedure.
You can also tap Pilot Assist to take manual control with Shield active. Note that switching to Pilot Assist erases the Rally point if one is set, so a later Return to Home goes to the Home point instead. Refer to How to perform a mission (Mapping & Autonomy) for how rally points are set and used.
Where there is a 10-second hold, you can abort during it, before the retrace begins. You can also abort at any point during the retrace itself.
Individual failsafes behave differently after you abort them. Some do not trigger again for the rest of the flight, and some self-abort without your input. Check the behavior for the failsafe you are dealing with in Operational Failsafes.
Related articles
Operational Failsafes: the full failsafe reference, including priorities and operator actions.
How to perform a mission (Mapping & Autonomy): the end-to-end mission workflow, including Return to Home and landing.
Loss of tablet control: switching to Pilot Assist and landing after losing the tablet connection.
Critical error or erratic drone behavior: taking direct control of the drone in an emergency.
Shield: how collision avoidance behaves, and what changes when you disable it.