Bottom hanging lanyard Drone Retrieval off the deck of a sailboat!!??

[Geekser]

And a helmet with a face guard - hand grabbing a flying drone, from a moving boat- good lord, so many things could go wrong...ouch!

 

[jamesj]

Thanks all for the great information that is posted on this forum! After having tried a number of cheap drones I realized that I needed a good one to really have a good experience so I just purchased a Mavic Air 2 and absolutely love flying it. Anyway my plans are, once I get comfortable with flying it is to launch and retrieve from our sailboat. I single hand so that compounds the problem. There are lots of videos on about launching and retrieving. The launching part does not seem to be too difficult. The retrieval however is the challenge! I saw one video where the guy tied a lanyard to the drone that hung down 24-36" from the bottom and as the drone got close to the boat he reached up and grabbed the lanyard to haul it in (while shutting it down). I thought this method looked attractive and helped alleviate the problem of boat movement during retrieval. I searched this forum for anyone who might have used this same method and unfortunately I did not find any postings about anyone doing this. So my question is has anyone used this method of retrieval? What are the negatives or reasons this might not be a good method? Is it a bad idea and if so why! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[jamesj]

Hi, I’ve done some launching and retrieving on a sailboat and here are my thoughts. I have both a mavic 2 pro and a mavic mini. The mini is pretty easy to get underneath and grab for retrieval. Flip it over and it goes quiet. You need to be at the stern of the boat and fly it in a few feet higher and drop it down so you can grab it. At anchor, alone simple enough . On auto pilot , alone on a moving boat , I wouldn’t try it.
Mavic 2 pro ..... to catch it you have to turn off the bottom sensors. It’s heavier and it’s not easy. I bought an aftermarket handle that Velcro’s around the body , you can hold it and launch from your hand and grab it when the drone returns. It’s not a bad option. My fav option is the legs that air raptor sells , they are digitally printed and give the drone landing rails like the phantom has ( which is the one thing I miss most about my original drone a phantom) they also have a pair of floats that can be added to the rails for landing and taking off from the water. ( these floats are pool noodles that are about a foot long and have digitally printed sockets added) I prefer catching the drone with just the rails as handles hanging beneath the drone. I don’t know if they make them for the mavic air.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Gordon Bennett JamesJ, are those skids $86 by any chance? I wonder what the chuffing mark up is on that?
The 'skids' I got for the mini were £9.61 for two sets including postage and they came from China!!!!

 

[jamesj]

I got a 20 dollar pair for my mini from China also. The air raptor ones are made in America and really robust compared to the ones from China . I’ll find the link and post it here

 

[jamesj]

Gordon Bennett JamesJ, are those skids $86 by any chance? I wonder what the chuffing mark up is on that?
The 'skids' I got for the mini were £9.61 for two sets including postage and they came from China!!!!

These skids and floats are made by irepairmd.com and I see they have a new item , skids for a mavic air !!

 

[Meta4]

in just the same way as a two handed pilot has to learn how to use the controller.
That said, I believe there are joysticks designed for use by one handed people

Why are you imagining that the OP looks like this?
He hasn't said anything to suggest it.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I mean no offense but for me they'd nearly need to be gold plated at $86. The mini one's I have are perfectly adequate for the drone they serve and in fact I have been drilling and filing holes in one set to reduce their weight, I have had payload warnings with them as supplied.

Your last post offers another option for the OP that might serve in fair weather and calmish seas, a water landing?


Ooops Meta 4 seeked in, in between my post and the one it was intended to be a response to

 

[Meta4]

in just the same way as a two handed pilot has to learn how to use the controller.
That said, I believe there are joysticks designed for use by one handed people

This might help you:

Single-handed sailing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Uuuum, what then is the meaning of " I single hand so that compounds the problem. " ?
I took it to mean the OP has only one hand. If am am mistaken they have my apologises.

 

[Meta4]

Uuuum, what then is the meaning of " I single hand so that compounds the problem. " ?
I took it to mean the OP has only one hand. If am am mistaken they have my apologises.

Read the wikipedia link and it should clear up the confusion.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Ahh the term "single handed" I am familiar with but the term "single hand" in the context of sailing I am not familiar with, other than in general usage and being applicable to having only one hand.

Oh well, my posts had good intentions if nothing else

 

[minoe]

Heave her to and it should be an easy catch.
I was thinking of using a large fish landing net
to catch drones like butterflies from my sailboat.

 

[Lets Fly]

Thanks all for the great information that is posted on this forum! After having tried a number of cheap drones I realized that I needed a good one to really have a good experience so I just purchased a Mavic Air 2 and absolutely love flying it. Anyway my plans are, once I get comfortable with flying it is to launch and retrieve from our sailboat. I single hand so that compounds the problem. There are lots of videos on about launching and retrieving. The launching part does not seem to be too difficult. The retrieval however is the challenge! I saw one video where the guy tied a lanyard to the drone that hung down 24-36" from the bottom and as the drone got close to the boat he reached up and grabbed the lanyard to haul it in (while shutting it down). I thought this method looked attractive and helped alleviate the problem of boat movement during retrieval. I searched this forum for anyone who might have used this same method and unfortunately I did not find any postings about anyone doing this. So my question is has anyone used this method of retrieval? What are the negatives or reasons this might not be a good method? Is it a bad idea and if so why! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Simply a bad idea, and check out the sites with the cut fingers from hand catching.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Not sure about the idea, seems like there is a lot that could go wrong with that. There are a lot of ways to go about landing on a boat. Such as hand catch with landing gear extensions.

 

[AMRE2ME2]

Prop guards a must, gloves and a set of double D balls. How about a strap around the body of the drone with a rigid thin pole hanging down a foot or two. Then once you grab it, simply turn it sideways to shut off the motors. Easy Peasey! Video is a must!

 

[BigAl07]

Simply a bad idea, and check out the sites with the cut fingers from hand catching.

Hand Catching causes very few cuts or at least I've not seen many (actually I've not seen any) from just hand catching.

While there are tons of "UAS finger laceration" pics on the new they are usually:

A) Much larger/stronger UAS than our Mavic aircraft
B) from idiots grabbing the UAS that know nothing about the aircraft let alone the props

Many of us hand-catch almost every flight with no lacerations even when catching heavy lifters and HEX units.

 

[Alex Baxter]

Not sure about pool noodles, at any cost.. How do you retrieve the drone, assuming it's not overturned by the waves?

 

[KurtpH]

Have a watch of this!

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Whoa! That doesn’t look sketchy at all. Not.

 

[BigAl07]

Have a watch of this!

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I'd say they've practiced that a LOT and most likely lost a couple of UAS in the process. Keep in mind that's a big $$ sport so the cost of a few drones isn't a factor at all to get the shots for their marketing program. Cost of doing business