how to descend?

[mikesmiley]

Yes, I can hand catch. Yes, I've done it more than a few times. Yes, it's sometimes the only way to save your bird from probable damage.

But to imply that this is how everyone should land, every time, is just ridiculous.

PS: And there is another reason carbon fiber props are a dangerous waste of money. Louder, more brittle, not as nearly as balanced, shorter flight times, and they will cut you to shreds.

 

[Erroll]

But to imply that this is how everyone should land, every time, is just ridiculous.
.

Who implied that???

I went through the thread and I found phrases like:

There are lots of locations where it's the only option.

and

when the situation requires it.

but I did not see anyone implying what you are saying!

 

[mikesmiley]

Wow, you're right. Some replies have been deleted or edited since last night. There were folks advocating hand catching every single flight. I swear..

 

[Erroll]

Wow, you're right. Some replies have been deleted or edited since last night. There were folks advocating hand catching every single flight. I swear..

 

[Caveman Bruce]

Hey everyone. I have purchased a phantom 3 pro last week and am really enjoying it. My question is, what is the appropriate way to descend? I have seen videos and read about vortex crashes. Should descent be straight down? full speed, half speed, slow? Also, one, the drone lands, holding the stick down turns the motors off. Does this happen if the stick is held down while the bird is in the air?

Only a combined stick command immediately shuts down the bird. A slow decent is always the best for it gives you time to correct for errors, and wind. Also, think ...a fast decent and landing is a lot harder on the body than a slow easy soft landing.

 

[PhoenixP4]

 

[Michael Humphrey]

View attachment 60095
View attachment 60096

The morrow of the story is???


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[PhoenixP4]

The morrow of the story is???

My text didn't display. The moral is that i've had many successful hand captures, this weekend something went very wrong and the bird flipped and cut the hell out of me. I was the first drone attack victim in my local ER. The power down didn't work and the emergency motor shut off procedure has changed for my phantom P4 to left stick in and press RTH button, and in three seconds it took me to remember that I got cut up pretty good. It is a danger to hand catch and these machines can do more damage than I would've thought possible. It's just something to remember and I recumbent whenever possible just land it.


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[Michael Humphrey]

I'm glad you are ok.
My confidence level is to low to hand catch. I teach safety and cannot get my brain to buck the system.


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[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I'm exactly the opposite. Hand-catching seems the safest for me and it's where my confidence lies. Landing on the ground and watching it bounce around, fearful for the now famous "turn over and squeal" maneuver, I had catch.

Chris

 

[impilot51]

I really don't get all the bouncing around on landing. Bring it in slow, control the descent rate, set it down gently, them hard down left hand stick to shut off motors. It's called learning to truly control your phantom, and something I derive a lot of satisfaction in doing precisely each and every flight. Ok, I have hand caught a couple of time on a beach to keep it out of sand .... Hand launched too. But that's due to conditions only..I love a precise manually flown landing!


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[m0j0]

It is not hard to land these things. Not at all. I rarely land mine though. It is primarily because I am always flying in the desert. I just don't want to put it on the ground. Additionally, I dont want to put it down on an uneven surface. These two scenarios equal about 80% of my flights. Add in windy conditions.... that's another 10%. So, rarely are the conditions optimal for me to put mine on the ground. I don't understand why it would bounce on a landing though. I have heard of Yuneecs bouncing but not Phantoms. If it is bouncing consistantly, you are probably landing too hard. Go a little easier on the sticks these things are super stable.

 

[Bob N]

I studied the forums and learned not to do the CSC in the air and on landing. Never fallen out of the sky, nor flipped and never tipped over. I do have the Polar extended feet so that the Phantom has a wider footprint.

The FAA considers the Phantom an aircraft so I try to treat it like one. Early on, I noticed that when landing, I had a lot of bouncing around. I learned this is simply ground effect. I was flying a bit too timidly and needed to pick a spot to land and bring it in. The solution was to fly thru it. So when I come in for a landing, I line up over my target, a Hoodman Landing Pad (you can't miss it, it is BRIGHT orange), and then pull the throttle all the way down with virtually no bouncing around. And with throttle all the way down the bird shuts off.

This is not to say I'm perfect at it, for sure! (But I'm working on it. _

 

[PhoenixP4]

It's not "bouncing around" for me as the reason I have used hand-catching in the past--it's just when landing on grass it can be sufficiently uneven (and it doesn't take much) that when the motors die it can tip to one side and frequently break propellers. I'll be taking a landing pad of a large box top or some even surface out into the wild from now on.


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[SteveN76]

I have had the bouncing affect before. I have done the hand catch and have had success. The only reason I still hand catch is I get a compass error almost every time I land. I have to restart the bird to clear it.


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[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I'll be taking a landing pad of a large box top or some even surface out into the wild from now on.
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The thing about bringing a landing pad is that you have to have a surface that's already kind of stable to begin with. I mean, if the ground is solid and flat, but has lots of dirt/sand, then yes. But if you don't have an already flat/solid surface, like unmowed grass, your landing pad is on a rather soft and spongy surface. Tip-over city!

I carry a collapsible car windshield shade. Those of you photographers with those round, collapsible reflectors: same thing, only lots cheaper. It's very portable, fitting in my my tablet and sunhood. But I only use it to take off from dirty/sandy surfaces and still hand catch in those situations.

 

[skipilot1]

I land with it facing away from me, and like above try and land a bit like a plane until its infront of me, I never hand catch though, I don't understand why any one ever does that unless the ground is wet, all you have to do is hold the throttle down, and eventually it stops.

At first I thought you had to do the kill command so my bird did flip, so I'm wondering if people don't realize you just hold the throttle down and this will kill the motors too?

I bring it in down and toward me like a plane, then I stop and spin it around with the back toward me and bring it in for a hand catch.