Mavic Air 2 Catch Handle

[AirMongrel]

Mavic Air 2 Catch Handle

Bikepacking with a drone has its own unique set of first world problems, one of them being take-off and landing your drone in less than ideal conditions. From sand to dirt, your drone is just not going to be happy in that sort of environment.

Recently I was over on North Stradbroke Island (Australia) for some beach camping and of course some drone flying. I found online a catch handle for my Mavic Air 2 and thought this might make life a little easier to launch and land the drone instead of from my hand. So, I bought one to try out on my beach ride.

I soon realised that you needed three hands to put the handle on the drone, one to hold the drone and two hands to spread the handle apart to wrap around the drone! The other disaster waiting to happen that I could see was the little thumb screw that locks it all together, falling to the ground and never to be seen again!

There had to be a better and quicker way of attaching and detaching the handle from the drone, so I decided to design my own but with the goal of keeping it at the same weight as the bought one. The handle was the easy part of the design which has a brass threaded insert in it to be bolted to the top plate.

The top plated was designed so the Scotch 3M double loop tape was recessed into the top plate to keep the plate as low profile as possible. The plate also needed the openings for the two bottom sensors and the LED light.

I had to tweak the top plate and reprint it as the double loop tape was recessed a little too far in on the first attempt. Once that was sorted it work like a charm and even came in at the same weight. The double loop tape holds the handle securely in place, but it also can be taken off in a flash using only two hands!

Now to go for a test flight and see that the sensors still work.

 

[MA2 317]

Hello from the Crossroads of America AirMongrel.

Nice little adaptor you've made there.

Looks like a Mavic lollypop. ?

Good luck with your test flights and welcome to the Forum.

 

[jigsaw]

A solution looking for a problem.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Interesting.

 

[Squidinc]

Saw the one I think you may have purchased online for about AU$80.00
Interesting idea, but I think
1. It looks butt ugly &
2. Could be an excellent wire or branch catcher.

 

[hiflyer201]

No

 

[AirMongrel]

Saw the one I think you may have purchased online for about AU$80.00
Interesting idea, but I think
1. It looks butt ugly &
2. Could be an excellent wire or branch catcher.

Saw the one I think you may have purchased online for about AU$80.00
Interesting idea, but I think
1. It looks butt ugly &
2. Could be an excellent wire or branch catcher.

Not any wire or branches where I ride, only sand as far as the eye can see.

 

[HavingFun999]

Nice, well thought out adapter. My only thought was if you did NOT hand catch it it would likely cause damage to the props due to it tilting as it would pivot on the lowest point of the drone which looks to be your hand catch.

 

[AirMongrel]

Nice, well thought out adapter. My only thought was if you did NOT hand catch it it would likely cause damage to the props due to it tilting as it would pivot on the lowest point of the drone which looks to be your hand catch.

You always want to land your drone in your hand out in the desert. The handle works the same as landing on your hand with your hand further away from the props. You wouldn't be able to do a normal landing with the handle attached but I don't want to land in sand either.

 

[Yeunglings]

It's an excellent looking bit of kit. How is the balance when it sits flat on the ground or do you have to remove it for standard launches?

 

[AirMongrel]

It's an excellent looking bit of kit. How is the balance when it sits flat on the ground or do you have to remove it for standard launches?

You don’t need it for standard launches.

 

[jigsaw]

Spam

 

[AirMongrel]

Spam

Are you having a bad day???

 

[jigsaw]

Have you actually sold one of these pos?

 

[AirMongrel]

Have you actually sold one of these pos?

That would be a little hard as I only made one a couple of days ago.

 

[Drone752H]

That would be a little hard as I only made one a couple of days ago.

Looks Like it would be handy in your environment. Usually being with a vehicle, I generally launch/recover on the hood. Keeps it away from the abrasive materials that are everywhere. Pay them no mind ......... bad day?

 

[Pappy]

So exactly what issue is this attempting to resolve? At first sight I thought this was for a marine environment where you are on a moving vessel and need to snatch the aircraft out of the air as hand catching may prove to be too difficult. But if you are on dry land for takeoff and landings, hand takeoffs and landings work just as well. I have been doing this for over 300 flights (hand takeoff/landing) with not one anomaly.

 

[AZDave]

You always want to land your drone in your hand out in the desert. The handle works the same as landing on your hand with your hand further away from the props. You wouldn't be able to do a normal landing with the handle attached but I don't want to land in sand either.

All it would take is one single unplanned landing (loss of RF signal, low battery, some other error) for your drone to decide to land on its own, and when (not if) that happens your drone is going to completely trash itself. It's FAR simpler and smarter to use a landing pad of some sort, which has the additional benefit that if you buy or make a decent one with a contrasting image (like a big white "X" on it) and hover the drone at 20 feet elevation for a few seconds before starting your flight, the drone can accurately find its way home by itself under RTH. An unplanned landing in the dirt without your handle won't be pretty, but would be much less likely to destroy the drone entirely.

I live in the Arizona desert and use a heavy rubber matt with a large white "X" on it for a landing pad to keep sand and dirt out of the motors, but a 3 foot (or larger) diameter piece of canvas with sewn in weights around the perimeter is more portable and works just as well. I've done several automatic RTH's with my 2 foot square rubber matt and the worst landing I've ever had with my MA2 has been within six inches of the center of the "X" .... and that was with some wind.

 

[AirMongrel]

All it would take is one single unplanned landing (loss of RF signal, low battery, some other error) for your drone to decide to land on its own, and when (not if) that happens your drone is going to completely trash itself. It's FAR simpler and smarter to use a landing pad of some sort, which has the additional benefit that if you buy or make a decent one with a contrasting image (like a big white "X" on it) and hover the drone at 20 feet elevation for a few seconds before starting your flight, the drone can accurately find its way home by itself under RTH. An unplanned landing in the dirt without your handle won't be pretty, but would be much less likely to destroy the drone entirely.

I live in the Arizona desert and use a heavy rubber matt with a large white "X" on it for a landing pad to keep sand and dirt out of the motors, but a 3 foot (or larger) diameter piece of canvas with sewn in weights around the perimeter is more portable and works just as well. I've done several automatic RTH's with my 2 foot square rubber matt and the worst landing I've ever had with my MA2 has been within six inches of the center of the "X" .... and that was with some wind.

Unfortunately carrying a heavy rubber mat while riding my fatbike across deserts just isn’t practical.

 

[MA2 317]

Unfortunately carrying a heavy rubber mat while riding my fatbike across deserts just isn’t practical.

How about something like this?


I purchased this pad but haven't used it much as I usually hand launch / land the Spark and MA2.

It folds to a compact size and is easy to store in a backpack or saddle bags.

It's part of my rig just in case I need a clean place for pre flight stuff.

.