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Landing DJI drones by hand, does it damage it?

BobbyLashley

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Just curious if landing DJI drones by hand (grab it while still hovering in air then powering it off), does it damage the hardware? It always makes me nervous since you can still feel the aircraft still trying to hover on it's own and you feel vibration.

Also is there a way to have the drone power off from powering off the RC? Last night I powered off the RC and the drone stayed on which makes no sense since the connection between the drone and the RC was cut off.
 
The key to hand-landing, is to keep your palm flat, and to bring the drone down to your hand. Do not bring your hand up to the drone. Once it touches your hand, move your hand up slightly, and the motors will slow down. Make sure you hold the left stick down all the way until the motors stop. Then you won't get the "revving" action when you try and pull the drone down. If you are just starting hand-catching, you can wear a leather glove until you get comfortable.

Regarding shutting the drone off, you should always power the drone off first, then turn off the RC second.

I noticed the other day with my Mini-2 that if both RC & drone are powered on, and I shut off the RC while the drone is sitting on the ground (with props not running), after a few minutes the drone will power off, also. I did not time it.
 
There should be no damage to the drone hand landing. I think @jimlips described it well. Let it "land" on your hand vs grabbing it out of the air. If you let it 'land,' there's less risk of damaging the props and/or your fingers. If you let it land, it should be no different than letting it land on a landing pad or concrete or ??? That's my thoughts.

I've not tried the RC power down to get the drone to power down. I'll power down the RC/pick up the drone and power it down.
 
The key to hand-landing, is to keep your palm flat, and to bring the drone down to your hand. Do not bring your hand up to the drone. Once it touches your hand, move your hand up slightly, and the motors will slow down. Make sure you hold the left stick down all the way until the motors stop. Then you won't get the "revving" action when you try and pull the drone down. If you are just starting hand-catching, you can wear a leather glove until you get comfortable.

Regarding shutting the drone off, you should always power the drone off first, then turn off the RC second.

I noticed the other day with my Mini-2 that if both RC & drone are powered on, and I shut off the RC while the drone is sitting on the ground (with props not running), after a few minutes the drone will power off, also. I did not time it.

Thanks a lot. That's the best way to describe it. Yesterday I brought my hand up to the drone from underneath and grabbed it and it kept revving. Was really worried I was doing damage to the drone. So no damage? Even after I got the drone off the fans were still running, no sure if this was normal. Since I had to pack it up and hit the road I just pulled the battery and it stopped. Not sure what happened here.
 
Thanks a lot. That's the best way to describe it. Yesterday I brought my hand up to the drone from underneath and grabbed it and it kept revving. Was really worried I was doing damage to the drone. So no damage? Even after I got the drone off the fans were still running, no sure if this was normal. Since I had to pack it up and hit the road I just pulled the battery and it stopped. Not sure what happened here.

I don't think you did any damage. The fans will continue to run after a flight if it is warmer or if the drone was fighting a lot of wind and the motors had to work hard. The fan will continue to run until it is cooled down. I wouldn't pull the battery out until the fan has stopped.

As others said, lower the drone into your hand. Once it is there, grip is without moving it around and continue to hold the altitude stick down. As you hold the stick down, the motors will eventually stop.

I hand launch and land exclusively now. It is easier than trying to find a clear area for my landing pad. The landing pad is a pain because it can blow around in the wind and may as well be a flashing beacon saying "person flying drone over here!!".
 
I don't think you did any damage. The fans will continue to run after a flight if it is warmer or if the drone was fighting a lot of wind and the motors had to work hard. The fan will continue to run until it is cooled down. I wouldn't pull the battery out until the fan has stopped.

As others said, lower the drone into your hand. Once it is there, grip is without moving it around and continue to hold the altitude stick down. As you hold the stick down, the motors will eventually stop.

I hand launch and land exclusively now. It is easier than trying to find a clear area for my landing pad. The landing pad is a pain because it can blow around in the wind and may as well be a flashing beacon saying "person flying drone over here!!".

I have two landing pads (each different sizes) and what I don't like about using them is that they're so light so they always get blown around with the slight bit of wind. And then dirt and dust and gravel easily blow onto the pad, so it kind of defeats the purpose of using the pad to land so that dirt and rocks to fly up to the camera and gimbal.

Thanks for the tip on landing by hand, I will give this a try. I'm guessing that it's just as easy to have the drone take off right from the palm of your hand too.
 
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Also is there a way to have the drone power off from powering off the RC?
No
Last night I powered off the RC and the drone stayed on which makes no sense since the connection between the drone and the RC was cut off.
It makes 100% sense.
The controller doesn't keep the drone in the air.
It just delivers your control inputs so you can control what the drone does.
You don't want the drone powering off and falling from the sky just because it loses control signal.
By default, your drone is programmed to RTH on losing signal, which is a lot more desirable than falling from the sky.
 
I always try to capture my M2Pro by hand. Thumb, index and middle finger just aft of the gimbel. It is more gentle than auto-landing on a hard surface (concrete, wood, asphalt). My IMU's need recalibrating less often.
 
I have two landing pads (each different sizes) and what I don't like about using them is that they're so light so they always get blown around with the slight bit of wind. And then dirt and dust and gravel easily blow onto the pad, so it kind of defeats the purpose of using the pad to land so that dirt and rocks to fly up to the camera and gimbal.

Thanks for the tip on landing by hand, I will give this a try. I'm guessing that it's just as easy to have the drone take off right from the palm of your hand too.
Use fender washers to weigh your pad down. It still easily folds up. Hand catching however while can be be necessary at times is just fun and tends to impress those watching you. One woman thought my drone was imprinted and would only land in my hand.

WDK
 

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I've just started doing this with my Mini 2 and found that the important thing, as has been said, is to "land" the drone on your hand. If you move your hand under the drone when it's hovering at shoulder height, the bottom sensors will detect your hand and raise the drone to ½ Mt over it.
You must hold your hand out then bring the drone down and land it on your hand using the L/H stick (Mode 2). Once landed keep the stick back to stop the motors. DON'T try to grab it.
 
I have two landing pads (each different sizes) and what I don't like about using them is that they're so light so they always get blown around with the slight bit of wind. And then dirt and dust and gravel easily blow onto the pad, so it kind of defeats the purpose of using the pad to land so that dirt and rocks to fly up to the camera and gimbal.

Thanks for the tip on landing by hand, I will give this a try. I'm guessing that it's just as easy to have the drone take off right from the palm of your hand too.
I know it’s a pain but my landing pad comes with 3 small stakes that I can hammer/drive into the ground. All a bit of a faff-no rules to say you can’t pop the edge of your shoe to hold it down if there is a breeze! OK the OAS makes a bit of a protest but if you ascend with no sensors facing your way (PS I have a MA2 with no side sensors of course) you should be good. “Poor advice” so feel free to disregard!!!
 
I never take off my Mavic 2 Pro from my hand. I want both hands on the controller when taking off.
If the site is too dusty or sandy, or the grass too high, I'll use my "landing pad" to take off from.
 
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This is my experience and others may have differing opinions…when I had a Mini, I was very comfortable with the open palm landing technique. When I moved up to larger drones, I found it better to lower them into my thumb and two fingers. Just be very careful about those props 🙀 as CaptainMavic noted above. There was a thread a few days ago on this forum where the drone took off the tip of a guy’s finger.
 
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What about the ‘noob’ method (Casey neistad ) where you make the drone think it crash landed by flipping it to the side?
 
What about the ‘noob’ method (Casey neistad ) where you make the drone think it crash landed by flipping it to the side?
Definitely not! The IMU/gyro system will always try to keep the drone horizontal. If you physically rotate the drone sideways, the two motors you're trying to push down will speed up to try to right the drone, overspending maybe but certainly putting extra stress on the arms/props.
 
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Definitely not! The IMU/gyro system will always try to keep the drone horizontal. If you physically rotate the drone sideways, the two motors you're trying to push down will speed up to try to right the drone, overspending maybe but certainly putting extra stress on the arms/props.
thanks, that’s what I was afraid of. My cousin does this all the time :-(
 
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