How to Land in Hand?

[maintenanceguy]

Was flying in fairly heavy wind today. The drone was tossed around quite a bit while coming in to land. Instead of crashing, I decided it would be best to land in my hand - or what would be better described as snatching it out of the sky.

The first attempt, it sensed my hand below the drone and pulled up about 18" to get away from me. So, I brought it down a little lower than I wanted, placed my hand under the drone, and it pulled up 18" again. I was then able to raise my hand and grab onto the drone.

I hadn't really thought through what my next step was going to be. The drone started to fight for it's life. Propellers speed up to full thrust as it tried to escape. The drone and I were in a tug of war. I was much bigger and was clearly going to win but with one hand on the drone I only had one hand to operate the controller. I couldn't do the emergency stop manuver with one hand. I did pull the stick back to descend, which calmed the drone down a little but it continued to run in my hand. After several seconds, it must have gone into some sort of emergency stop mode and it quit fighting. All's well.

But, I'm guessing this wasn't the right way to handle this?

 

[Platinum 4 ever]

Was flying in fairly heavy wind today. The drone was tossed around quite a bit while coming in to land. Instead of crashing, I decided it would be best to land in my hand - or what would be better described as snatching it out of the sky.

The first attempt, it sensed my hand below the drone and pulled up about 18" to get away from me. So, I brought it down a little lower than I wanted, placed my hand under the drone, and it pulled up 18" again. I was then able to raise my hand and grab onto the drone.

I hadn't really thought through what my next step was going to be. The drone started to fight for it's life. Propellers speed up to full thrust as it tried to escape. The drone and I were in a tug of war. I was much bigger and was clearly going to win but with one hand on the drone I only had one hand to operate the controller. I couldn't do the emergency stop manuver with one hand. I did pull the stick back to descend, which calmed the drone down a little but it continued to run in my hand. After several seconds, it must have gone into some sort of emergency stop mode and it quit fighting. All's well.

But, I'm guessing this wasn't the right way to handle this?

Don’t resist and pull..no good will come out of that..if you have to land in your hand turn the drone upside down and the motors will stop. Please don’t do what you did ever again [emoji41]

 

[Heindrich1988]

But, I'm guessing this wasn't the right way to handle this?

Yeah, quite a lot wrong with what you described.

1) If it's exceptionally windy and the drone is struggling to maintain position, it's exactly NOT the time for hand landing. Unless there's literally no way you can land on the ground, just land on the ground. You don't want a gust of wind to blow the drone into your face.

2) Don't snatch and struggle with the drone. It could overload and damage the motors. I've seen people do the "turn upside down" to kill the motors on the Mini, but I don't recommend it for the Air 2, it's actually quite powerful and I can see it going wrong and cutting your hands/arms.

As for what you should do, this guy explains quite well:

 

[Corsair415]

I land my mini in my hand.

I either lower it until it senses my hand, then continue to hold down the stick until it start it’s landing sequence.

The other way is to grab it and hold down on the stick until it shuts off after a second or so. Usually gives a brief burst of extra thrust during this method.

 

[MA2 317]

if you have to land in your hand turn the drone upside down and the motors will stop.

Just hold the left stick down until the motors stop.

There is no need to flip the drone to kill the motors.

This may result in damage to yourself and the drone.

I hadn't really thought through what my next step was going to be.

I hand launch / land both my Spark and MA2 with the remote.

A neck lanyard will aid in this procedure.

I never trusted the open hand method as the drone can tumble from the palm to the ground.

I grasp the drone from underneath and hold it like a paper airplane (everybody's first flight).

I use the Auto launch on the app to launch and when it's time to land, I bring it close to me and lower the drone to my hand using the left stick , with the same paper airplane grasp.

The drone will hesitate and rise up a bit, sensing your hand as an obstacle, but if you keep the left stick down, it will gently land into your hand, grasp it and it may fight, but hold the left stick down until the motors quit.

 

[Kilrah]

Disable the "landing protection" setting, it won't try to get away then (and you can actually control your landing instead of having to rely on some automated thing).

On some models it's not offered as an option but is still accessible with 3rd party tools.

 

[icecoldgin]

You can hand land either with your palms flat or fingers out. Best to practice which method you are most comfortable with.

But in case of doubt and not so ideal environmental conditions (like in the situation you described for example), safety first and ground landing will be better compared to wound stitches or worse, fractures (lost footing, tripping, etc).

 

[Platinum 4 ever]

MA2 317" data-source="post: 1153035" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

Just hold the left stick down until the motors stop.

There is no need to flip the drone to kill the motors.

This may result in damage to yourself and the drone.




I hand launch / land both my Spark and MA2 with the remote.

A neck lanyard will aid in this procedure.

I never trusted the open hand method as the drone can tumble from the palm to the ground.

I grasp the drone from underneath and hold it like a paper airplane (everybody's first flight).

I use the Auto launch on the app to launch and when it's time to land, I bring it close to me and lower the drone to my hand using the left stick , with the same paper airplane grasp.

The drone will hesitate and rise up a bit, sensing your hand as an obstacle, but if you keep the left stick down, it will gently land into your hand, grasp it and it may fight, but hold the left stick down until the motors quit.

I only mentioned to turn the drone upside down I fully understand that you should not even do that..but it is a hell of a lot better than playing tug of war with the motors

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The automated rise is the landing protection thing kicking in, it is not a problem providing you know it is going to happen. Either start descending slowly from above the trigger height or if triggered let it rise but continue to hold the throttle closed, either way it will descend on to your hand.
If you HAVE to do a snatch, tilt the drone 'on to' its side, it should stop the motor. Though I would not regard it as a routine method of stopping the motor. IMO, for a routine landing, holding the throttle closed until the motors is preferable.
Practise indoors or in still wind untill you are confident enough to try it for real

 

[Phantomrain.org]

We love adventure , catching a drone in the wind epic , getting stitches doable ,
having to go to the Hospital now today to get them ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a much more definitive risk.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain and Float on the Water .

 

[Kyle76]

I used to catch my Mini with a flat palm. I catch the Air 2 by lowering it to about head height and grasping it in my fingers. I hold it still until the props stop.

 

[hiflyer201]

or what would be better described as snatching it out of the sky.

Never try to snatch it! I have had to rotate the drone a few times..probably due to sloppy technique and grabbing it before it was really ready to land.

 

[Lets Fly]

Was flying in fairly heavy wind today. The drone was tossed around quite a bit while coming in to land. Instead of crashing, I decided it would be best to land in my hand - or what would be better described as snatching it out of the sky.

The first attempt, it sensed my hand below the drone and pulled up about 18" to get away from me. So, I brought it down a little lower than I wanted, placed my hand under the drone, and it pulled up 18" again. I was then able to raise my hand and grab onto the drone.

I hadn't really thought through what my next step was going to be. The drone started to fight for it's life. Propellers speed up to full thrust as it tried to escape. The drone and I were in a tug of war. I was much bigger and was clearly going to win but with one hand on the drone I only had one hand to operate the controller. I couldn't do the emergency stop manuver with one hand. I did pull the stick back to descend, which calmed the drone down a little but it continued to run in my hand. After several seconds, it must have gone into some sort of emergency stop mode and it quit fighting. All's well.

But, I'm guessing this wasn't the right way to handle this?

If it is too windy to land on the ground and the drone is being tossed around, it's worse to try to catch it.