Grab by hand while hovering as a way of landing

[lomposlapos]

What's the best practice and settings to hand catch the M3 by grabbing it with fingers while hovering front of me?

This works excellent with M2Pro with landing protection disabled.

However, disabling landing protection doesn't seem to be option for M3 (is this correct?). The "usual" M3 hand catch by descending to the palm is not an ideal option in several situations like on a boat, high wind, night, etc.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I would suggest that literally "grabbing" the hovering drone IS NOT the best thing to do as a routine method of hand catching. It will almost certainly lead to the drone fighting you.

How I hand catch is to bring the drone over my hand and then close the throttle, the drone will descend, detect my hand, pause for a moment and then descend into / onto my hand. With the Mini 1 & 2 and M2P/Z I slightly cup my fingers so the drone descends into the 'cup'.
If your hand is still and you continue to hold the throttle closed the motors will stop once the drone is on your hand or, in my case, in the 'cup'.
I do not have a Mavic 3 so I do not know if there is the 'space' to cup fingers.

 

[lomposlapos]

bring the drone over my hand and then close the throttle, the drone will descend, detect my hand, pause for a moment and then descend into / onto my hand

This is exactly what I do NOT want to do.

Suggestions on hand-grab a hovering M3?

 

[MA2 317]

With my MA2, I use the same procedure as above except that I grasp the aircraft from underneath like holding a dart or paper airplane.

The thumb and finger grip is better for me (above the head) since I can't comfortably hold my hand flat above my head.

Something about rotating props near the arteries in my arms using the flat palm method spooks me.

.

 

[lomposlapos]

grasp the aircraft from underneath like holding a dart or paper airplane.

I do the same. Trying to figure out how to do this with M3. Grabbing the hovering aircraft like a paper plane.

 

[lomposlapos]

Grab like this:

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02:10 and 02:43
except the aircraft is hovering steady and no flip overs once grabbed.

How is he seemingly disabling landing protection?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I

his is exactly what I do NOT want to do.

Might I ask why?
The only time I grab is when it is too windy to lower it into my hand and once when I needed to get the drone out of the reach of an out of control dog.
I also think the snatch and twist method stresses the motors, arms and airframe so that should be kept for emergencies only e.g the dog situation.
I generally do not even have my arm fully extended though it would be more extended with an M2P than a Mini 1 or 2.

The guy in that video does make one VERY GOOD point that I have not seen raised before, don't launch from the front of a boat that is moving forward.

 

[Dale D]

I would suggest that literally "grabbing" the hovering drone IS NOT the best thing to do as a routine method of hand catching. It will almost certainly lead to the drone fighting you.

How I hand catch is to bring the drone over my hand and then close the throttle, the drone will descend, detect my hand, pause for a moment and then descend into / onto my hand. With the Mini 1 & 2 and M2P/Z I slightly cup my fingers so the drone descends into the 'cup'.
If your hand is still and you continue to hold the throttle closed the motors will stop once the drone is on your hand or, in my case, in the 'cup'.
I do not have a Mavic 3 so I do not know if there is the 'space' to cup fingers.

I would like to caution people that hand catching the M3 is fraught with a risk of severe finger and hand lacerations, bleeding, and danger to the face and eyes. I was a devoted and successful "hand catcher" of my beloved Mavic 2 Pro with 100% success rate. When I switched over to the M3 it was not so easy, and the drone fought me like hell. Finally, I had to hand catch it over a non-friendly landing area ((gravel and sand), and it really cut up my fingers. So now, Unless I can find a place for my "H" landing pad, I do not fly, and avoid hand catching ny M3.

Dale
Miami

 

[Sir Maxwell Greene]

For my situations, I almost always hand catch. I have found that the M3 is a lot more feisty with the hand catch landing at times, its for sure a bit different to others.

On occasion the M3 would seem like it does not see my outstretched hand and refuses to come down into my hand with the stick pulled all the way down, it just sits above...thinking- what we're used to is the drone pausing, then finally lowering into your hand.
The fix i found is to release the left stick, when it refuses, and then pull the stick down again. Sometimes you'll need to move your hand out of sight of the lower IR and then put it back before you pull down on the stick again.

 

[Dale D]

For my situations, I almost always hand catch. I have found that the M3 is a lot more feisty with the hand catch landing at times, its for sure a bit different to others.

On occasion the M3 would seem like it does not see my outstretched hand and refuses to come down into my hand with the stick pulled all the way down, it just sits above...thinking- what we're used to is the drone pausing, then finally lowering into your hand.
The fix i found is to release the left stick, when it refuses, and then pull the stick down again. Sometimes you'll need to move your hand out of sight of the lower IR and then put it back before you pull down on the stick again.

I would love to try your method but once you have your fingers sliced, and diced you sort of get very afraid. Those blades were powerful and there blood all over the place. Recall, I had hand caught my M2P hundreds of times without incident, but the Mavic 3 is extremely powerful. Now, I will not launch unless I have a safe landing place.

By the way, as an ophthalmologist, (retired) I still get my journals and corneal lacerations are a real risk!

Dale
Miami

 

[Aerialskape]

Grab like this:

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02:10 and 02:43
except the aircraft is hovering steady and no flip overs once grabbed.

How is he seemingly disabling landing protection?

I have Mavic 2 Zoom. I don’t need to disable landing protection. Once the message pops up just keep the ‘descend‘ command on and it will then continue the descent.

 

[JeffreyS]

Wear a pair of good quality (not thin) rubber gloves as an added measure of protection.

 

[Dale D]

I have Mavic 2 Zoom. I don’t need to disable landing protection. Once the message pops up just keep the ‘descend‘ command on and it will then continue the descent.

I watched your video like a hawk- the most important part of what I wanted to know was not shown! That was the LEFT hand on the RC. I had no clue what you were doing with the sticks. Would be great if you could re-do that video showing the hands on the RC simultaneously with the drone.

If you cannot re-do the video, can you just type in here right now what your fingers and sticks are doing during the launch and catch?

Dale

 

[Filmarik]

I personally hate the landing protection on this drone. Coming from flying RC helicopters and lately the Inspire2 I am perfectly comfortable flying in Atti and landing fully manually. I wish this landing protection was optional and possible to switch off. When the OAS is switched off it should be completely OFF, including the landing protection! It would also make hand catching a lot safer by being in full control rather than being at the mercy of the downward vision system making decision if the outstretched hand is a "suitable landing area" or not.

 

[Dale D]

I personally hate the landing protection on this drone. Coming from flying RC helicopters and lately the Inspire2 I am perfectly comfortable flying in Atti and landing fully manually. I wish this landing protection was optional and possible to switch off. When the OAS is switched off it should be completely OFF, including the landing protection! It would also make hand catching lot safer by being in full control rather than being at the mercy of the downward vision system making decision if the outstretched hand is a "suitable landing area" or not.

I probably should have taken an iPhone photo of my bloody hand and fingers and thumb but I was too concerned with the drone falling to the ground after my failed hand handing, and too much blood on the drone to reach in my pocket for the camera. It was quite painful for several days and put my hand out of commission for a day or two during my vacation. Not good.

 

[Filmarik]

Grab like this:

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02:10 and 02:43
except the aircraft is hovering steady and no flip overs once grabbed.

How is he seemingly disabling landing protection?

That is a very good question. When I put my hand underneath like he did the drone shoots up by itself...

I watched your video like a hawk- the most important part of what I wanted to know was not shown! That was the LEFT hand on the RC. I had no clue what you were doing with the sticks. Would be great if you could re-do that video showing the hands on the RC simultaneously with the drone.

If you cannot re-do the video, can you just type in here right now what your fingers and sticks are doing during the launch and catch?

Dale

I am sure that he just held the throttle stick down until the motors stoped. The motors will stop after about 3 seconds when the drone detects that it is "sitting on the ground" (not moving) and throttle stick is held down for 3 sec. As a matter of safe practice I would advise to wear protective goggles as a bare minimum when hand catching, especialy on a boat or on any moving platform. Rubberised garden glove would be a good additional protection too.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

I do this as a regular unless it's super windy.
With a lanyard, I can easily "land" the craft in my hand and props stop like normal. The controller hangs around my neck and I use two fingers to initiate the landing from the default stick position: Down and Inward towards each other.
The mini 2 I can land on my flattened-out palm but with the Mavic 3 I like to start with the open palm and then finger-tip grab the M3 on the southern hemisphere of the body since its so heavy. It's no problem and really increases the places I can fly from. Obviously, I take off out of my hand just as easily. +1
Yes, If I can take off and land from the ground, that's my first and safest choice.

No, Im not wearing garden gloves, safety glasses or even a helmet which Im sure is the next "advice" given. YOLO lol

 

[Filmarik]

I do this as a regular unless it's super windy.
With a lanyard, I can easily "land" the craft in my hand and props stop like normal. The controller hangs around my neck and I use two fingers to initiate the landing from the default stick position: Down and Inward towards each other.
The mini 2 I can land on my flattened-out palm but with the Mavic 3 I like to start with the open palm and then finger-tip grab the M3 on the southern hemisphere of the body since its so heavy. It's no problem and really increases the places I can fly from. Obviously, I take off out of my hand just as easily. +1
Yes, If I can take off and land from the ground, that's my first and safest choice.

No, Im not wearing garden gloves, safety glasses or even a helmet which Im sure is the next "advice" given. YOLO lol

This is not a loughing matter. We get too complacent around these things. Let's not forget for a second that we are dealing with razor sharp fast spinning objects close to our body, face and most importantly eyes. Materials do fail for myriad of reasons and if the drone makes sudden move due to systems error or prop disintegrates for what ever reason while hand catching or taking off from outstretched hand in front of your face, you might be very sorry one day for not following a very basic safety precautions. But to each his own...

 

[Bob in Savannah]

This is not a loughing matter. We get complacent and unconditionally trusting with these things. Let's not forget that we are dealing with razor sharp fast spinning objects close to our body, face and most importantly eyes. Materials do fail for myriad of reasons and if the drone makes sudden move due to systems error or prop disintegrates for what ever reason while hand catching or taking off from outstretched hand in front of your face, you might be very sorry one day for not following a very basic safety precautions. But to each his own...

You are correct, sir. Im not laughing about that.

Im laughing that there is NO END to protecting yourself. Why not wear a helmet if youre already using gloves and goggles to fly a drone? Seems like the next logical step with that kind of thought.

I would like to know the number of eye injuries of operating a drone, btw. How many people are actually using GOGGLES to fly their drone. I would think maybe one out of a Million users maybe? certainly close.

No. I think youre being a little over the top. If you can't hand catch a drone without gloves, then I doubt you should be attempting such a thing to begin with. It would seem, dexterously speaking, that gloves would inhibit your ability to hand catch, anyway.

 

[MS Coast]

"Grab" and "drone fighting me" come up often in these discussions. When I hand catch a drone, I try to fly it down to my motionless hand and close my fingers around it, securely but not a grab. If the drone tries to climb, I know that I've moved my hand.

It's not a capture or a grab. It's a matter of fooling the drone into thinking that it's landing on the "ground" when it's descending over your hand. Flat hand - bigger target. Close your fingers on it after contact.