Taking off Landing and Fly over water questions

[MrRobville]

FWIW, I usually return to home at 200 feet... better to just fly high on autopilot where you can't hit things.

Likewise, I found that most obstacles tend to be avoided at this height. For any areas with possibly higher obstacles I'd just pay extra attention.

 

[john2k]

If you want to hand catch you only have to switch off 'landing protection' in the app. That way the bottom sensors remain active in positioning during landing, but it won't try to fly up when you reach for it with your hand. After grabbing it, hold it for two seconds in place while keeping down the left (throttle) stick, this will shut down the motors.

This sounds good, I thought landing protection was for auto-landing? So you are saying that instead of turning the bottom sensors off, which then means the sensors will remain off all the time unless I go back and turn it on, I can instead just turn off landing protection which will prevent it from flying up when i pinch it? But I do need to re-enable landing protection afterwards if I need it?

 

[john2k]

If you double tap on the button at the back of the MA without connecting a smart phone or the controller this does a different 2 beep sound meaning it enters the smart capture mode allowing you to control it 100% with gestures. So I understand that you put your palm out to it etc. But what do you do if for example the MA stops responding to you? like lets say if it somehow lost you and then how do you get it to follow you again? and while it is on this mode if something happens and it completely doesn't respond to me, can I just turn on the controller will it pair even though the MA will already be in the air at that point?

 

[MrRobville]

I was wondering the same thing, but IIRC, the Mavic's range and functionality is a lot more limited in gesture mode, meaning you could never take the drone too far away from you to lose line of sight. So I reckon that if it does lose connection, you can always enable the controller mid flight and manually land it, though I cannot confirm this unfortunately.

Gesture mode is more of a feature comparable to the other intelligent flight modes rather than a standalone control mechanism that is equivalent to regular controls. I would never try to use gesture mode above water. It is fun to play with though, and it usually attracts some attention when people see you walk around like a Jedi, but for complex camera work, just stick to the regular controls.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

This sounds good, I thought landing protection was for auto-landing? So you are saying that instead of turning the bottom sensors off, which then means the sensors will remain off all the time unless I go back and turn it on, I can instead just turn off landing protection which will prevent it from flying up when i pinch it? But I do need to re-enable landing protection afterwards if I need it?

Yes. And Yes It remains off in the settings, until you switch it back on. But VPS will remain active. It's only a false protection, which is useless. It will hover until you confirm (on the app screen) that it's safe to land. That can cause nasty situations. Sometimes the app freezes and you're left with a hovering bird, waiting for the battery to deplete. One girl tried to grab it while in this LP waiting state. But the bird flew away from her hand and into her face. Nasty cuts, hospital etc. There was a thread from her here about that.

 

[Jameslavis]

Great video I just found.

 

[john2k]

Yes. And Yes It remains off in the settings, until you switch it back on. But VPS will remain active. It's only a false protection, which is useless. It will hover until you confirm (on the app screen) that it's safe to land. That can cause nasty situations. Sometimes the app freezes and you're left with a hovering bird, waiting for the battery to deplete. One girl tried to grab it while in this LP waiting state. But the bird flew away from her hand and into her face. Nasty cuts, hospital etc. There was a thread from her here about that.

So you keep your landing protection off? or just turn it off when you are hand catching and flying over water? If landing protection is turned off and when you go to grab it, it doesnt fly up does that not mean if you are trying to land and there is some obstacle it won't fly up to avoid it?

 

[john2k]

Great video I just found.

Great video, so seems that turning of the downwards sensors makes it worse?

 

[adrianoaurelio]

As I understand it, it does not need GPS lock in this mode because it cannot fly further than 16 feet from you or 16 meters (check the book) and it always follows you so it cant fly away. It does not need to know where it is because it cannot start a RTH sequence so GPS is not necessary.

It does not need gps cause it is using Vision System (available up to 8m) to hold position.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

So you keep your landing protection off? or just turn it off when you are hand catching and flying over water? If landing protection is turned off and when you go to grab it, it doesnt fly up does that not mean if you are trying to land and there is some obstacle it won't fly up to avoid it?

There is no obstacle avoidance through the downward sensors (EDIT Mavic Pro, sorry I had forgotten this was about the Air). Landing protection only makes it hover when it thinks the ground is not safe, which in most cases is not the fact at all. You decide as a pilot wether it's safe to land, in my opinion.

And yes I turn all visual and sonic sensors off over water (and land for that matter), including VPS, Precision Landing as well as Forward Obstacle sensors. I set RTH to hover when over water. But never have had a RTH over water simply because I always have a pre check, flight pIan AND I take at least 5 minutes extra for safety while landing. I always land before the battery is down to 30% (which is a rule I set for myself for all flights, I never want it to decide to go into RTH by itself). I always want as much control as possible over water as well as over land.
By the way, turning off all those sensors saves a good amount of battery power as well.