Do you hand catch your drone?

[NorbertG59]

I do hand catch or launch most of the times but on windy conditions I always avoid!!
Once practiced a few times it becomes natural but still with caution.

 

[mmcphee]

Thanks Russ for your clear and concise delivery that’s not so fast that I manage to keep up with your instructions.
I always seem to end up on rocky outcrops so hand launching and retrieval is a necessity. Will practice your pinching grasp to alleviate my paranoia of missing finger nails.
Never have I landed my M3 in snow, a rare event here in Western Australia, is landing in snow even possible?

 

[rwilliam99]

Thanks Russ for your clear and concise delivery that’s not so fast that I manage to keep up with your instructions.
I always seem to end up on rocky outcrops so hand launching and retrieval is a necessity. Will practice your pinching grasp to alleviate my paranoia of missing finger nails.
Never have I landed my M3 in snow, a rare event here in Western Australia, is landing in snow even possible?

I've landed in snow twice with my mini.

 

[djwak59]

This video looks to be resonating with some, so I thought I would share here. I’m surprised more people don’t hand catch!

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Probably if anything, I remember from my first days flying a drone was to NEVER hand launch or catch my drone.
Now, what I HAVE done is to grab the bottom while it’s in GPS hover over the launch pad to “test” the strength of the GPS lock. And I don’t do that all the time. It was more in the past whenever I’d buy a new drone.
Be safe and common sense.

 

[twickers14]

Launch / Land with the hand.

Started with a Spark and now a Mavic Air 2.

I don't spin the aircraft over to kill the motors after a flight.

That's an accident waiting to happen.

It's much easier to hold the left stick down for a couple of seconds while holding the aircraft.

.

Hey MA2 317. Was going to ask how to stop the props-of course left stick down, I do it all the time when testing things indoors after an update. Like you I tried it with my Spark a while ago and promptly took a chunk out of my right index finger. Might be easier with my MA2 and will try it but pretty much always take my H Pad to take off and land-much safer!

 

[TonyPHX]

Hand catching is ridiculous and not worth it.

 

[Yaros]

I always hand launch and catch except if there is wind. In wind, I only hand launch, because catching is not safe as the drone can move and cut you.

 

[peterc4]

Yes 90% of the time

 

[peterc4]

Hand catching is ridiculous and not worth it.

How can you say that what if you get to your location and there is no way for a take off do you leave

 

[jambros3]

I have a mini 2 and when I go practice, it’s in a gassing field where debris can get into the. Rotors. So I have launched from my hand and gently grasp my drone with my first 3 fingers to land. It’s become 2nd nature to do it now.

 

[GFields]

Although it is not suggested or recommended, hand launching/landing is sometimes necessary. However, I'm one that prefers to use the ground for that

 

[Anthony Ivory]

It really depends on where I am at. If I am in a place that doesn't have suitable landing or I went off and forgot my landing pad. So, about half the time.

Leave an extra launching pad in your vehicle

 

[Ty Pilot]

I hand launch/recover a lot, and have done so for a long time with many different drones. As others have said it is almost always due to not having an acceptable surface location.

I think the one thing missing in the video in regards to hand launch and recovery is; to at least describe the things that can go wrong and what to do when they happen and importantly, what not to do. There are pilots that may find themselves having a drone spool to full throttle while in their hand and if you don't know why, or what to do in those types of situations, they can panic and get hurt.

For this reason I would not recommend hand launch/recovery to new or inexperienced pilots without a deeper explanation.

 

[TonyPHX]

How can you say that what if you get to your location and there is no way for a take off do you leave

I have never had to do a flight and not been able to find a small area for a drone to take off and land from. I can see having to do it from a boat, but everywhere else? nah.

 

[Dale D]

This video looks to be resonating with some, so I thought I would share here. I’m surprised more people don’t hand catch!

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Russ:

Love your stuff (teaching, videos, and channel).

I was a regular hand catcher and caught my M2P and Mini 2 many times. In fact, I almost 100% of the time did a hand catch.

Then I switched to the M3 and after a few hand catches with a fighting struggling drone, I got cut up pretty bad on thumb and two fingers. Now, I try to take off and land from a flat surface if available and only rarely do I attempt hand catch. It would have to be an absolute necessity for me such on a steep slop or narrow space to hand catch. Once cut up, you are very gun-shy.

Dale
Miami

 

[Deleted member 170519]

Leave an extra launching pad in your vehicle

Nah. Hand launch and catch works for me.

 

[AlanL]

I hand catch for landings all the time unless it's windy. I have been using the technique Russ describes all along. Hand launching depends mostly on where I am flying and the local wind conditions.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Hand launch and hand catch with both Mavic 2 and mini 3pro. Something I've ended up always doing since watching a brand new mav.2 do the garden strimmer back-flip because of long grass and uneven terrain.

 

[WobblingWillie]

Almost always hand launch and land with every done except my P3 Std.

 

[spsphotos]

I've only hand-launched a few times. I tend to hand catch most times, especially if there is no hard clean surface to land on. It seems scary at first till you realize that the drone will stop about a meter above your hand, hover then come down very slowly. One thing you should NOT do that I see many people do is flip it to shut it off. While this work...most times...on rare occasions, it does not. And that puts an unnecessary strain on the drone props and motors.