Landing Manually (Properly)

[RealSting]

With my old Phantom 4 I could land the aircraft manually - meaning I could control the aircraft until it physically sat on the ground and then manually turn the motors off by bringing the sticks together.

Q. Can this be done on the Air2S? It seems all one can do is bring the aircraft to within half a metre or so from the ground then have the aircraft stop (due to the sensing of the ground by the aircraft), and one has to press the auto land.

I find this not a good way because I use a landing pad (often out in grassy areas) so need to line up the air aircraft on that to stop the blades hitting the grass. The auto land often doesn’t line up very well to the landing pad and my blades are cutting into the grass when it lands off-centre.

 

[slup]

That's correct, crafts today doesn't go lower than a VPS height of 0,5m ... there you either push the app button for Land or instead of doing that ... you could keep the throttle stick max down for a couple seconds (while you keep the horizontal position with the right stick) as that also triggers the landing procedure with following motor shut down.

If you had the possibility to turn the downward Visual Positioning Sensors off (don't think you have that possibility with a MA2s though ...) you maybe could touch down on ground & there manually, with a CSC command, turn the motors off.

 

[old man mavic]

@RealSting it is a safety feature to help stop the drone from landing ,once you have reached the hover hold position ,you can then as @slup said centralise the drone over the landing pad ,and then hold the throttle stick down till you hear the command (landing ) from the app ,

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

During the final descent you still have full control over positioning, forwards, backwards, left, right and, with care, height but it should more or less be vertical if you make no adjustments.
You basically line it up at or above 50cm, are you pointing the camera down and using the screen to centre it?

You can also abort the landing within the final descent by throttling up.

If you look at page 16 of the manual and precision landing that should, if you can use it, land the drone with at least some part of the 'footprint' it left prior to takeoff, note the need to ascend to 7m before moving horizontally.

If you still fly the P4 be careful if you swap between the two, it is very easy to get accustomed to the automated control of descent speed of the Mavics i.e. they slow their descent as they get closer to the ground.
When I later flew my P3 I came close to flying into the ground because I had become accustomed to the automated speed control and held the throttle closed.
I am not sure if the P4 is similar in that respect

 

[CorralesDan]

I know it's a matter of personal choice and other reasons, but I prefer to launch and land my Air 2S by hand.

 

[RealSting]

Thank you all for replying. Lining up the drone is difficult in the ‘Landing Hover’, even in fairly light winds I see the drone moving at least 4 or 5 inches in its hover. You’ve got to time pressing your automatic decent button so it’s over the centre of the Landing Pad if you want to ensure an accurate landing in the centre of the pad, and in my case, preventing the props from strimming the grass!

PS. Hand catching is not something I would risk.

 

[zeusfl]

The only workaround this is to put a black tape or something that covers the down sensors before taking off.
The sensor will be unable to read and you will be able to land manually in the way you want. I have tested this in the past and works.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Bear in mind that if you cover the sensors you will have no automated control of the descent speed and could replicate my near P3 crash landing.
That said, I rather surprised that any "fairly light wind" drift is enough to push the MA2S off target enough to strim the grass, what diameter is the pad.
Did you look at the precision landing thing on page 16 of the manual?

BTW I am another hand launcher and catcher, Mavic Mini & Mavic 2 Pro and, without question, in wind when landing the P3. The latter are far too prone to getting flipped by a gust on landing when it is windy.

 

[RealSting]

Bear in mind that if you cover the sensors you will have no automated control of the descent speed and could replicate my near P3 crash landing.
That said, I rather surprised that any "fairly light wind" drift is enough to push the MA2S off target enough to strim the grass, what diameter is the pad.
Did you look at the precision landing thing on page 16 of the manual?

BTW I am another hand launcher and catcher, Mavic Mini & Mavic 2 Pro and, without question, in wind when landing the P3. The latter are far too prone to getting flipped by a gust on landing when it is windy.

I’d not read P16 on landing. Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[MS Coast]

Bear in mind that if you cover the sensors you will have no automated control of the descent speed and could replicate my near P3 crash landing.
That said, I rather surprised that any "fairly light wind" drift is enough to push the MA2S off target enough to strim the grass, what diameter is the pad.
Did you look at the precision landing thing on page 16 of the manual?

BTW I am another hand launcher and catcher, Mavic Mini & Mavic 2 Pro and, without question, in wind when landing the P3. The latter are far too prone to getting flipped by a gust on landing when it is windy.

The only workaround this is to put a black tape or something that covers the down sensors before taking off.
The sensor will be unable to read and you will be able to land manually in the way you want. I have tested this in the past and works.

I'm able to manually land the Air 2S exactly where I want, within an inch or so, without covering the sensors.

I don't see any advantage in removing the downward sensor function, other than making it possible to fly the drone into the ground.

 

[hiflyer201]

PS. Hand catching is not something I would risk.

you are the pilot in command and it's certainly your option, but hand landing is a easily learned skill. You do close your fingers around the base of the drone as it shuts down, but there is no catching or grabbing involved.

 

[zeusfl]

I do not see the benefit from landing with the sensor cover either. He was asking if he can avoid the drone from autoland from the 1.5FT to the ground automatically and as far as I know, is the only solution but I do not see the benefit.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I’d not read P16 on landing. Thank you for pointing that out.

What diameter/size is the landing pad?

 

[mobilehomer]

Why not just RTH with precision landing? Lands within inches of takeoff point.

 

[Clintoops]

What diameter/size is the landing pad?

I found two floor mats then tack a target to the top of it works for me sence I use the car. Now the grass is very clumpy next time I will find a smoother place for landing pad.By the way this cost me 9.00 so was cheap.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Why not just RTH with precision landing? Lands within inches of takeoff point.

It seems they were unaware of it, post #9

 

[MS Coast]

you are the pilot in command and it's certainly your option, but hand landing is a easily learned skill. You do close your fingers around the base of the drone as it shuts down, but there is no catching or grabbing involved.

Well, hmm. 'Cause it ain't flyin'.

I use auto RTH often enough to stay current on how it works and occasionally to dazzle someone who's not familiar with drones. But I prefer to fly the drone home. It's fun. And more time on the sticks means better operating skills. It's also a good time to get comfortable with the map view and how it works.

 

[old man mavic]

having the drone hovering above the landing pad ,and manually compensating for the wind especially if its an intermittent gusty wind,is all part of the experience of fine tuning ones drone control ,if i set and use the precision landing feature that is on my MPP ,then even in a reasonable wind it always manages to land within inches of the take off point ,but where's the fun in that ,the auto control of the drone is always going to be superior to that of a pilot on the ground ,but it is good to have such features ,if that is what you want

 

[RealSting]

What diameter/size is the landing pad?

It’s a 20” (50cm) pad.

 

[EpicFlight]

having the drone hovering above the landing pad ,and manually compensating for the wind especially if its an intermittent gusty wind,is all part of the experience of fine tuning ones drone control ,if i set and use the precision landing feature that is on my MPP ,then even in a reasonable wind it always manages to land within inches of the take off point ,but where's the fun in that ,the auto control of the drone is always going to be superior to that of a pilot on the ground ,but it is good to have such features ,if that is what you want

BAH!

Unless you're flying ATTI, the FC is doing the flying. That's why, after hundreds (thousands?) of landings, I let RTH and Precision Landing do their thing most of the time. This is entirely personal and subjective, of course, but coming back and landing is about the most boring flying of all.

Only exception is the FPV... Every millisecond flying is a thrill, and landing is a stimulating challenge for multiple reasons, even with the FC doing the hard stuff (holding position, altitude).