Hand catch on a moving ship

[Gringorio]

When the ship is moving, in this case about 9 knots or around 10 mph, a crew member will catch the drone after each survey flight. My technique is to parallel the ship with the drone and match the ships' speed, then while flying forward slowly bring the drone in for the hand catch. On this day it was a very calm sea so there was little pitching or rolling of the ship to worry about when coming in. The crew member who caught the drone declined the safety glove. The magnetic interference I've addressed in a different post.

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[Deleted member 137163]

I have been flying for 37 years. I have never "hand propped" a manned aircraft nor have I performed a hand catch of my drone. I file it under "no need" (to me). That said I have seen many hand catches by those how have the guts and skills to do so. I have done many challenging things flying but those things that spin do not excite me (unless they stop spinning of course!) Perfectly planned and executed hand catch may I say!!

 

[spamgnome]

Very nice! I'd love to see a version of this video with fade at the end to transition from the drone to a falcon landing on the person's hand.

 

[tlswift58]

When the ship is moving, in this case about 9 knots or around 10 mph, a crew member will catch the drone after each survey flight. My technique is to parallel the ship with the drone and match the ships' speed, then while flying forward slowly bring the drone in for the hand catch. On this day it was a very calm sea so there was little pitching or rolling of the ship to worry about when coming in. The crew member who caught the drone declined the safety glove. The magnetic interference I've addressed in a different post.

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Some people prefer the hand catch. I do when only required, after one time catching a prop with my finger. I did have gloves on thankfully - so no damage to me or the drone. A good technique to practice for when it is truly necessary, but have found even in most places I can land the drone on "something" with few issues. Same can hold true on a ship that has some deck space to land safely. Smaller boats a hand catch may be more preferable on a calm day.

 

[Gringorio]

I have been flying for 37 years. I have never "hand propped" a manned aircraft nor have I performed a hand catch of my drone. I file it under "no need" (to me). That said I have seen many hand catches by those how have the guts and skills to do so. I have done many challenging things flying but those things that spin do not excite me (unless they stop spinning of course!) Perfectly planned and executed hand catch may I say!!

Thanks! In this case hand catching is the only option and you get pretty good at bringing the drone in after doing it many times a day for weeks and many projects like this

 

[Gringorio]

Some people prefer the hand catch. I do when only required, after one time catching a prop with my finger. I did have gloves on thankfully - so no damage to me or the drone. A good technique to practice for when it is truly necessary, but have found even in most places I can land the drone on "something" with few issues. Same can hold true on a ship that has some deck space to land safely. Smaller boats a hand catch may be more preferable on a calm day.

In this case the only option is to hand catch... Too many deck obstacles and movement of the ship. I am curious though if it's even possible to do a deck landing on a moving ship without gps hold causing the drone to move (hold gps position while the ship moves) between the moment of landing and motor shutoff?

 

[snowghost]

I hand catch my P4Pv2 100% of the time. But the Mavic is so small and with short skids you'd think it'd be okay to land it on the deck. Phantom would tip over for sure.

My flying buddy recorded me with his Mavic catching the beast.

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[Gringorio]

I hand catch my P4Pv2 100% of the time. But the Mavic is so small and with short skids you'd think it'd be okay to land it on the deck. Phantom would tip over for sure.

My flying buddy recorded me with his Mavic catching the beast.

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Yeah, back when the ships I'm on used to have Phantoms it was much less stressful to hand catch, but now there are only M2Ps. There's too much in the way to land on the deck, especially when moving.

 

[Crash and Burn]

Hand catching is a good skill to have on the water, especially if your boat is small.

We took our little SE on the boat for the first time last week. I thought I had read it didn't have obstacle avoidance but it kept on jumping up every time the hubby got close. It was funny but a bit stressy, I learn something new about the drone every flight hahaha.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

We took our little SE on the boat for the first time last week. I thought I had read it didn't have obstacle avoidance but it kept on jumping up every time the hubby got close.

Hmmm, must just be landing protection sensors ?
I don't think the SE has any other OA sensors.

You should be able to turn off landing protection for the boat landing flights in the Fly app (or cloth tape over the sensors temporarily ?
Don't forget to turn it on again / remove tape for normal flights.

 

[Crash and Burn]

Hmmm, must just be landing protection sensors ?
I don't think the SE has any other OA sensors.

You should be able to turn off landing protection for the boat landing flights in the Fly app (or cloth tape over the sensors temporarily ?
Don't forget to turn it on again / remove tape for normal flights.

Yes, I'll have to have a better look, we had hand caught it before (on land) and it had not done it. I may've accidently changed something or maybe added in the recent update? It absolutely 100% was jumping up, it happened a few times and was only able to catch when I kept the toggle down and he was super fast, the propellers definitely speeded up to try and get away until it was flipped. It was a big surprise as we weren't expecting it.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yes, I'll have to have a better look, we had hand caught it before (on land) and it had not done it. I may've accidently changed something or maybe added in the recent update? It absolutely 100% was jumping up, it happened a few times and was only able to catch when I kept the toggle down and he was super fast, the propellers definitely speeded up to try and get away until it was flipped. It was a big surprise as we weren't expecting it.View attachment 137872

Nice photo

I couldn't see much about turning off landing protection, in the manual.

Maybe a YouTube and / or google search can help there, something like > mavic mini SE turn off landing protection

 

[Crash and Burn]

Nice photo

I couldn't see much about turning off landing protection, in the manual.

Maybe a YouTube and / or google search can help there, something like > mavic mini SE turn off landing protection

Thank you on both counts

 

[Gringorio]

Hmmm, must just be landing protection sensors ?
I don't think the SE has any other OA sensors.

You should be able to turn off landing protection for the boat landing flights in the Fly app (or cloth tape over the sensors temporarily ?
Don't forget to turn it on again / remove tape for normal flights.

For the ship work I always turn off all the sensors otherwise the drone doesn't want to get caught

 

[Crash and Burn]

For the ship work I always turn off all the sensors otherwise the drone doesn't want to get caught

I wish you posted this two weeks ago lol... After two days of snorkeling we were mellow and relaxed, after five minutes of trying to catch the drone we were on our way to stressville. The drone went away never to be seen again on the trip.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

For the ship work I always turn off all the sensors otherwise the drone doesn't want to get caught

On a ship I don't blame you for taking that precaution.
The extra movement of both the ships forward progress and the rocking / bobbing would make that a very difficult process over land based hand catching.

It absolutely 100% was jumping up, it happened a few times and was only able to catch when I kept the toggle down and he was super fast, the propellers definitely speeded up to try and get away until it was flipped.

Toggle down when landing uses the landing protection, can land with palm flat outstretched ok on land like that, on a boat, forget it unless dead calm.
Best to have sensors off, and hold / turn on side, or just come in fast from the side, snatch and turn on side to kill motors.
Obviously best to have total stability so sensors off or covered might be the better / safer way to learn.

Didn't realise you'd lost the SE, do you have another yet ?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Just a thought, as I've seen similar suggestions in the past on ship / boat flight threads . . .

For some calm to mild conditions, maybe something like a plasterers hawk to land on ?
The mini is small enough to possibly handle something of suitable size, wither purchased off the shelf, or hand made from some marine ply.

343mm x 343mm
Craftright Aluminium Plasterers Hawk

350mm x 380mm

{productName}

Find {productName} at Bunnings. Visit your local store for the widest range of products.

www.bunnings.com.au

Cover top with non slip mat . . . like this . . .

NuPlastex Magic Stop 60cm Fawn Non Slip Matting

You could toggle left stick down, bring hawk platform up gently under the drone, when it touches it should stay in place while the landing shutdown occurs.

 

[Gringorio]

I wish you posted this two weeks ago lol... After two days of snorkeling we were mellow and relaxed, after five minutes of trying to catch the drone we were on our way to stressville. The drone went away never to be seen again on the trip.

Sorry to hear that! Did you ever recover your drone?

 

[Crash and Burn]

Thanks for the advice, I'm sorry I was unclear. It went away down below deck, we just wanted to relax rather than worry. We're not content creators just amateurs, so it was more important to just enjoy the trip. One lesson a trip from the school of hard knocks was good enough.

Lesson two, tidy up your deck, put on shorts and suck in your guts and think about where you are in the boat in relation to the photo/video because when you zoom in, it's all in there.

Edit: we've also bought that pontoon type landing gear, it's cheap and probably won't be great for wind resistance but we'll experiment with it before our next trip to see if it's easier to grab. We have refresh so even if it gets swamped at least we'll have a body to get a cheaper replacement.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Edit: we've also bought that pontoon type landing gear, it's cheap and probably won't be great for wind resistance but we'll experiment with it before our next trip to see if it's easier to grab. We have refresh so even if it gets swamped at least we'll have a body to get a cheaper replacement.

Do you have these . . .

Or these . . .

If so, maybe you can just fit the skids, and use those for easier / safer hand catching ?

The pontoons will be greatly affected by wind / gusts, and rarely can you land them on anything but calm water safely, and then I wouldn't risk it unless dire situation.
Obviously your only main concern with having the pontoons is getting the body out of the water.

With your Refresh cover (at least for the first couple of years) I really think you'd be a prime candidate for a Getterback
Small and lightweight, less effect from wind and less resistance in flight.
Get your body back.

Other things that might be worth considering are @Phantomrain.org wetsuit and other rescue jacket set up ??
I don't have in depth (no pun intended) on those, but many on the forum use them.
Again the recue jackets look like wind would affect them to some degree, but look more stable than pontoons, lower profile to the aircraft.