Mavic 2 Pro - hard landing / high speed landing

[TonyPHX]

All,

Before anyone jumps on me for not using the forum search, rest assured I did. I looked at several different boards in fact and pretty much have arrived at the conclusion that this problem has been around a while and there are numerous commentaries about this. I wanted to start a 2022 current situation thread since I am unable to determine where in time this may have been resolved by firmware or what the "current" status is.

I am late to the game on M2Pro. I purchased my first of three well after they were already long in the tooth, so I did not get a chance to grow and learn with the rest of you that perhaps had them from launch time forward. So far, my experience has been that this is my favorite drone and is the commercial workhorse in my collection. Today, while shooting a paid gig, I brought the M2P in for landing, and will admit that briefly had my attention interrupted at an inopportune time. And my fingers did not do what my brain should have been telling them to do... in short, this was my fault. I brought the M2P in for a landing straight down over the landing pad and area I had established and descended faster than usual. (full left stick down in Positioning mode) and unlike previous landings, the M2P did not slow and hover for landing. This time it went right down, smacked the pad on the ground, and went back up several feet and hovered because at this point I took fingers off the sticks.

I will pull a log tomorrow when time permits but I did have time to review the landing settings and I had no sensors disabled and had all the usual landing protection settings on (probably irrelevant for my event) but have not had this happen before. Upon inspection, the drone is fine. No damage to body/gimbal etc. The rear leg bottoms got a bit roughed up, but nothing that my OCD cannot live with for now. : )

Any thoughts would be appreciated to prevent this from happening again - (obviously I was a defective part of the process this time, and will not be allowing myself to make that careless mistake again.) But...if there is something else on the tech/nanny side that I should be looking for to assist me, I appreciate your help or comments.

Tony

 

[Meta4]

Any thoughts would be appreciated to prevent this from happening again

It's pretty simple .. don't hold the left stick fully down while landing.

 

[TonyPHX]

It's pretty simple .. don't hold the left stick fully down while landing.

lol, well yes. I get that, and thank you for the matter of fact conclusion @Meta4. : ). Something tells me you are a hoot at family get togethers!

Perhaps I worded my query poorly. What I mean to say, is that even when I have intentionally held left stick down during practice, training, and the like, it has always responded by not bouncing into the ground.

Obviously I appreciate your sage advice. I will keep watching for others feedback to see if there is anything else on the drone I should be considering. (Again, it is already acknowledged that the instigator of the mistake was me...)

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I'm relatively sure the M2 is same and my M1P, and holding the left stick full down on landing is perfectly fine normally, it auto lands without hard hits etc.
Normally smooth as butter touch down and motors stop automatically.

Is the soft landing what you normally experience ?

The only thing I can think of that might affect this is dirty (or defective) bottom sensors.

 

[barrybcar]

Sounds almost like atti behavior

 

[Meta4]

Perhaps I worded my query poorly. What I mean to say, is that even when I have intentionally held left stick down during practice, training, and the like, it has always responded by not bouncing into the ground.

It should be obvious.
You can land the drone as gently as you want or you can land with the left stick down and hope that the VPS sensors will override your clumsy piloting.
But as you've seen, the VPS sensors might take care of you a lot of the time, they aren't infallible.
You can't rely on VPS all of the time.

 

[Suren]

Tony, I used to have this a few times with my Zoom, holding the stick full down should bring the drone to an almost complete stop and then slowly land but it just bangs to the ground and take off again. Honestly, I could never pin point the fault but one day decided to do a firmware refresh and vision system calibration via Assistant 2 and the problem never happened again.

 

[old man mavic]

@TonyPHX from your description of the event ,it would seem that the downwards facing sensors were fooled ,because as you said you came in hot with full down stick ,and also straight down ,so basically you beat the landing protection system to the punch ,as has been mentioned these sensors are not infallible ,and although they do work well most of the time ,they can be fooled,and in the end inertia took over and the drone didnt stop

 

[deanbush]

lol, well yes. I get that, and thank you for the matter of fact conclusion @Meta4. : ). Something tells me you are a hoot at family get togethers!

Perhaps I worded my query poorly. What I mean to say, is that even when I have intentionally held left stick down during practice, training, and the like, it has always responded by not bouncing into the ground.

Obviously I appreciate your sage advice. I will keep watching for others feedback to see if there is anything else on the drone I should be considering. (Again, it is already acknowledged that the instigator of the mistake was me...)

I have an M2Pro too, but I can't say I've ever had a similar experience. Mine has always behaved pretty much the same as my Mini 2. Hmmmm.

 

[barrybcar]

About 2 weeks ago I lost all satellites just as I was landing and my M2P did the same thing. It was all I could do to keep it on the ground when it finally stopped bouncing.
First and only time in 3 years with 3 different M2s that this happened.
I’m not stressed or worried, it is what it is And only happens once. Just sharing my experience.

 

[TonyPHX]

I'm relatively sure the M2 is same and my M1P, and holding the left stick full down on landing is perfectly fine normally, it auto lands without hard hits etc.
Normally smooth as butter touch down and motors stop automatically.

Is the soft landing what you normally experience ?

The only thing I can think of that might affect this is dirty (or defective) bottom sensors.

Yes, smooth assisted landings is the normal experience. The bottom sensors are going to be thoroughly tested today. I will make it or break it today. : )

 

[TonyPHX]

@TonyPHX from your description of the event ,it would seem that the downwards facing sensors were fooled ,because as you said you came in hot with full down stick ,and also straight down ,so basically you beat the landing protection system to the punch ,as has been mentioned these sensors are not infallible ,and although they do work well most of the time ,they can be fooled,and in the end inertia took over and the drone didnt stop

Thank you. That is kind of what i am thinking. I had my orange colored landing pad out and hoped that help break up the flat desert colors enough, but I think you are probably spot on.

 

[TonyPHX]

About 2 weeks ago I lost all satellites just as I was landing and my M2P did the same thing. It was all I could do to keep it on the ground when it finally stopped bouncing.
First and only time in 3 years with 3 different M2s that this happened.
I’m not stressed or worried, it is what it is And only happens once. Just sharing my experience.

I appreciate that @barrybcar - I will be looking at the log later to see if I did indeed lose sats or not.

 

[TonyPHX]

Tony, I used to have this a few times with my Zoom, holding the stick full down should bring the drone to an almost complete stop and then slowly land but it just bangs to the ground and take off again. Honestly, I could never pin point the fault but one day decided to do a firmware refresh and vision system calibration via Assistant 2 and the problem never happened again.

I did do compass, IMU, gimbal, and vision via Assistant last night, so today am going to work this thing at the RC park. Test to destruction if I have to. : )

 

[TonyPHX]

It should be obvious.
You can land the drone as gently as you want or you can land with the left stick down and hope that the VPS sensors will override your clumsy piloting.
But as you've seen, the VPS sensors might take care of you a lot of the time, they aren't infallible.
You can't rely on VPS all of the time.

But my clumsy piloting is what makes me human. I think you are correct, the VPS sensors did not provide the level of anti-Tony piloting that I was expecting. : )

 

[Dale D]

All,

Before anyone jumps on me for not using the forum search, rest assured I did. I looked at several different boards in fact and pretty much have arrived at the conclusion that this problem has been around a while and there are numerous commentaries about this. I wanted to start a 2022 current situation thread since I am unable to determine where in time this may have been resolved by firmware or what the "current" status is.

I am late to the game on M2Pro. I purchased my first of three well after they were already long in the tooth, so I did not get a chance to grow and learn with the rest of you that perhaps had them from launch time forward. So far, my experience has been that this is my favorite drone and is the commercial workhorse in my collection. Today, while shooting a paid gig, I brought the M2P in for landing, and will admit that briefly had my attention interrupted at an inopportune time. And my fingers did not do what my brain should have been telling them to do... in short, this was my fault. I brought the M2P in for a landing straight down over the landing pad and area I had established and descended faster than usual. (full left stick down in Positioning mode) and unlike previous landings, the M2P did not slow and hover for landing. This time it went right down, smacked the pad on the ground, and went back up several feet and hovered because at this point I took fingers off the sticks.

I will pull a log tomorrow when time permits but I did have time to review the landing settings and I had no sensors disabled and had all the usual landing protection settings on (probably irrelevant for my event) but have not had this happen before. Upon inspection, the drone is fine. No damage to body/gimbal etc. The rear leg bottoms got a bit roughed up, but nothing that my OCD cannot live with for now. : )

Any thoughts would be appreciated to prevent this from happening again - (obviously I was a defective part of the process this time, and will not be allowing myself to make that careless mistake again.) But...if there is something else on the tech/nanny side that I should be looking for to assist me, I appreciate your help or comments.

Tony

I guess I have the most experience with the Mavic 2 Pro. Started with the MAvic Air 1 (red) and also tried out and then sold the Mini 2. Gradually, I have evolved to hand catch 95% of the times now, and I concentrate like hell so I don't lose and eye or a finger, but I gradually pull the stick back until the bird is in the hand. I also have a new M3 but still not ready to use it as my primary until I get more practice.

Dale

 

[Suren]

I did do compass, IMU, gimbal, and vision via Assistant last night, so today am going to work this thing at the RC park. Test to destruction if I have to. : )

Try to test landing on grass so no damaged and destruction occurs

 

[TonyPHX]

Try to test landing on grass so no damaged and destruction occurs

But if I land gently, then I have no great stories to tell! : ) I actually landed on rather bland pavement and couldn't get this thing to crater no matter how many times I tried. So I'm just gonna go with the idea that I should be smart and land the proper way. : )

 

[pchaps]

I’m retty sure that FAA recommends MyPillow for non-destructive landing tests. Specifically “six inches of wonderful.” I read your posts with great interest. When I bought my M2P about a week ago, during the test flight, the seller did the “left stick full down” landing on a blacktop parking lot. I clearly look horrified. It landed perfectly. He asked what’s up and I said that with my big homebuilt that would shut down the motors in midair and crash. He smiled and said yep I know. Turns out he flies a big drone at work and it does that same. It’s a habit I can’t afford. I will always fly it slow and land it old school. Other than that, I had to wonder: does the “Land” button auto landing also rely on the bottom sensors? I’m reading heavily here as I also very recently bought a Mavic 2 Zoom in addition to the M2P. I did this as an alternative to getting a M3 as I need a backup when I work, and I like options.

 

[Meta4]

the seller did the “left stick full down” landing on a blacktop parking lot. I ... I said that with my big homebuilt that would shut down the motors in midair and crash.

Not sure how your big homebuilt works, but full left stick down shouldn't stop the motors mid-air?
With DJI, full stick down in mid-air will simply descend at max descent speed and you can do that from hundreds of feet up.

I had to wonder: does the “Land” button auto landing also rely on the bottom sensors?

With older DJI drones, it was up to you to sklow down as the drone neared the ground, but more modern models with landing protection and VPS sensors, sense the ground getting closer and slow the descent to a stop with the drone a foot or two above the ground.
If you hold the stick fully down for a second or two more, that forces a slow landing for the last couple of feet.

Pushing the Land Now button would work similarly.