Hand launching in front of you?

[Timelinex]

So a few weeks ago I had an issue. My wife and I hiked into a crevice on the side of a cliff that had petroglyphs on it (not as dangerous as it sounds!). We have hand launched and caught the drone tons of times before this, but this time was a unique position. She could not just put it above hear head because there is only a few feet behind her till a wall. Too risky for it to get blown back by the wind.

So she put it above her head at a 45 degree angle. I thought I could just launch it that way by pulling it straight up and back. I was most definitely wrong. Split seconds before actually letting go of the bird, it would freak out and instead of going away and up, literally towards her! We repeated this several times with the same outcome. Very scary and thankfully she is very careful during launch and paying attention. It is still above her head so technically she should still be safe, but who knows if the confusion would of caused it to drop. One thing is for sure, if she let go it would have went straight back into the rock wall.

Looking back at it now, I'm guessing it is because the dorne is confused. The drone knows it should be flying away one direction but gps is telling it that it is not going anywhere. I'm guessing ATTI mode would have probably solved this?

She ended up just hiking out and launching by hand above her head like normal. Here's one of the resulting pictures!

How would you guys handle a launch from a situation like this?

 

[flpholt]

find a flat rock like on your right side

 

[kev0]

I'm still wondering where the mx bikes are??


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[Timelinex]

find a flat rock like on your right side

The picture is deceiving. The rocks aren't really that flat. There was no way I could launch from a rock there without a serious risk of it either tipping over or going a few inches back into the wall. It doesn't seem like it from the pictures, but it is a very 'clustered' situation.

It wasn't a terribly big deal in this situation to spend a minutes climbing out of there and launching. However I would still like to know how to do this in the future because in a different situation it might not be so easy.

I'm still wondering where the mx bikes are??


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Haha, They are about 100 yards behind and to the left. The Petroglyphs are about 25 miles out of town on dirt paths and then you have to hike 100yds or so on foot.

 

[NRJ]

Hmmm, not sure but if the drone tends to fly one direction, maybe turn it around and try it? Not sure why it tries to move in any direction but up. When my ac stick is pushed up, yes there is a very slight movement either forward or sometimes back, but mostly just up. Just a thought.

 

[Reed L]

I just hold it out at arms length and accelerate until it's almost floating. Then assess and give it some gas and let it pull out of my hand and rise up. In this case, you could have gone straight out, it works the same.

 

[dec]

I wld be more concerned about landing ... Just hold near level above your/her head and give it power it should ascend well. Bringing it down safely is where your money is ... Good picture BTW