Tired of hard landing with RTH

[dgd3]

Alternatively when aircraft arrives, cancel RTH and hand catch it or land manually. Using a soft landing pad is a risky proposal.

Hand catch...

 

[DavidN747]

I'm with the hand catchers, do it probably 90% of the time, as safe as can be if done correctly, especially on any kind of uneven terrain. Stop mid air at an appropriate height above you, let it hover, walk in under and hold with the vertical part of a leg, shut off motors, then you're done. Too easy & 100% safe. Also, I much prefer to have it hovering, stationary, and then move myself under it to catch it rather than the opposite, much safer then having the Phantom moving.

The other thing is why on earth use a RTH auto landing?
If you must use RTH then by all means do so, but take over manual control when it's getting close and then hand catch as above OR manual land. It makes no sense at all to do auto landings when there is no need to. I just don't get why you would do that.
(I hardly ever use RTH anyway. Why would you???)

Cya
Safe flying.

 

[Matchlock]

With my Phantom 4 Pro I use one of those PGYTECH round landing mats and so far it's never missed it. That's hundreds of landings on both the orange and the blue sides. The color seems to make no difference at all on the accuracy. I find the secret is to ascend to about 15 ft. and wait until I get the "Home Point" voice before going off into the wild blue yonder. Haven't tried it on my new Mavic Pro yet though but will this Sunday if the weather's good.

Bud

Yes, I would like a smaller pad, 8x8 is a bit much but after my last 3 landings - 3ft, 5ft, then 8ft away from HP makes me a little concerned. And this is with 18 sattellites at take off, not sure if it losses some I have to check - but launching by a lake is windier that I can say.

I am not going with 8x8 - 5x5 the most and make sure when I calibrate make sure there is nothing blocking the view.

 

[Matchlock]

In my opinion, catching a drone at eye level is a recipe for disaster. I never let it descend lower than about a foot above my head. I'm usually sitting in a wheelchair and there's no way I could get out of the way fast enough if something went wrong. That young lady is taking a huge risk hand catching at eye level like that.

Bud

Hand catch...

 

[pomonabill220]

In my opinion, catching a drone at eye level is a recipe for disaster. I never let it descend lower thank about a foot above my head. I'm usually sitting in a wheelchair and there's no way I could get out of the way fast enough if something went wrong. That young lady is taking a huge risk hand catching at eye level like that.

Bud

While watching that video, I had the same though, and cringed at what could have happened to her... face/eyes/nose/mouth/teeth... ya know, all the things that could really mess a person up!

 

[r62ewa]

I never use RTH always fly it myself, I also always hand catch when landing, has anyone ever took off from holding the drone, sometimes the ground is not always ok to take off

I have done a manual hand launch where I start the motors and then take off and I've also used auto-takeoff where I hold the drone and then just swipe the screen to auto-takeoff and just release when she's ready to go, both have worked well. I have hand launched from both land and boat and had no issues yet but it's not a normal practice, I would always hand catch but have come to enjoy the manual landing.

 

[Fester]

With the down vision and sonar, shouldn't the Phantom 4 slow down as it prepares to land in the RTH mode?

 

[Jthomp]

Take it from someone who has been there: Getting chopped up by a drone prop is no fun. Had one slice my arm up pretty badly on one occassion and it was several weeks before the wounds healed up. Also had to grab one that was making an erratic take-off - as in trying to "take off" my head when it malfunctioned (the drone malfunctioned - not my head!). Nearly lost a finger and a thumb that time.

No, I now stand waaaay clear of my drones when they are in flight, no matter how much I trust them to behave properly. I'll take abusted-up drone over loss of fingers, and eye - or something worse - any day.

 

[Bossifrance]

I am going to the craft store and get an 8x8 half inch foam cutout and make my own pad. The foam will help with the hard landings for rth harder than manual landings which in the long run will stress out the landing gear and craft.

April fool?

 

[Matchlock]

I think that some people really think they're just harmless toys and don't think before flying them. I hate to think what will happen one day with people like that flying these things near people.

Bud

While watching that video, I had the same though, and cringed at what could have happened to her... face/eyes/nose/mouth/teeth... ya know, all the things that could really mess a person up!

 

[Fester]

I think that some people really think they're just harmless toys and don't think before flying them. I hate to think what will happen one day with people like that flying these things near people.

Bud

By observation its pretty clear that a very large majority of people aren't thinking at all, regardless of subject. The trouble is that increasing use of technology allows their lack to forethought to land on somebody else's head at Terminal Velocity...

 

[pomonabill220]

Just remember.... you are flying a Ninja blender! (or insert your favorite food processor here).

 

[John Locke]

When flying my gliders on calm days I would very often do a left hand catch on the nose/skid area while keeping my right hand on the right stick for small rudder/elevator corrections. My gliders were generally of the "floater" class and flight speeds were fairly low.

I've flown slope soring gliders for 40yrs and hand caught 90% of the time. I find catching my phantom a lot easier.

 

[John Locke]

I find the secret is to ascend to about 15 ft. and wait until I get the "Home Point" voice before going off into the wild blue yonder.

I don't leave the ground till I hear the home point confirmation voice, but that's me.

 

[GTFD2]

While hey were putting 15 stitches in my arm the doctor commented how common this is. No more for me. I'd much rather replace a few props and keep my body whole.

 

[JB63]

I know this thread has taken some interesting 'directions' but one fact remains: The OP, while sharing with us his unfortunate event, has heightened our 'appreciation' as to how these birds (and their blades) are dangerous and need to be treated with the utmost respect/care.
And for this ... we should be thankful to him.

 

[Southern Style]

I know its a totally different drone, but I find it much safer to hand catch my racing drone.. LOL... I hover in front of me, flip the kill switch and let it fall 6 inches into my awaiting hand. The blades are off prior to it even touching my hand.. But that's a totally different aircraft..

 

[jsposito]

To the original topic: if you want a smoother landing, you never auto-land. Manual landing is much smoother if you know how to fly.

As has always been mentioned, RTH can be cancelled just before landing so you can land manually.

Having a large piece of foam is totally not necessary considering the above. However, if you still chose it, there's no harm in doing it as long as you're taking off near your car. The first time you pack your rig away from your car, you're going to have to know how to do without either of those.

Hand catching is safe. It's also the least stressful on the craft. As with all things, that's assuming you're do it right. Out of hundreds of hand-catches, every single one of them were without personal injury or craft damage / stress. That's 100%.

Personal anecdotes about never hand-catching with legacy RC UAVs without a super-stabilized hover, especially planes and gliders that do not hover at all, is really kind of silly.

The guy who tried to walk away with a still-flying craft is missing at least a few aspects of how this thing works. It's not really a good example of how hand-catching works, or how it can go south on you if you follow the basic rules.

Speck

Yes, switching from auto to manual for a softer landing is best. But, If I do choose to auto land I would like that pad to absorb some of the shock. Hand catching is out of the question for me now because in doing so the tab on the vertical part of the landing gear "snaps out" somewhat and I have to snap it back in place. When I hand catch the weight of the p4 leans to the opposite side - I cannot imagine over the long haul that the added weight where we catch is not going to give, ie, stress, crack, or antenna tab snapping out or misaligned.

 

[IndyRob63]

Always hand catch unless I am on pristine (read, clean concrete!!) surface and never had an issue. Just grab the vertical legs and shut down the props. It's really not that hard folks!!! -The Dude.

 

[Matchlock]

Actually, if you hand catch a P4 just grab the leg as high as you possibly can. What I do is grab the leg really high, and then I wrap my thumb and first finger up over the arm and it doesn't even tip over, period!!

My hands aren't really large so I think just about anyone could do it that way. Here's a photo I just took for ya!!

Bud

Yes, switching from auto to manual for a softer landing is best. But, If I do choose to auto land I would like that pad to absorb some of the shock. Hand catching is out of the question for me now because in doing so the tab on the vertical part of the landing gear "snaps out" somewhat and I have to snap it back in place. When I hand catch the weight of the p4 leans to the opposite side - I cannot imagine over the long haul that the added weight where we catch is not going to give, ie, stress, crack, or antenna tab snapping out or misaligned.