How can I land the solo drone manually?

[Ian Tan]

I am not sure how to land the solo drone manually. can anyone teach me? thanks

 

[brunoferreiro]

take off slowly to the ground and keep the stick down until the motor shut down in a few seconds

 

[Killboy]

Set the "A" button on the transmitter/controller to "FLY:Manual" in the Solo App/Settings, then tap that button any time to switch to Manual (Alt. Hold technically) non-GPS flight and land or takeoff.

That's what I do because I've had a couple of close calls with GPS signal degradation near the ground and the Solo drifts suddenly sideways or doesn't want to sit down and kill the motors in regular GPS-based "Fly" mode.

 

[regularguyto]

Bring Solo down to about a few feet (perhaps 5-10 feet), then press and hold the FLY button to land it. This is auto-land method. Once Solo land it, motors will shut themselves off. I believe.

 

[mcneely19]

Personally I always takeoff and land manually. Lower left stick until you softly touchdown and pull stick down and left to disarm motors.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Rich]

Yes, remember that the Solo MAY kill the motors if you hold your stick down if it thinks it has landed landed, but it should always kill the motors if you hold the stice full down and full left for a couple of seconds.

Or push a+b+Pause.

I've had good luck with full down and full left.

Also note that you can arm with full down and full right, so no need to always press and hold Fly to start the motors.

 

[RichWest]

Yes, remember that the Solo MAY kill the motors if you hold your stick down if it thinks it has landed landed, but it should always kill the motors if you hold the stice full down and full left for a couple of seconds.

Or push a+b+Pause.

I've had good luck with full down and full left.

Also note that you can arm with full down and full right, so no need to always press and hold Fly to start the motors.

I was unaware of the ability to start or stop by stick operation alone. Have we always had this ability? I don't recall reading of the feature in the manual...the one time I read it....

 

[Killboy]

Yes, remember that the Solo MAY kill the motors if you hold your stick down if it thinks it has landed landed, but it should always kill the motors if you hold the stice full down and full left for a couple of seconds.

Or push a+b+Pause.

I've had good luck with full down and full left.

Also note that you can arm with full down and full right, so no need to always press and hold Fly to start the motors.

So you're saying if you hold left stick down+left while in the air for several seconds, it doesn't check for Landed status first, and it will kill the motors regardless? I'm pretty sure I've flown for many, many seconds with left stick in that position and it didn't shut down. That would be catastrophe waiting to happen.

Haven't tested it, but I'm fairly confident the motors shut down exactly the same whether you're holding the stick straight down, or down left, maybe even down right while armed. Solo checks for Landed conditions, then shuts down motors after a few seconds of fully down left stick.

 

[Jubalr]

I was unaware of the ability to start or stop by stick operation alone. Have we always had this ability? I don't recall reading of the feature in the manual...the one time I read it....

Hey Rich, Yes this was always in there and familiar to those that flew the Pixhawk and APM FCs prior to getting Solo. I use this method to both start and stop the motors. When Sats are acquired and I am ready to go, I hold down/right on left stick to start the motors. I then center the stick and raise it to lift off. To land, I will generally already be in Manual mode and fly the Solo to the ground and the hold left stick down/left to kill the motors.

 

[Pogo]

Set the "A" button on the transmitter/controller to "FLY:Manual" in the Solo App/Settings, then tap that button any time to switch to Manual (Alt. Hold technically) non-GPS flight and land or takeoff.

That's what I do because I've had a couple of close calls with GPS signal degradation near the ground and the Solo drifts suddenly sideways or doesn't want to sit down and kill the motors in regular GPS-based "Fly" mode.

This is REALLY good advice Killboy. I have had several sudden drifts (and resulting crash) when trying to land. I am going to try this and hopefully incorporate it into all my flights once I have configured the "A" button for manual.

 

[RichWest]

Hey Rich, Yes this was always in there and familiar to those that flew the Pixhawk and APM FCs prior to getting Solo. I use this method to both start and stop the motors. When Sats are acquired and I am ready to go, I hold down/right on left stick to start the motors. I then center the stick and raise it to lift off. To land, I will generally already be in Manual mode and fly the Solo to the ground and the hold left stick down/left to kill the motors.

OK, now you're just being an PixHawk/APM snob...

Wow, I really had no clue it could be done on Solo, it was understood "here" that the Solo didn't work that way. This will save me from having to unstick the FLY button on the controller every time its depressed....

 

[jschall]

Landing manually is easy. Pull down on the throttle stick until the motors turn off.

The disarm stick gesture doesn't actually matter. Solo disarms immediately upon landing in FLY or FLY:Manual and the stick gesture won't disarm Solo unless Solo is landed.

 

[Dustin]

Yes, remember that the Solo MAY kill the motors if you hold your stick down if it thinks it has landed landed, but it should always kill the motors if you hold the stice full down and full left for a couple of seconds.

Or push a+b+Pause.

I've had good luck with full down and full left.

Also note that you can arm with full down and full right, so no need to always press and hold Fly to start the motors.

Well ok that certainly isn't easy but close enough for an air grab landing. Wish I could assigned motor shutdown to a single button (maybe long press for shutdown).

 

[Dustin]

Landing manually is easy. Pull down on the throttle stick until the motors turn off.

The disarm stick gesture doesn't actually matter. Solo disarms immediately upon landing in FLY or FLY:Manual and the stick gesture won't disarm Solo unless Solo is landed.

Will anything disarm it from the remote if it doesn't think it has landed? Trying to figure out an air grab landing approach with Solo.

 

[mcneely19]

I pull quickly down and left to avoid an unintentional yaw input by only pulling down. Down and left is against 2 stops and a better reference point.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[jschall]

I wouldn't recommend commanding a yaw on the ground before Solo has detected a landing.

A+B+Pause is the only thing that will disarm Solo while it is flying.

As a 3DR employee and a safety-conscious pilot I wouldn't condone hand catches, but I'd have to say I would love to see someone come up with an accessory to accommodate that - some sort of handle with a disarm button...

 

[jschall]

I pull quickly down and left to avoid an unintentional yaw input by only pulling down. Down and left is against 2 stops and a better reference point.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

ardupilot-solo/motors.pde at master · 3drobotics/ardupilot-solo · GitHub

It doesn't really do anything - it only works because pulling the stick straight down would've worked.

 

[Dustin]

I wouldn't recommend commanding a yaw on the ground before Solo has detected a landing.

A+B+Pause is the only thing that will disarm Solo while it is flying.

As a 3DR employee and a safety-conscious pilot I wouldn't condone hand catches, but I'd have to say I would love to see someone come up with an accessory to accommodate that - some sort of handle with a disarm button...

Well it's not my first choice but seems like the best choice in some situation. Got to find some armored gloves. Not sure how I am going to hit A+B+Pause with my left hand while wrestling the Solo with my right.

 

[Rich]

If it's on the ground, full down and full left works well. It doesn't try to fly away, and this is the normal kill engine command that's been used on the Pixhawk for years.

Note that you don't try this while it's in the air, but after the legs are firmly on the ground. Just pull your stick down to the lower left corner and hold it hard until the motors stop.

Do yourself a favor, remove your props and play with this. It works well!

 

[RichWest]

Did the Left stick Down-Right this AM and it armed the bird....wow.