I flew yesterday on the bay here and launched from the beach using a big beach towel.  Takeoff was fine, but when i went to land the winds had picked up (15+ mph), I initiated landing but the Spark missed the beach towel and ended in the sand.  Didn't look like much sand got in the drone, but I blew it out with some compressed air can.  Any advice on landing and taking off from the beach?  landing pads?  or maybe just grab it out of the air.  It was really jumping around as the gusts were hitting it so I'm not sure if I could grab.

Being that the Spark is tailor made for palm landings...why not land it on your palm?

Just use palm launch.
Then overtake with your RC or phone. At the end fly in front of you, camera facing towards you.
Change to mode gesture mode.
Hold your hand under the spark and do a palm land. Take a look at the video tutorials for palm control.

You can hand catch, just grab spark and turn it upside down motors will shut down , its very easy to do just grab it behind vision sensors.

One swift move..

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-7-4 10:08
Being that the Spark is tailor made for palm landings...why not land it on your palm?

I was thinking of that, but it was jumping all over the place in the wind.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-4 10:27
You can hand catch, just grab spark and turn it upside down motors will shut down , its very easy to do just grab it behind vision sensors.

One swift move..

I'm going to try that, although the spark was really getting pushed all over by the wind.  it was trying its best to maintain a static position but the wind was really gusting.

lfkiter Posted at 2017-7-4 11:12
I'm going to try that, although the spark was really getting pushed all over by the wind.  it was trying its best to maintain a static position but the wind was really gusting.

Here's a video you will see it's pretty simple but be careful. It's a lot easier than trying to land with your palm opened.

lfkiter Posted at 2017-7-4 11:12
I'm going to try that, although the spark was really getting pushed all over by the wind.  it was trying its best to maintain a static position but the wind was really gusting.

Just my 2 cents - if I were going to attempt a hand catch on a very windy day, I'd have the prop guards on - might save you from needing a band-aid or three.

I use this landing pad  It comes with for stakes so it won't move in windy conditions.  It also works great in the grass -- keeping the gimball free from taller grass and/or wet grass.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-7-4 12:41
Just my 2 cents - if I were going to attempt a hand catch on a very windy day, I'd have the prop guards on - might save you from needing a band-aid or three.

Ya, I had the prop guards on, but I am thinking that the guards actually cause a lot of drag in the wind, and are catching alot of the gusts.  I tested without guards in breezy conditions yesterday and it did much better.

Jimmers Posted at 2017-7-5 04:13
I use this landing pad  It comes with for stakes so it won't move in windy conditions.  It also works great in the grass -- keeping the gimball free from taller grass and/or wet grass.

Ya, that looks pretty nice.  We have this very very fine sand here, so I'm trying to avoid launching and landing from the beach.  When it's blowing over 15mph, sand will move down the beach.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-4 10:27
You can hand catch, just grab spark and turn it upside down motors will shut down , its very easy to do just grab it behind vision sensors.

One swift move..

Hi, I've seen video on youtube showed this. Could you please help to answer one concern that if this method can affect the drone somehow? Compass sensor for example?

Why don't you get one of these landing pads, http://amzn.to/2u6DI6v they fold up around 1/4 of the size, or you could do palm landing

You don't even need to switch it into the Gesture mode / Palm landing, to land it in your hand. Just select the "land at current position" and then put your hand underneath it and the downward sensors will recognize your hand as the ground.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-7-4 12:41
Just my 2 cents - if I were going to attempt a hand catch on a very windy day, I'd have the prop guards on - might save you from needing a band-aid or three.

Prop guards protect the props better than they protect fingers - especially in windy weather.  Wear a thin glove and do a grab.  Alternatively try to manually land. Blowing sand on the beach is hard to avoid.

Just hover right in front of you, grab it out of the air and flip upside down, I have been doing this on my boat without prop guards without issue. It's remarkably stable even in the wind, from what I've seen.