You would think that once you launched and flown drone, landing will be piece of cake, right? And most likely it will be – unless, you are constrained. So what are the constrains that cause cause issues and increase risks while landing?
- Movement – one most risky landing maneuver is trying to land on a moving object. Who would want to do that? Well, many people. If you launch off the boat it is very unlikely to hold the position completely, even if it’s anchored. When flying off the boat, it is wise to disable th auto-land feature altogether and to make sure that you will have enough battery power to conclude the landing process. This may include adjusting the drone’s position to actually land on the boat.
- Surface – having landing mat always helps. But if you don’t have one and you are landing on rocks or long grass, make sure you have enough space for props not to hit anything. Be weary of sand as it can damage the motors and gimbal. And of course water – drones do not float (not typically at least).
- Space – another tricky landing are is a balcony, especially one with the roof. Assuming that you successfully manually launched the drone from the balcony, you will have to manually land it. It might be worth to disable sensors for that. This is because if the drone detects area “unsuitable” for landing, it will attempt to lift up. If you have ceiling or a roof in the way it will crash into it. I know it from own experience (unfortunately), so try to avoid landing (and launching) from balconies.
- Hand catch – hand catching your SMALL drone is actually very easy (easier than hand launching), as long as you get it right. As with the “space” constraint – make sure that you either have nothing above your hand or that you disabled the sensors. Your drone is very likely to “protest” against hand catch not seeing your hand as suitable landing space. Once you have firm hold of the drone from the bottom, make sure that motors are not spinning before you bring the drone inside. Practice hand catch in safe environment (over grass). Balcony and boat are NOT right places for hand catch debuts. There are some videos of people flipping drones upside down while hand catching. This looks cool, but it’s risky as the motors will only switch off when the movement is fast enough. If they don’t you can hurt yourself and crash your drone.
Let me know if I missed anything critical 🙂
For instruction on safe hand catch check my Instagram reel and story highlight below 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17935598260920991/