Landing in "manual" mode

[mbgt72]

Just curious, I like flying around in manual mode, but when it comes to landing, it seems the motors don't like to shut off until you can manage to press the A+B+Pause. This is rather difficult when as soon as you let go of the left stick the motors kick back in some power.

In normal fly mode when I manually land, the motors shut off after about a 1sec delay. Am I missing something here to shut the motors off when in full manual mode? Do you need to press and hold the Fly button like you do to arm the motors?

Thanks for possibly a silly question.

 

[CirrusPilot]

You must tell Solo, via the Controller, you want to land by pressing the FLY button.. When you're in manual mode and and fly it down to the ground it just thinks you're still flying, albeit on the ground. The A+B+Pause is the Emergency Shut off, as you already know.

Hope that helps.

 

[CirrusPilot]

FYI - 3 ways to activate a landing. RTH procedure. or Press and hold FLY to land directly below current position of Solo or press Fly and release for manual landing.

 

[mbgt72]

Ah. Gotcha. Yea my main concern was being able to land if gps was lost/not strong. Sometimes I'll fly into areas of less gps coverage but put it into manual mode prior but then when landing it seemed difficult to get motors to shut down.

I'll give it a try tomorrow. Sounds like when ~5' or so off the ground I need to press just press the fly button before landing. Or do I press and hold the fly button once on the ground while still holding full throttle out on the left stick? (Assuming not using RTH or auto land)


Thanks for the input. Also, love the cirrus planes, great machines.

 

[Rich]

So far I have landed using two different methods:

1) Press and hold the FLY button, until it registers a RTH and auto land.

2) If I'm flying 'manually', not using the 'manual' flight mode, but just by flying when the 'Fly' button has been pressed to exit from one of the flight apps like Orbit, or Cable cam, I can just lower the throttle stick and the bird will come down. I slow down the decent as it gets close to the ground. When it it finally on the ground, I hold the throttle stick all the way down, and then the motors shut off and the Solo disarms (stops the motors from rotating and waits to press Fly again to spin up the rotors again).

I haven't played with the 'manual' flight mode other than taking off manually by first pressing Fly to arm (getting the rotors spinning), then raising the throttle stick until take off occurs.

 

[mbgt72]

So far I have landed using two different methods:

1) Press and hold the FLY button, until it registers a RTH and auto land.

2) If I'm flying 'manually', not using the 'manual' flight mode, but just by flying when the 'Fly' button has been pressed to exit from one of the flight apps like Orbit, or Cable cam, I can just lower the throttle stick and the bird will come down. I slow down the decent as it gets close to the ground. When it it finally on the ground, I hold the throttle stick all the way down, and then the motors shut off and the Solo disarms (stops the motors from rotating and waits to press Fly again to spin up the rotors again).

I haven't played with the 'manual' flight mode other than taking off manually by first pressing Fly to arm (getting the rotors spinning), then raising the throttle stick until take off occurs.

^This doesn't apply when in "full manual" mode which is what I was referencing. I still haven't gotten back out since CirrusPilot posted, but I will try to soon. I think it basically just boils down to the "Fly" button has to be pressed prior to landing to allow the motors to shut down once on the ground.

 

[Rich]

I was playing with 'fly manual' and 'fly stabilize' yesterday and I didn't notice any issues, but I may not have tried to shut down the motors. The next time I'm flying, I'll test it to see if it works with just the sticks to kill the motors.

 

[Rich]

I specifically tested this today.

When in 'Fly Manual' mode, after landing, hold the throttle stick all the way down and the motors will stop spinning and the Solo will disarm.

When in Stabilize mode, after landing I could not stop the motors with the throttle stick (or I just didn't wait long enough), I had to use the A+B+Pause combination to stop the props from spinning and to disarm the Solo.

 

[Wrexalot]

I just had this issue this morning! Descended to about 5 feet off the ground pressed and held the fly button so solo started its landing procedure was about a foot off the ground and it lost GPS lock! Started drifting off to the right heavily so I corrected with the stick. And tried to bring it in for a manual landing. It touchdown but the motors would not shut off. As soon as I let go of the left joystick to hit the A+ B+ pause to disarm the motors solo must have thought it was still in the air because it lifted slightly and continued to try to correct is location (I guess) so it rolled into its top! Damn! 4 broken props and a scuffed arm and motor!

 

[Jubalr]

I just had this issue this morning! Descended to about 5 feet off the ground pressed and held the fly button so solo started its landing procedure was about a foot off the ground and it lost GPS lock! Started drifting off to the right heavily so I corrected with the stick. And tried to bring it in for a manual landing. It touchdown but the motors would not shut off. As soon as I let go of the left joystick to hit the A+ B+ pause to disarm the motors solo must have thought it was still in the air because it lifted slightly and continued to try to correct is location (I guess) so it rolled into its top! Damn! 4 broken props and a scuffed arm and motor!

Sorry to hear that, but it sounds like a lot of thought went in to your user name.. (just kidding!).
You said you were trying to land manually, but did not say that you put it in manual mode? Keep either A or B programmed to manual and use it for landing, you will like it. When you land in manual, just hold the left stick down and to the left and Solo will shut the motors off.

 

[brunoferreiro]

you can land without pressing Fly button or A+B+pause, if you land manually and still pressing the stick down for a few seconds, the solo stops automatic as in fly mode or return to home

 

[Raybro]

I have not tried auto land yet.

 

[DodgeP]

If you're flying around in man. mode why not just land it manually? I had solo out this morning and only flew in manual. I have never auto landed anything I've flown.

 

[tomnjfl]

you can land without pressing Fly button or A+B+pause, if you land manually and still pressing the stick down for a few seconds, the solo stops automatic as in fly mode or return to home

But how does Solo know it's on the ground...if you've lost GPS, for example?

 

[Solo58216]

I believe it uses a barometric sensor for elevation and will disarm when it senses that the power is being deceased but elevation is not. I think it has a barometric sensor in the controller as well and that you need to keep it out of the prop wash or it mess up the readings.

Just as in GPS you can land at different heights then where you took of from. So you don't have to come back to the same place.

 

[z-axis]

Guys!!!

Stick full down and Yaw Full Left will disarm motors.

None of this A+B+Pause stuff.

 

[redriderroy]

And remember you can Arm the same way. Stick FULL DOWN and YAW FULL RIGHT to arm. The Solo still has a PixHawk controller and can be controlled the same way as the other 3DR birds. I'm so used to flying my Iris+ and X8 and that's the Arm/Disarm procedure as we have no Fly buttons on those.

 

[tomnjfl]

And remember you can Arm the same way. Stick FULL DOWN and YAW FULL RIGHT to arm. The Solo still has a PixHawk controller and can be controlled the same way as the other 3DR birds. I'm so used to flying my Iris+ and X8 and that's the Arm/Disarm procedure as we have no Fly buttons on those.

Does that work in GPS flight mode as well, or just in fly:manual?

I'm curious because sometimes I have a hard time getting GPS lock on the ground, but it's fine once I'm in the air. If I could take off with that method, and then just let GPS lock automatically happen once in the air, that would be GREAT!

 

[redriderroy]

It will work in Fly mode as long as you have GPS lock. If you don't have lock it will not arm. You can switch to Fly:Manual Mode (Altitude Hold) and can ARM with the left stick method without GPS lock as Fly:Manual does not require lock or use the GPS.

The left stick Arm/Disarm mode is really not different then pressing the Fly button. It just lets you Arm/Disarm without pressing a button and keeping your hands on the sticks until the propellers stop. It makes disarming a breeze when Solo doesn't disarm once it lands.

And if you ever get the chance to fly older 3DR products you will already know how to Arm/Disarm. Left stick down and right to arm and down and left to disarm. (Arming will only work after pressing the safety switch)

 

[Del]

Does that work in GPS flight mode as well, or just in fly:manual?

I'm curious because sometimes I have a hard time getting GPS lock on the ground, but it's fine once I'm in the air. If I could take off with that method, and then just let GPS lock automatically happen once in the air, that would be GREAT!

But just remember.. If you take off with out a GPS lock.. Then your RTH will be where ever your Solo got the last GPS lock!!
So make sure you land Manually..!

Just saying