Toss 'n fly

[pogopilot]

Ok so I would not be surprised if someone has tried this but I guess I am interested in knowing if this would work from a theoretical point of view. Do you think you could start the engines of the MP, toss it in the air, and then hit the left stick up to have the bird stabilize and gain altitude? After reading the (now infamous) incident on this blog of the guy who dropped his buddie's MP into the San Francisco bay, I was wondering if this is possible. Now I can do hand launches perfectly fine but I can think of a few instances where being able to toss the MP and then initiate flight in mid toss could be helpful.

 

[joet]

Even if it is possible - and I suspect that it is - why would you take that risk?

Seems like a stunt that should be coupled with "someone hold my beer"...

 

[halley]

There have been drone demonstrations with exactly this kind of agility. They either use a much better IMU, or they use external ground-based computing to orient and plan a recovery. Small consumer IMUs usually have very low angle-per-second maximums after which they simply give up and can't describe the rotational orientation.

 

[_milo_]

I used to do this with a $60 toy quad (V222), I wouldn't try it with the Mavic.

 

[Anthony Viscomi]

Please post video when attempted

 

[joet]

I used to do this with a $60 toy quad (V222), I wouldn't try it with the Mavic.

Those props would hurt just as bad, no?

 

[_milo_]

Those props would hurt just as bad, no?

No there brushed motors, the only danger from the V222 is if it struck you directly in the eye, it was popular toy quad in 2014, theres a ton of better options now.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Ok so I would not be surprised if someone has tried this but I guess I am interested in knowing if this would work from a theoretical point of view. Do you think you could start the engines of the MP, toss it in the air, and then hit the left stick up to have the bird stabilize and gain altitude? After reading the (now infamous) incident on this blog of the guy who dropped his buddie's MP into the San Francisco bay, I was wondering if this is possible. Now I can do hand launches perfectly fine but I can think of a few instances where being able to toss the MP and then initiate flight in mid toss could be helpful.

Please test and report back.

There exist "selfie" drones with exactly this designed in capability.

From the manual for Mavic Pro it is clear that it isn't even really supposed to be hand launched or recovered. (I recognize that hand launch and capture may be required in some situations such as on a boat).

Further, it seems to me that people who report erratic behaviour of their drone post launch are those who take a variety of shortcuts in starting and launching their drones even from solid ground.

WARNING: Preachiness ahead:
My golden rules for launching the MP (after a series of preflight checks) include never launching before the GPS has locked. Which of course means that the IMU has had plenty of (level ground) time to initialize.

 

[Qoncussion]

I think that a hand-tossed MP would fly!... straight to the scene of the accident

 

[Wombat55]

Please test and report back.

There exist "selfie" drones with exactly this designed in capability.

From the manual for Mavic Pro it is clear that it isn't even really supposed to be hand launched or recovered.

Fortunately, the manual doesn't say anything against steam catapult launchers so my project still has a green light.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Fortunately, the manual doesn't say anything against steam catapult launchers so my project still has a green light.

I look forward to the video.

 

[tcope]

... but I can think of a few instances where being able to toss the MP and then initiate flight in mid toss could be helpful.

Care to name a few?

 

[dangerm0us]

Care to name a few?

Yep. Filming your own cliff jump.

Or, using the Mavic to help you safely land if you forgot to pack your parachute.

 

[DoingOK]

Ok.....these responses are hilarious.

 

[Anthony Viscomi]

Ok.....these responses are hilarious.

I wouldn't have have expected anything less with a CLASSIC thread topic like this.

 

[pogopilot]

Care to name a few?

I am staying in a condo on the 4th floor. There really is not enough room to safely launch by hand. Maybe tossing it out to the side would allow me to launch. Look, this was more a theoretical question (as mentioned in my original post) to see if it could do what Lily Camera claimed could do but of course never did,

 

[Drone Master]

It would have been cool if DJI incorporated this function into to the Mavic like the Lilly drone. Which is not anymore. Either way a scary thought if it goes wrong. Definitely would like to see the video of course.
It's either toss and fly or toss and cry,, lol...

 

[Kilrah]

There really is not enough room to safely launch by hand.

Then you can't land either, so it doesn't matter

In theory every multicopter can do this - in practice it requires the flight controller to have specific programming to handle this case gracefully, and the Mavic's quite obviously doesn't.

 

[Mustaine4prez]

Tempted to try this since it seems to be the one thing that hasn't been done so far...

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Tempted to try this since it seems to be the one thing that hasn't been done so far...

What has been done is in flight CSC shutdown and restart. Search You Tube.