What to do? Landing gear stuck up!!
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How much do you like your fingers? Advice given to me when one of my landing legs first failed to retract and then both legs failed to retract was to turn H upside down and cycle gear. That worked. No problems since. However, your hypothetical situation is different. I would say you ought to be able to hand catch it by carefully grasping the camera mount, but better you than me when it comes to trying to catch it without damaging your H or your face. I wish you luck.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Not too bad if you hover the H just a little over head, and reach up under it to grab the gimbal while cutting the motors. Larger, but no different in practice than landing a mini multirotor in your hand, except you cut the power and let it settle into your hand instead of setting down onto your hand. Just think about what you need to do a bit before doing it.
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PatR. This is where a neck strap might come in handy because I guess you could position the H just a little over your heard as you mentioned then, with the strap supporting the weight of the ST16 use that left hand to push the red button while grasping the H gimbal with the right. Now if its windy that might make thing a little more difficult. Thanks PatR
I remember somebody posting this scenario about a year ago. Someone mentioned getting in the practice of taking along a five gallon bucket (or similar) when flying. Not only can it hold some lunch, tools, emergency calls of nature (ok, threw that one in to see if anyone paying attention.) But... if this very scenario occurs, the idea is to land on the open side of the bucket.
If nothing else, it'll break the fall if one cuts the motors just above, rather than falling straight down on the camera. Makes one think of practicing those precise landings just a bit more, eh?
Jeff
If nothing else, it'll break the fall if one cuts the motors just above, rather than falling straight down on the camera. Makes one think of practicing those precise landings just a bit more, eh?
Jeff
Here I was thinking I was going to be brilliant by posting to use a bucket. Nope, I'm too late. It does only make sense to always carry with you items like that as well as a fire extinguisher.
Sorry Murray!
Chalk it up to nimble fingers at the moment rather than frozen from flying! Been feeling the need, the need for speed all day. But... barely nudged above 0 (F) today so sadly I have more keyboard time than I had planned.
I almost gave in, but... thought better of it after yesterday's flight in 3 degree (F) clear skies. First flight fine. Second flight had the video feed freeze (literally) for the first time ever. Viewing the video later revealed the camera kept recording, just didn't transmit to the ST16. Power cycling the H brought back the feed.
Thinking better of it, stopped at two flights even though I had three more batteries in my coat pockets.
Hopefully a few degrees warmer tomorrow!
Jeff
P.S. Do I think the H is flawed because of the above (like some seem to think anytime something expected happens)? Heck no! I pushed the envelope just a bit, both out of the "need" to fly" and out of curiosity, just in case some future requests requires me to push it.
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rdonson
Premium Pilot
My TH480 decided it wanted to visit a tree in Dec. The tree was on the bank of a creek which was about 20' lower. The drone decided to rest in the tree about 15-20' above the bank. There was no way for me to climb the tree or get a ladder. My buddy and I could only think of one way to get it out of the tangle of branches. We put a plastic laundry basket on the end of a 20' pole using duct tape and my buddy was responsible for the "catch". I had another pole and as gently as I could, nudged the TH480 out of the tree. My buddy caught it in the basket. I was very lucky. When we hauled in the basket there were the usual broken prop arm clip, a broken landing gear leg and a couple of broken props. Then we noticed the camera was missing. My buddy found it down on the bank but above the creek. The camera needed some repair since it was ripped away but .... I can happily say that all is back together again and seems to be working. Weather permitting I'll do calibrations and tests in the next few days.
The moral of the story is that plastic laundry baskets can be more useful than you'd think.
Ron
The moral of the story is that plastic laundry baskets can be more useful than you'd think.
Ron
PatR
Premium Pilot
Better be real good at putting an H on a dime. It’s a lot more difficult that it sounds. “Back in the day” large hexes and eights in the early days of retractable gear were having problems with one leg hanging up the landing on an open barrel was used to try and save the gimbal. A few didn’t center the barrel as well as they hoped...
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Enjoyed that story Ron!My TH480 decided it wanted to visit a tree in Dec. The tree was on the bank of a creek which was about 20' lower. The drone decided to rest in the tree about 15-20' above the bank. There was no way for me to climb the tree or get a ladder. My buddy and I could only think of one way to get it out of the tangle of branches. We put a plastic laundry basket on the end of a 20' pole using duct tape and my buddy was responsible for the "catch". I had another pole and as gently as I could, nudged the TH480 out of the tree. My buddy caught it in the basket. I was very lucky. When we hauled in the basket there were the usual broken prop arm clip, a broken landing gear leg and a couple of broken props. Then we noticed the camera was missing. My buddy found it down on the bank but above the creek. The camera needed some repair since it was ripped away but .... I can happily say that all is back together again and seems to be working. Weather permitting I'll do calibrations and tests in the next few days.
The moral of the story is that plastic laundry baskets can be more useful than you'd think.
Ron
Or.......(of course there's an or). I had to conduct this trick a couple of time recently. Hover the aircraft within reach, gently set the controller at arm level (I always have a table with me (cheap foldable camping table or my aluminium folding field expedient table), grab the back of the airframe at the lower hump (where the rear light is), and lift the battery tab (carefully), slide battery out about 1/4 inch and hold full weight of aircraft as the power stops.
Some people always hand catch their drones. I've done it in high wind conditions. It's easy with a Typhoon H.
CraigCam
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I won’t hand catch when carbon fiber props are installed. I use the bring it down about 6” above ground and hold red button for those blades. For sure the brass actuator screw inside the gear motor is weak point. My red button drop on my latest purchase - finally got a real sense version - broke the leg mount and destroyed the screw on one side. I did not think the other was damaged. After replacing the one gear motor assembly, I discovered the other side was not raising properly. Yesterday, I disassembled and with some patient bending I was able to almost straighten out the screw. It now raises and lowers to the correct positions but does struggle a bit. I will order another gear motor and set this one aside as a repaired back up. As long as you can get all the washers and bearings back in straight, the traveler screw will move even if there is some resistance. It appears that as long as there is the ability to travel, the motor sensor keeps the motor turning. I greased it well also to help with the less then perfectly straight screw.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Wings,
Up until about 8 years ago I always flew with no neck strap on the transmitter. Some friends and I were out flying foamie fixed wings and doing close in 3D aerobatics and at the end of one flight I decided to hand catch my plane. Great plan but poor execution had me switch the transmitter to my left hand to catch the plane with my right. End result; when I reached out with my right hand to grab the plane from the air reflexes caused me to reach out with my left at the same time. I didn’t have as good a grip on the tx as I should have and ended up throwing a 10 channel Airtronics transmitter across the parking lot, very much to the amusement of the others present. Embarrassing![emoji37][emoji849]. Neck straps became mandatory from that day forward.
The shift to multirotors only emphasized the usefulness of a neck strap, and the weight of an ST-16 makes them even more functional when doing a lot of flights on any given day. They also help assure we maintain antenna orientation relative to the H. I haven’t tossed a transmitter since[emoji3]
No I don't, but there is a YouTube guy in Europe that says he always hand catches his H. I've done it a few times in high wind and a time at the beach when my H did not want to desend the last foot above the sand.
If not the landing gear, curious as to technique. Getting close to those rotors is all I can see.
