Homemade landing pads.

Porky · Nov 18, 2018

Jalatta said:
My MA came with a landing pad, I haven't used it but I'm curious. Does this aid in landing, or perhaps I should ask, how often does a drone hit the pad?

Mine lands on the pad every time, always manual land. The good thing with a bright pad is when I’m bring it home I can see the pad before I can see little ol me

Vegasdad said:
I think it was Ken Harmon who has a video of him hand catching his.

I have never hand caught my drones from my phantom days to now, I suppose it’s what you get used to & how comfortable you fill about it but for me it’s manual landing on my pad.

Drone_guy · Nov 18, 2018

I tried hand catching it once but didn't know I had to turn off the bottom sensors. I flew it under some trees in my back yard and that's where I did the hand catch...well...the danm thing tried to fly up, at what seemed to be full throttle, and freaked me out because it would have gone right up into a ton of branches!

I purposely misspelled danm because if I spell it correctly it looks like this "****" and I didn't want it to be confused with any other expletives.

JDawg · Nov 18, 2018

putz said:
Probably should have added the pics right? View attachment 53621

Those are cool. Here is mine

WAXMAN · Nov 18, 2018

putz said:
Probably should have added the pics right? View attachment 53621

NICE !!!!!

deleted member 877 · Nov 18, 2018

Vegasdad said:
I think it was Ken Harmon who has a video of him hand catching his.

Correct but it’s Ken Heron. There is also a YouTube video of a pretty girl in a bikini hand catching an Inspire on a boat.

Lon Denard · Nov 18, 2018

putz said:
I will see what I can do with thinner material. I also have a couple ideas with interlocking sections or hinges. I fully planned on selling these once I get them perfected. Right now the 3/4" red/white pad weighs about 25 pounds. So it lays in the back yard always.

Consider lexan. It worked very well for me.

Tridiver · Nov 19, 2018

Hand catching the Inspire is not hard, just have to be careful!! That's no bird to screw around with!!

Porky · Nov 20, 2018

Tridiver said:
Hand catching the Inspire is not hard, just have to be careful!! That's no bird to screw around with!!

I’d rather manual land that big bird then catching it, wonna keep all of these....

Tridiver · Nov 20, 2018

Porky said:
I’d rather manual land that big bird then catching it, wonna keep all of these....

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I fly off boats a lot, so I have to hand catch and launch!

grinder.1 · Nov 20, 2018

I just went simple and cheap. Foam kids mat.

Porky · Nov 20, 2018

Tridiver said:
I fly off boats a lot, so I have to hand catch and launch!

Now I see where you’re coming from

gjmphoto · Nov 20, 2018

Point you folks to THIS THREAD. Lots of good ideas there!

alpinerose · Nov 24, 2018

I ordered a black rubber / fabric poker table cloth off Amazon. Took my photoshop file into FASTSIGNs and they printed my design right onto the cloth.

Never looked back. Gives up a nice visual “brand” in my photos.

UAV Aerial · Nov 24, 2018

I make them for $7.80 out of these foam tiles.
1" MMA Mats - High Density Interlocking Tiles

NJInfrared · Nov 24, 2018

The "clear" choice is NOT an elevated landing pad from a real life experience. Why decrease your "survival" chances of a safe landing especially in sport mode, and it's very windy? I had my p3 fall off the pad, just after I cut the motors. No damage, but a lesson learned.

JDawg · Nov 24, 2018

Drone_guy said:
I tried hand catching it once but didn't know I had to turn off the bottom sensors. I flew it under some trees in my back yard and that's where I did the hand catch...well...the danm thing tried to fly up, at what seemed to be full throttle, and freaked me out because it would have gone right up into a ton of branches!

I purposely misspelled danm because if I spell it correctly it looks like this "****" and I didn't want it to be confused with any other expletives.

No need to turn off downward sensors, just hold your hand out and left stick full back. Don't raise your hand, let it come to you, it will come down like a feather..

mfc · Nov 25, 2018

Nice. Only thing I'd change is to use a traditional T (rather than an H), as in older airfields. Then when you place the pad you can orient it so the T shows the direction of the wind (crossbar of the T is in the wind direction). Place the drone so its front legs are on the crossbar and it will take off and auto-land into the wind which I've found to be the most accurate (no side gusts).

It's also a reminder to fly into the wind if you're planning a long flight, which helps ensure a safe return.