How can I land the solo drone manually?

J R · Nov 24, 2015

tomnjfl said:
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.

Tom,

We have differing opinions. If your bird is two feet off of your landing zone in a 10-20mph wind and you lose GPS, it'll tighten up your sphincter! Especially if experience with fly:manual is limited. Just my opinion, of course.

Jerry

tomnjfl · Nov 24, 2015

J R said:
Tom,

We have differing opinions. If your bird is two feet off of your landing zone in a 10-20mph wind and you lose GPS, it'll tighten up your sphincter! Especially if experience with fly:manual is limited. Just my opinion, of course.

Jerry

The moment I connect the battery, my sphincter is on high-alert anyway.

Even in full GPS-assisted modes, my thumbs are never off the sticks.

Killboy · Nov 24, 2015

tomnjfl said:
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.

There is a period between having GPS lock and losing GPS lock where it will drift and wander before kicking over to Fly:Manual. Tapping the button instantly switches it over, no drift.

Holding ABPause was not an option at this point, it had already drifted out into the path of the racers, that process takes a second to initiate and would have plopped the Solo down right in their path. All of the racers were wearing full leathers/gloves/helmets and probably would have been fine if it didn't cause a crash, but my Solo would have been totaled.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but looking back the only thing I would have changed would be going for the legs instead of trying to grab it in the top middle between the blades. It was down about knee level, so I instinctively went in from above but couldn't see the blades in the low light conditions. Luckily medical insurance covered most of the cost, and the injuries weren't too serious and healed up pretty quickly. I still have some nerve damage to my pinky that may never go away, and one of the deeper cuts was parallel to the main artery on my wrist, but luckily missed it. I was about an hour from medical help and that one could have been bad. No more CF blades for me.

Dustin · Nov 24, 2015

Pogo said:
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.

Good to hear. Haven't tried my first grab but doing some training on dry land this weekend.

tomnjfl · Nov 27, 2015

OK, so clearly I jinxed myself earlier. Today, I fly the bird up at my parent's place in Vermont. Waited for GPS lock, took off by arming with FLY like I always do. Flew around, got some great shots of their house and the surrounding mountains.

Now the problem. I came in for landing like I always do. Brought Solo down to the ground (still in full GPS "FLY" mode), got to the ground, pulled left stick all the way down and held in there. This time for some reason Solo started to power down, beeped twice and then the left motors powered up and flipped it over. By the way, I had the left stick held full down the entire time. Luckily I was on grass and there was no damage.

So my question is, why? With left stick down why didn't the motors power off? Could it be because the Solo didn't think it was level on the grass? I thought left stick full down would always disarm the motors. It's kind of disheartening.

Vegasrobbi · Nov 27, 2015

tomnjfl said:
OK, so clearly I jinxed myself earlier. Today, I fly the bird up at my parent's place in Vermont. Waited for GPS lock, took off by arming with FLY like I always do. Flew around, got some great shots of their house and the surrounding mountains.

Now the problem. I came in for landing like I always do. Brought Solo down to the ground (still in full GPS "FLY" mode), got to the ground, pulled left stick all the way down and held in there. This time for some reason Solo started to power down, beeped twice and then the left motors powered up and flipped it over. By the way, I had the left stick held full down the entire time. Luckily I was on grass and there was no damage.

So my question is, why? With left stick down why didn't the motors power off? Could it be because the Solo didn't think it was level on the grass? I thought left stick full down would always disarm the motors. It's kind of disheartening.

Well not sure your issue but a few observations I have. I normally hand catch my Solo in FLY or Manual. I grab a leg and hold Solo LEVEL while holding the left stick all the way back in the center.

A few times I rushed it a little and tilted Solo as I held the stick back and when I thought it would power down it powered up trying to self level. When it does this I have to hang on for several seconds while holding Solo level or it won't power down. I think the FC thinks it is still airborne and doesn't power down, sometimes I get a level error after one of these landings.

The other day I landed Solo in FLY with 25 mph winds. I tried to ease it down instead of plant it and the wind raised the front a bit; even though I had the stick all the way back Solo powered up. I gave it forward stick to counter the wind and it gently flipped on it's back. Fortunately I was on grass so no damage.

My M.O. now is hand grab it and hold it level with the left stick all the way down and don't touch the right stick; Solo always powers down for me this way.

Jubalr · Nov 28, 2015

tomnjfl said:
OK, so clearly I jinxed myself earlier. Today, I fly the bird up at my parent's place in Vermont. Waited for GPS lock, took off by arming with FLY like I always do. Flew around, got some great shots of their house and the surrounding mountains.

Now the problem. I came in for landing like I always do. Brought Solo down to the ground (still in full GPS "FLY" mode), got to the ground, pulled left stick all the way down and held in there. This time for some reason Solo started to power down, beeped twice and then the left motors powered up and flipped it over. By the way, I had the left stick held full down the entire time. Luckily I was on grass and there was no damage.

So my question is, why? With left stick down why didn't the motors power off? Could it be because the Solo didn't think it was level on the grass? I thought left stick full down would always disarm the motors. It's kind of disheartening.

I have seen several reports of this going way back to when the Solo was first released. Not sure why Solo will occasionally do this, whether it is uneven ground or something else. However, it can be avoided if you get in the habit of landing in manual mode. This puts you back in control, as opposed to Solo's controller trying to determine if it is done flying.

Vegasrobbi · Nov 28, 2015

I know it's been discussed before, my concern is will Solo power down in manual if the left stick is held down to descend rapidly? My guess is there are inhibitors from the barometer, accelerometer and GPS?

Del · Nov 28, 2015

Vegasrobbi said:
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I know it's been discussed before, my concern is will Solo power down in manual if the left stick is held down to descend rapidly? My guess is there are inhibitors from the barometer, accelerometer and GPS?

Thanks for sharing the video...that was pretty interesting and very informative...

Cheers

tomnjfl · Nov 30, 2015

Jubalr said:
I have seen several reports of this going way back to when the Solo was first released. Not sure why Solo will occasionally do this, whether it is uneven ground or something else. However, it can be avoided if you get in the habit of landing in manual mode. This puts you back in control, as opposed to Solo's controller trying to determine if it is done flying.

That's my point....I WAS landing it manually. It just didn't power down when I landed and held the left stick in the "disarm" position.

I'm certain that it has something to do with the level sensors.

Jubalr · Nov 30, 2015

tomnjfl said:
That's my point....I WAS landing it manually. It just didn't power down when I landed and held the left stick in the "disarm" position.

I'm certain that it has something to do with the level sensors.

There is a difference in landing it 'manually' and being in manual mode. In your description above you state "Brought Solo down to the ground (still in full GPS "FLY" mode)" . If Solo is in Fly mode and you land it by bringing the left stick down, if Solo thinks it is not level it may not power down. Check out this interesting test done by #vegasrobbi..

J R · Nov 30, 2015

Vegasrobbi said:
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I know it's been discussed before, my concern is will Solo power down in manual if the left stick is held down to descend rapidly? My guess is there are inhibitors from the barometer, accelerometer and GPS?

Great video example Rob! Thanks for sharing!

Jerry

timzee · Nov 30, 2015

tomnjfl said:
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.

Same thing happens to me from time to time as well. No discernible reason but a bit unnerving. Anyone know what might cause this?