Landing on moving boat

[DroneDragon]

Fellow droners: I plan on flying my M2P from a boat in open water in a very large lake ('sparsely populated area' per 14 CFR 107.25). Takeoff should be no problem, but I'm a little worried about landing on a moving boat. I'll be on upper deck, about 10' above the water.
Any advice?

 

[Phantom3SE]

Fellow droners: I plan on flying my M2P from a boat in open water in a very large lake ('sparsely populated area' per 14 CFR 107.25). Takeoff should be no problem, but I'm a little worried about landing on a moving boat. I'll be on upper deck, about 10' above the water.
Any advice?

Bring spare underwear!!

 

[Drbobk]

The one time I tried this (with my Inspire) was very tricky. The boat would drift just enough to screw up my approach. I was trying to land on the front seat in a bowrider. The extra underwear is a good suggestion, especially if your battery is getting low. Come back early just in case.

I never tried hand catching the Inspire (or my Mavic 2), but think about wearing safety glasses if you do. Nothing is worth putting your eyes at risk.

 

[Spetnaut]

I would say hand catching it is probably your best bet. If you’ve never done it before, definitely try on land first. On land, you can put your palm out and just let it land as normal. On water though, with the boat drifting, you need to grab it mid air, and hold throttle down till the motors shut.

 

[DroneDragon]

Thanks to Drbobk and Spetnaut.
I agree hand catching probably best, but that means I'll have to manipulate the RC with the other hand - only one hand for two joysticks!
(I would hang the RC around my neck with a lanyard.)
My main concern is getting the drone to keep up with the forward motion of the boat while I bring it down with the left joystick.
Do you think 'Active Track - Trace' would work close to the boat, so the drone would fly forward at the same speed as the boat (basically hovering over the boat), so I could just bring it straight down with left joystick?

 

[dwolfe002]

I would say hand catching it is probably your best bet. If you’ve never done it before, definitely try on land first. On land, you can put your palm out and just let it land as normal. On water though, with the boat drifting, you need to grab it mid air, and hold throttle down till the motors shut.

I only tried to hand catch it one time right after I got my M2P. Every time I put my hand under it the drone would go up about a foot. I looked liked a crazy man trying to swat a fly. I haven't tried it again, but I assume that you have to have the sensors turned off or something to be able to grab it. Is that correct? I'm going to take mine out on the boat also but haven't had time to experiment further with hand catching.

 

[Spetnaut]

I only tried to hand catch it one time right after I got my M2P. Every time I put my hand under it the drone would go up about a foot. I looked liked a crazy man trying to swat a fly. I haven't tried it again, but I assume that you have to have the sensors turned off or something to be able to grab it. Is that correct? I'm going to take mine out on the boat also but haven't had time to experiment further with hand catching.

If you go to grab at it, it will definitely detect your hand as a obstacle, in all modes and fly up. Putting your palm out flat, and letting it land as normal works, it detects your hand as any other piece of ground. Second it touches down, you grab it then. If you are quick about it, you can still grab it out of the air though.

 

[DroneDragon]

I have found hand catching (on land!) easy. The drone will react to your hand, as Spetnaut says, but if you keep the left joystick fully back (as you normally would to land), the drone overcomes the downward obstacle (just as in normal landing) and settles onto your hand.

My concern here is trying to do this on a moving boat, primarily getting the drone to follow the boat so I can just bring it down to my hand, without having to worry about the drone keeping up forward motion to keep up with the boat's forward motion.

Yes, I could move the right joystick forward to make the drone move forward, but it would be pretty tricky to try to gently handle the right joystick while at the same time using the left joystick to bring the drone down, all with one hand (the other hand being occupied in catching).

 

[Thomas B]

Best of luck. I’d recommend Kevlar gloves to prevent finger cuts and som type of floatation device so you can at least recover the hulk in worst case scenario.

 

[dwolfe002]

I have found hand catching (on land!) easy. The drone will react to your hand, as Spetnaut says, but if you keep the left joystick fully back (as you normally would to land), the drone overcomes the downward obstacle (just as in normal landing) and settles onto your hand.

My concern here is trying to do this on a moving boat, primarily getting the drone to follow the boat so I can just bring it down to my hand, without having to worry about the drone keeping up forward motion to keep up with the boat's forward motion.

Yes, I could move the right joystick forward to make the drone move forward, but it would be pretty tricky to try to gently handle the right joystick while at the same time using the left joystick to bring the drone down, all with one hand (the other hand being occupied in catching).

That was my reasoning for asking about the sensors although I didn't make it clear at all. If the sensors are turned off, it seems that once brought down to the appropriate height, all you would have to do is use the right stick to keep it at the speed of the boat. With the sensors off the mavic wouldn't detect your hand and you would only need to use one stick. Then reach up and grab it while the Mavic and the boat are going forward. Then again theory is easy. Execution is a little bit harder, at least in my case.

 

[globetrotterdrone]

You don't have to turn the sensors off in P-mode ... stretch our your hand and press downwards ... first the Mavic will recognise the hand (if you have not put it out early enough) and move a bit up but still while holding down the stick it will land onto your hand and power off the motors.

First tried today (hand start & landing) I got a bit nervous tbh, but with some practice it's really easy.
Watch some videos before to get it right.

 

[tcope]

First, be prepared to repair or replace the drone. Second, set RTH as hover. If you don't do this and lose signal it will return to the take off point and land. This will be in the water.

 

[dwolfe002]

You don't have to turn the sensors off in P-mode ... stretch our your hand and press downwards ... first the Mavic will recognise the hand (if you have not put it out early enough) and move a bit up but still while holding down the stick it will land onto your hand and power off the motors.

First tried today (hand start & landing) I got a bit nervous tbh, but with some practice it's really easy.
Watch some videos before to get it right.

I know you don't have to but with a boat moving in the water he is going to need both hands to control the forward speed and the downward flight. Not to mention probable bouncing of the boat. It would seem easier to me to bring the drone down to the level you want to catch it at while still moving forward and then just control the speed so that you could reach out and grab it with the other hand. If the boat is bouncing slightly and the sensors are on, it is going to ascend the first time your hand moves while sliding it under the drone. I don't think anyone could keep forward speed and make the drone descend and catch it with just two hands. Yes, you can stretch your hand out and descend into your hand but you have forward speed to contend with also and I would think he would end up having a Mavic stuck in his forehead if he did it that way but if he does it I definitely want to see the video!

Oh, I forgot to ask how fast your boat was moving when you tried it?

 

[Meta4]

Fellow droners: I plan on flying my M2P from a boat in open water in a very large lake ('sparsely populated area' per 14 CFR 107.25). Takeoff should be no problem, but I'm a little worried about landing on a moving boat. I'll be on upper deck, about 10' above the water.
Any advice?

Most of the replies are from people who have not done this.
Flying and hand catching from a boat is relatively easy.
As post #13 suggests, catching on a moving boat is not so simple.
In fact it's quite difficult.
You don't mention the speed of the boat but more speed makes it more difficult.
Without being to use atti mode, the drone will want to hold position but because the boat is moving, it's going to appear to want to fly away and fight against you.

If the boat can't be stopped, the best way is to use a helper and practise on land to have your technique worked out beforehand.
That way you can fly with both sticks and the catcher can use both hands.

 

[dwolfe002]

I just thought of another thing you may want to think about. If you try it with the sensors on, and from what you say you'll be on the upper deck, the railing may also cause the sensors to kick in and cause the drone to ascend a little bit which could throw off your catch and possibly a couple of fingers.

Sorry to keep going but I was wondering if you plan to have the drone come in from the front or back of the boat. It would seem to me it would be a little easier to come in from the back so if you don't feel good about what you've got all you have to do is let go of the right stick and let it drift back for another try. By the way, if you have any antennas on the upper deck be sure to put them down if at all possible. They could end up getting in the way. Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Good luck!

By the way, make sure the camera is pointed in your direction and video is running and post it here. This I've gotta see.

 

[kanaloa6779]

I would also suggest to have a second person to catch the drone.
There is no need to disable all sensors. You can disable landing protection (I am not sure how this option is named in English-I use German as language) The drone does not use downward sensors then and won‘t care about the hand)
Hover as RTH setting as mentioned before is very important! But make sure that you don’t get in this situation anyway.

 

[dwolfe002]

I would also suggest to have a second person to catch the drone.
There is no need to disable all sensors. You can disable landing protection (I am not sure how this option is named in English-I use German as language) The drone does not use downward sensors then and won‘t care about the hand)
Hover as RTH setting as mentioned before is very important! But make sure that you don’t get in this situation anyway.

I don't understand why you wouldn't need to turn off all sensors. Landing is only one of his problems. He also has to get the M2P close enough to him to catch while moving forward. I know I've flown my M2P straight at me to see if it would stop and it did but it was too far away for me to grab. Sensors are going to throw way to many variables, that you can't control on a moving boat, into an already tough exercise. I hope @DroneDragon is reading his thread and will make up his own mind about how to do it, and practice on land like Meta suggested but I wouldn't try it without turning the sensors off and I have been known to try some crazy things. If he is trying to do this by himself he has to take as many variables as possible out. First of all he is moving forward on a boat and trying to catch a drone. Dropping it out of the sky into his hand is almost impossible. If he has to control downward movement, forward movement, and hand catch with only two arms and hands he has another problem. If the boat hits anything but smooth glassy water and bounces however slightly, he has another problem. If he has rails around the top of the boat he has another possible problem. What I would like to see is how everyone saying you don't have to turn off the sensors propose exactly how they would do it because I can't think of a safer way other than not doing it at all which is not what he asked for.

 

[tonyb]

Fellow droners: I plan on flying my M2P from a boat in open water in a very large lake ('sparsely populated area' per 14 CFR 107.25). Takeoff should be no problem, but I'm a little worried about landing on a moving boat. I'll be on upper deck, about 10' above the water.
Any advice?

I'll be taking off and landing from a boat all this coming week. The first thing I do is stop moving, much safer and likely you won't dump your drone into the drink

 

[Peio64270]

Better could be the use a large dip net by an assistant. And kill the motors as soon as the drone is inside.

 

[Eldrone42]

I would say hand catching it is probably your best bet. If you’ve never done it before, definitely try on land first. On land, you can put your palm out and just let it land as normal. On water though, with the boat drifting, you need to grab it mid air, and hold throttle down till the motors shut.

Hand catching while hovering within reach and then turning your mavic upside down stops props immediately. No need to deal with RC after bringing to nearby hover.