Holding an angry bird by the tail

[Rubik]

Yesterday I flew my TH at the beach. I took off from the foam lid since the beach was rocky. I would hand-catch when done. I'd done this before and it went smoothly then. This time, when I caught the bird, I throttled down until the motors idled then reached for the red button to kill the motors. I probably fumbled the throttle stick a bit trying to hold the controller with one hand while finding the red button. Anyway, the motors went to full power. At that point, I'm holding an angry bird that wants to fly away in the worst way. I repeated the shutdown sequence several times but there was no response. I could not get the motors to idle. Finally, at full throttle, the motors stopped abruptly. I nearly dropped the bird as the forces I was dealing with reversed instantaneously. Yes, I have the latest firmware. Yes, I should have been using the harness on the ST16. But why would the bird not respond to my throttle down command? And why would it stop abruptly like that at full power?

 

[ThunderChicken]

I'm new to all of this but my guess would be is the Typhoon is trying to maintain it's position after being grabbed while flying.

 

[Rayray]

Yesterday I flew my TH at the beach. I took off from the foam lid since the beach was rocky. I would hand-catch when done. I'd done this before and it went smoothly then. This time, when I caught the bird, I throttled down until the motors idled then reached for the red button to kill the motors. I probably fumbled the throttle stick a bit trying to hold the controller with one hand while finding the red button. Anyway, the motors went to full power. At that point, I'm holding an angry bird that wants to fly away in the worst way. I repeated the shutdown sequence several times but there was no response. I could not get the motors to idle. Finally, at full throttle, the motors stopped abruptly. I nearly dropped the bird as the forces I was dealing with reversed instantaneously. Yes, I have the latest firmware. Yes, I should have been using the harness on the ST16. But why would the bird not respond to my throttle down command? And why would it stop abruptly like that at full power?

Holy Moly! I don't know the answers. What I do know is I am glad it was you and not me. I'd a had a cat.

 

[PatR]

One more reason to avoid hand catching as much as possible. With several hundred flights on an H, and many hundreds more on other multirotors, I've yet to initiate a flight where a safe recovery was ever in question. The problem was not one with the H, but one related to your lack of critical thinking capabilities. That you see the problem as one with the flight system amplifies the situation.

The H was designed to be taken off and landed from a flat surface. That people elect to operate it in a manner that is outside of the design parameters makes problems with hand catching one of their own creation, not a design deficiency. Take a moment to think this through because it's applicable to a great many things, not just a flying meat cleaver. Use a chain saw improperly and you can end up with a face full of very unforgiving blade teeth and deadly impact. Would that be the fault of the chain saw?

 

[Hoss]

One more reason to avoid hand catching as much as possible. With several hundred flights on an H, and many hundreds more on other multirotors, I've yet to initiate a flight where a safe recovery was ever in question. The problem was not one with the H, but one related to your lack of critical thinking capabilities. That you see the problem as one with the flight system amplifies the situation.

The H was designed to be taken off and landed from a flat surface. That people elect to operate it in a manner that is outside of the design parameters makes problems with hand catching one of their own creation, not a design deficiency. Take a moment to think this through because it's applicable to a great many things, not just a flying meat cleaver. Use a chain saw improperly and you can end up with a face full of very unforgiving blade teeth and deadly impact. Would that be the fault of the chain saw?

Yup

 

[prathbun]

When hand catching the Typhoon H, all you have to do is push the red button whilst holding on the the landing gear. All that other crap isn't necessary.

Agreed.
Done about a dozen hand-catches with the H, and my sequence is:

1. Bring it to a hover a few feet away with the skids just at or a little over head-height (good idea to keep your face out of the rotor plane)
2. Grab one of the landing-gear struts (firmly)
3. Hold the red button until the motors quit (sometimes more than 3 seconds)

As long as you hold it reasonably still between grabbing it and motor shut-down, it doesn't seem to want correct very much.

 

[Rubik]

Hold the red button until the motors quit (sometimes more than 3 seconds)

Well, that's probably why it finally stopped. Thanks for all the helpful input.

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

No worries. The motors will stop if you hold the start stop button in. If the engines rev up it is just because when you caught it you caused it to move slightly and it tried to correct itself. It happens to me now and then but no worries.

The only drone I have flown that loves to be hand caught is the DJI Phantom line. The DJI Mavic is a different story. If you leave all the obstacle avoidance sensors on (as I do), it will fight you each time you hand catch it. But just like the Typhoon, the motors will stop.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

It does seem the new firmware is a bit more picky about disarming. I often catch my H especially in the wind.

My MO is hover just in front and above me. Once settled I gently grab the LG. One tip is hold the H LEVEL when pulling back the throttle to enter idle mode or pressing red button.

I find holding the H level and still speeds up the power down process since it doesn't fight you. If you move the H it will power back up and you have to wait for it to settle down.

 

[FlushVision]

No worries. The motors will stop if you hold the start stop button in. If the engines rev up it is just because when you caught it you caused it to move slightly and it tried to correct itself. It happens to me now and then but no worries.

The only drone I have flown that loves to be hand caught is the DJI Phantom line. The DJI Mavic is a different story. If you leave all the obstacle avoidance sensors on (as I do), it will fight you each time you hand catch it. But just like the Typhoon, the motors will stop.

I would entirely agree about the Phantoms liking hand catches. I still quite regularly use a Phantom 2 Vision+ and almost never let it land on the ground, no matter how level it is: it so much likes to tip over onto it's props on landing in anything other than the lightest breezes. As an example, on only one of the few times I let it land on the ground was during a flight for CAA approval. On landing it tipped over...fortunately I'd fitted prop guards to the aircraft knowing that I would have to land on the ground and knowing that it was highly likely to tip over.

Conversely, I have never yet hand caught the H. I find it likes to be landed on the ground.

Both aircraft are like chalk and cheese when it comes to landing.

Footnote: I've just updated the firmware on the H and have yet to test fly it so my previous experience of landing it may not hold now. I'll have to test it to see.

 

[Tiburon]

The latest autopilot firmware would not let the motors going on idle unless the drone had landed. So if you handcatch she still thinks - and is right - that she's still in the air. Hence pulling down the stick has no meaning to her. As others wrote, just push the red button and you're done

 

[IRIS]

I can understand the problem of hand catching, as on Tuesday this week I had a problem with the skids not lowering when the switch was flipped, I tried it about 10 times to no effect and even in return to home the landing gear would not come down. So I had to hand catch from the rear of the H and all it took was a small movement for the H to try to compensate and increase power, it took about 30 seconds to get the motors to power down. once powered down and powered off I had to turn the H upside down and cycle the power up to get the landing gear down. haven't been able to test sconce as the weather is a no go at the moment.

 

[Rubik]

I wonder how the TH knows the difference between hovering near the ground and sitting on the ground. Surely, the atmospheric pressure altitude sensor and GPS systems are not accurate enough. The accelerometers can only sense change in velocity. You certainly wouldn't want the motors to go to idle speed if the bird were not on the ground.

 

[Hootz]

I wonder how the TH knows the difference between hovering near the ground and sitting on the ground. Surely, the atmospheric pressure altitude sensor and GPS systems are not accurate enough. The accelerometers can only sense change in velocity. You certainly wouldn't want the motors to go to idle speed if the bird were not on the ground.

A good question to ponder; my thought is the bird knows the difference between no input from the controller (indicating a need to hover and maintain that position) and a descent shown to the controller as elevator down. Also the IPS may come into play if equipped with Real Sense.

 

[mcbutler]

if you catch it then tip it upside down it will stop.

 

[ThunderChicken]

I found this in the new manual for the Typhoon H Pro.

 

[prathbun]

I found this in the new manual for the Typhoon H Pro.

View attachment 4876

Not sure how this relates to the topic...

 

[Kev Waite]

if you catch it then tip it upside down it will stop.

That answer has to a candidate for a Darwin Award!! What is possibly worse than hand catching in the first place is try to turn it upside down to stop the motors. All that will happen is that it will violently try to resist you turning it over!

 

[ThunderChicken]

Not sure how this relates to the topic...

My bad, wrong thread.

 

[Rubik]

That answer has to a candidate for a Darwin Award!! What is possibly worse than hand catching in the first place is try to turn it upside down to stop the motors. All that will happen is that it will violently try to resist you turning it over!

That was my thought also.

 

[DB1]

As much as I think that hand catching is a bad idea I definitely want to know how to do it.

I plan on flying my H Pro with RealSense from my pontoon on the lake. I should be able to land it on the 6 foot x 6 foot bed (rear deck) in calm waters. However if there are a lot of boats on the water landing on a rolling deck would probably not be possible because a flat level surface is required to land normally.

I have bought some prop guards which would offer protection from spinning props. I am not sure what affect the RealSense would have because it does have bottom downward sensor. I've heard that the RealSense will not allow the H to get to close to the ground without the landing gear being down but I haven't tested that to see if that is true. Also if the RealSense is activated coming in for a landing on the back deck would not be possible because even with the Bimini top or canopy collapsed the frame is still vertical it would be seen as an obstacle to the RealSense. I would need to make sure the the RealSense is deactivated and am hoping that it is completely deactivated when switched off. The VERY poorly written manual says nothing about RealSense.

I also want to add some kind of float skids to land on water -at least in an emergency situation to keep the H from sinking. I will go into this by creating a new discussion in the forum.