Out with the baby (Mavic Air 2) for the 2nd time. Flew towards a treeline and then turned around. Thought to myself, “just turn around until you can see yourself” but it was a little too low and too far away. Finally figured out to gain some elevation and look for landmarks to orient myself to return. I’m sure it’s a noob problem but is there a method that you all used to find your way back if you don’t want to auto return?
Yes and it’s a simple one. Don’t let it out of your sight.
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6ft bamboo pole and a large orange flag?
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It wasn’t out of sight at all. It was more that I couldn’t work out the direction it was facing. I think more practice is in order.
I am a newbie so perhaps others can comment more authoritatively. Why not rotate the UAV so the pointer representing the drone in the map points either to the track travelled so you can reverse it or points at you (the blue dot), if the path travelled is not a straight line. This way chances are you will get back to an area near you.
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I also thought about a giant banner with an arrow that said “You’re right here, stupid!” 
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that’s an excellent idea. I think more practice and a greater understanding of the screen and how to use those tools would do me a world of good.
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never really had an issue, you know where you are standing so just look for something nearby that stands out, may be a tree, a bulding, a road a river. Hell if you are over a lake head for a shore and because you can see the drone you know which shore its headed to so turn using that.
Sorry, my mistake. You said it was too low so you couldn’t see it. Easiest thing for this is to look on your map view. Your location is marked with “H” and the orientation of the drone is shown with an arrow. Your flight path is also marked with a line so if you’ve gone straight out you can always just fly back along that line. Tapping the map on your screen will make it full screen for ease.
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i have never actually tried that, or is that just a DJI thing?
I don’t know if it’s just DJI to be honest. It was on my Air, Zoom and M2P so I assume it’s on all DJI.
Will have to try it with the parrot, I usually just fly with its normal camera view, though i have tried the flight plan a couple of times, i really need to play with that more
I’ve found it useful a number of times. Parallax can make judging distances tough so it’s handy to know if you’re about to cross over something that you shouldn’t
I knew this was about practice and understanding the tools that are provided. thank you guys for the responses.
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Not just a DJI thing, but available on most off the shelf GPS drones that have a map option. Arducopter has a really neat feature known as Smart Return to Home, whereby when initiated the drone will follow its outgoing flight path in reverse. Doing this it will match all attitude changes, speed changes, and altitude changes. It’s quite eerie watching your drone navigate around trees and other obstacles all by itself.
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Bit like me returning to ship after a run ashore (in my misspent youth)
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If you can actually see the drone then there is a method I sometimes use that I learned on my PFCO for finding the orientation of the drone. Just move the drone forward while also turning one way until it appears to be moving closer. Eg. if it was facing away from you as you do this the drone will turn and then be moving from left to right and then just keep going til it’s facing you. Obviously make sure there are no obstacles nearby if doing this. It’s not perfect but it’s worked for me a few times.
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Point and shoot
Bottom left corner of the screen, aim the arrow at you (the H) and come home.
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Doh! 
