okay so this was a bit of a wake up call. was on a trip visiting family in scotland, took the drone out to this massive open loch area, beautiful day, hardly any wind. felt super confident because ive been flying for like two years now. thing is i usually fly at home where i know every landmark and can orient myself pretty easily

got the drone out maybe 400 meters and just completely lost track of which way it was facing. the water was reflecting the sky and everything looked the same in every direction on the screen. started overcorrecting, drone started drifting toward the water and i panicked a bit before hitting return to home. it came back fine but my heart was going for a while there. thought i knew what i was doing but flying somewhere totally new is just different

ugh this exact thing happened to me over a beach in portugal. uniform sand and water everywhere and i just lost all spatial reference. RTH saved me too. i now always make sure to note a distinctive landmark near my takeoff before i even lift off, something weird shaped or coloured that stands out on the feed. helps alot when everything else looks the same

yeah unfamiliar locations are genuinely harder than people think. its not just the airspace rules and the new surroundings, your brain doesnt have the same mental map it does at your home spot. i fly way more conservatively the first time anywhere new now, shorter distances, lower altitude, just getting a feel for it before pushing out further