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Landing on uneven ground

Discussion in 'ALTA 8 Pro' started by David James, Jul 12, 2020.

  1. David James

    David James New Member

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    Greetings
    we are new users of the Alta 8 Pro and Movi Pro. We are also odd ducks in that we are using thus setup for agricultural research purposes. as a result, many of our takeoff/landing areas are on bare ground, usually grasses/low weeds/gravel. last week our drone tipped over upon touchdown and we lost a rotor as we could not shutdown fast enough. A couple of things occurred to me and I was hoping for suggestions or tips...
    • What the best practices for safely landing?
      • Are there setup parameters that we should pay attention to?
    • Should we Kill the Movi before landing?
    • Should we invest in a landing pad?
    • Are there landing gear foot extensions available third-party?
     
  2. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

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    Hi David:
    Sorry about the tip-over. I've heard of some pilots who travel with a sheet of plywood or masonite and use that as a landing pad once it's been suitably stabilized on the rough ground by packing under the corners to get it more or less horizontal. I've used this technique, but I suspect the vertical descent to the pad is better as otherwise I've found that the rotorwash stirs up a lot of airborne crud (technical term).

    My own experience is that landing on something like a table top creates more hazards as the "ground effect" of the table top kicks in suddenly when you're coming in for landing -- and if you're slightly off center you can end up with one rotor not in table top effect and it tips the aircraft alarmingly.

    I've also heard that some pilots do a "ground catch" by bringing the ALTA in above a crew-member who grabs on to it while it's hovering directly over their head -- once securely grabbed, only then does the pilot kill the motors.

    But just thinking about ground catches makes my palms sweaty -- just imagine what might happen if that goes wrong!

    Hope this helps.
    Andy

    Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. :(
    The Ground Is The Limitâ„¢
    ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
     
  3. Jason Smoker

    Jason Smoker Active Member

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    Like Andy said we use a big piece of ply wood. Stomp out/push down/ pull out the grass etc to make it even as possible you can even use a blue sheet first with weights on the corners to stop the crud from flying up. then Put the ply wood onto top this technique works well. stand back when taking off and landing just to be safe lol
     

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