How can I land the solo drone manually?

[Jubalr]

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

Great. Glad you tried it out. And from there you can just raise the throttle to take off and not use the 'Fly' Button.

 

[RichWest]

Great. Glad you tried it out. And from there you can just raise the throttle to take off and not use the 'Fly' Button.

I'm rocking with the stick method now, thanks. This has made life easier, again...

 

[Pogo]

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.

Dustin, I have done a number of air grab landings. Just about all of them were flawless. I would hover the bird at about 5 feet and wait to make sure there were no gusts or anything to cause it to correct. Then carefully reach up under the solo and grab main body and then down and left on left joystick. You have to do this in one quick motion. Now I did have one time where I did the grab but my timing was off and the bird was trying to take off as I was trying to grab it. I had to wrestle it for a full minute. I almost panicked but remembered that the solo motors will kill themselves when the bird is upside down. So I quickly inverted it with a strong grip and the motors were killed instantly. This is a great way to land th bird when on a boat or where there is nor safe landing but plan a head, be ready and make sure th bird is still.

 

[Cpt Tylor]

I caught solo by hand yesterday and powered it down via the battery button. One of the props flew away!

 

[Brannon Hagenson]

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.

Great advice here, one question for you, once you take off in manual mode, how do you switch back to GPS flight, by settings in the solo app right?

 

[RKGmedia]

Seems to be some confusion here. Flying in manual mode is one thing. Taking off or landing in GPS mode "manually" is something else.You should always let solo acquire GPS lock before takeoff it you can. Then if you want to switch into true manual mode to take off you will at least have GPS home location (if you switch back to GPS mode) later if you need it.

 

[J R]

Seems to be some confusion here.

RKG,

Very good point! I always take-off and land "manually" (not using the fly button), most of the time in GPS mode. I do like to take-off and land "manually" in manual mode to sharpen my skills. I will always wait for good Sat lock before I take-off or land in any mode. It would be nice to find a distinction between the two "manual" words we keep using here. I'd hate to see an inexperienced person attempt to take off in manual mode because of confusing terminology.

Jerry

 

[Rex Barlow]

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

I do too and drama landing! 90% 10% automatic

 

[Killboy]

Great advice here, one question for you, once you take off in manual mode, how do you switch back to GPS flight, by settings in the solo app right?

If you tap the Fly button, it switches back to normal GPS-based flight.

 

[Killboy]

Seems to be some confusion here. Flying in manual mode is one thing. Taking off or landing in GPS mode "manually" is something else.You should always let solo acquire GPS lock before takeoff it you can. Then if you want to switch into true manual mode to take off you will at least have GPS home location (if you switch back to GPS mode) later if you need it.

Agreed, try not to lift off until GPS lock is required. Otherwise you could end up in a scenario like transmitter battery dies, Solo returns to "Home", but home is some place up in the air, so it hovers there until the battery drops to 5%, then lands directly below wherever that is.

Sometimes I can't get GPS lock where I launch from due to being in a small clearing surrounded by trees, so I take it straight up, and hold it there until it gets GPS lock. Worst case it at least comes back to a hover over that clearing.

 

[RobertDangerByrd]

This will save me from having to unstick the FLY button on the controller every time its depressed....

That is an easy fix, take the transmitter apart and scrape the inside of the hole with something sharp. Like scissors or an exacto knife. I recommend taping the face to protect from slips.

 

[tomnjfl]

Seems to be some confusion here. Flying in manual mode is one thing. Taking off or landing in GPS mode "manually" is something else.You should always let solo acquire GPS lock before takeoff it you can. Then if you want to switch into true manual mode to take off you will at least have GPS home location (if you switch back to GPS mode) later if you need it.

THIS ^^^

Remember, if you take off without GPS lock and then switch to GPS flight mode, then Solo will think that the position at which it acquired GPS lock is the "home" position...which it will attempt to return to if you hit RTH, or your controller malfunctions and it tries RTH. I say ALWAYS wait for full GPS lock before you take off.

As for the landing, you don't have to switch to Fly:Manual before doing a manual landing. I do it all the time now, since I don't trust the automatic landing. It seems to me that Solo is VERY sensitive to landing on slightly uneven surfaces, and I've had a few close calls where it lands but then suddenly powers back up. So to avoid that I always land it manually, even in full GPS fight mode. To land it and disarm the motors, just slowly come down to the ground, gently get Solo on the ground and just hold the left stick all the way down for about 1 second. Voila. By far the safest and most reliable way to land.

 

[RichWest]

That is an easy fix, take the transmitter apart and scrape the inside of the hole with something sharp. Like scissors or an exacto knife. I recommend taping the face to protect from slips.

Thanks for the insight. Always thought the buttons were retained to the cover housing, will give it a try.

 

[Killboy]

....So to avoid that I always land it manually, even in full GPS fight mode. To land it and disarm the motors, just slowly come down to the ground, gently get Solo on the ground and just hold the left stick all the way down for about 1 second. Voila. By far the safest and most reliable way to land.

Assuming you have solid GPS reception all the way to the ground at your landing zone. That is not always the case, and my Solo put me in the hospital getting 15 stitches because I tried to land like that and it started drifting sideways right toward an active motorcycle race I was filming. Had to grab it mid-air in the dark. You do you, but I will never again bring it all the way to the ground in GPS-based flight. Expensive painful lesson learned for me.

 

[RichWest]

That is an easy fix, take the transmitter apart and scrape the inside of the hole with something sharp. Like scissors or an exacto knife. I recommend taping the face to protect from slips.

You were spot on, thank you! Think they could put another short wired plug in there...

 

[redriderroy]

Jerry,

We could always call "Fly Manual" what it realy is in Pixhawk - Altitude Hold. Also "Fly" mode is Loiter. Everything else seems to be named correctly.

I always wait for GPS lock for the Home point to be received. I take off manually by arming left stick down and right and then move the stick bottom center then throttle up. I land in reverse. For me it's probably muscle memory from flying my other 3DR products. I have used the auto take-off twice just to see if it works. I've used land about three times, About 75% of the time I land in Altitude Hold mode as well becuase I can make small corrections and I like to remain in control close to the ground.

 

[J R]

Jerry,

We could always call "Fly Manual" what it realy is in Pixhawk - Altitude Hold. Also "Fly" mode is Loiter.

Red,

Sounds good to me, Fly Manual. I usually wait for GPS lock and hit the Fly button to arm, then throttle up to take-off. Just the sequence I started using with the Solo. I land same as I do with the "white" ones. I usually "back-in" to stay out of the video and bring her straight down to me at an angle, back and down at the same time, put her on the ground and just hold the stick down until the motors shut-off.

Jerry

 

[tomnjfl]

Assuming you have solid GPS reception all the way to the ground at your landing zone. That is not always the case, and my Solo put me in the hospital getting 15 stitches because I tried to land like that and it started drifting sideways right toward an active motorcycle race I was filming. Had to grab it mid-air in the dark. You do you, but I will never again bring it all the way to the ground in GPS-based flight. Expensive painful lesson learned for me.

But if you don't have solid GPS reception, the Solo will default to Fly:Manual, which is what you say you use anyway, so what's the difference?

Also, next time, don't try to catch it. Just hold A/B/Pause at the same time for half a second and the motors will shut down.

 

[J R]

But if you don't have solid GPS reception, the Solo will default to Fly:Manual, which is what you say you use anyway, so what's the difference?

Also, next time, don't try to catch it. Just hold A/B/Pause at the same time for half a second and the motors will shut down.

Tom,

There is a big difference. If your bird is two feet off the ground and automatically switches to fly manual, you're going to bo caught of guard and corrective action may have to be very dramatic. If, on the other hand, you're coming down already in fly manual you're already coming in to land in a controlled fashion. The possible surprise and dramatic action has been negated.

Jerry

 

[tomnjfl]

Tom,

There is a big difference. If your bird is two feet off the ground and automatically switches to fly manual, you're going to bo caught of guard and corrective action may have to be very dramatic. If, on the other hand, you're coming down already in fly manual you're already coming in to land in a controlled fashion. The possible surprise and dramatic action has been negated.

Jerry

Maybe I should have clarified. When I land it "manually" while still in full GPS flight mode, I don't activate the auto-landing sequence. I just start to bring it down to the ground myself by using the controls....so I can't really be caught off guard because I'm already fully controlling it's approach to the ground. Once I touch down, just full down on the left stick and motors are off.

I can see how it would catch you off guard if you were using RTH or FLY to land and it suddenly switched to Fly:Manual, but if you're fully controlling it anyway, then there should be no surprises, even with GPS loss.