Hi guys,

I know that catching a mavic 3 with hand is not so difficult, but as I will use it on my boat, with winds and swell to shoot whales during the winter season, I'm wondering if those kind of grip really works without affect all drones capabilities? : Ebay Item

Thanks for your advise

in break mode its not too difficult to hand catch, but I have a good understanding of the difficulty with a small boat at sea and downward sensors on. I think if this causes no problems with downward sensors then it looks an interesting prospect , I’d like to see if it works , if it does I’d buy one myself. Following.

Beleive me, with 2m waves and 30Km/h wind, even if my boat is a 32", it is not so easy to hand catch it ;)
But with those kind of grip, it says to turn off downward sensors, what I would do easily as flying over the ocean does not need any sensors...

Considering the OA issues, the size of the props, the power of the motors, and the added complexity of this maneuver while on water, I propose that the best viable option is below.

I hand catch frequently on my pontoon and houseboat, but I'm not in extremely dynamic conditions (waves and such).  If that device doesn't confuse the sensors I'd probably get one too!

I had a same question previously in this post:
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=258270

DJI said they cant guarantee this would work ok.

I must say that i also fly  from a boat, usualy ribs, small boats and big ones.
If we are tallking yachts, they are easy unless they are moving wich is scenario where my phantom 4 pro did excelent job with oem legs of his.
Also Phantom was excelent in any scenario thanks to its legs (waves, wind etc...).

Mavic is a  bit harder to catch if there are waves and wind,  it realy tries to compensate and props are giving very big resistance while you dont have firm spot to hold it safe, not only to fly away, but to rotate in hand and cut you...

Also compared to phantom,  when you put your hand to catch Mavic, you need to be under it, so he will then fly up since he see your hands as a land, and wants to have safe distance, and just then if you still hold down, he will start landing.
On the other hand, Phantom , you just get it closer, and catch it on one leg, and then hold down to start landing and turining engines off,  very easy.

That is one major flaw for me to use it on water, so I need to stick with trusty phantom on this one

I think with the Mavic 3, you cannot turn off the downward sensors. It is possible to hand catch but from a boat with 2m swells would be difficult if you cannot turn off those down sensors. The drone would be trying to stabilise itself in the winds and with the boat rocking up/down back/frnt in the swells would make this very dangerous for you to try.

Suren Posted at 2-5 12:13
I think with the Mavic 3, you cannot turn off the downward sensors. It is possible to hand catch but from a boat with 2m swells would be difficult if you cannot turn off those down sensors. The drone would be trying to stabilise itself in the winds and with the boat rocking up/down back/frnt in the swells would make this very dangerous for you to try.

100% agree.
I actualy won some gig cause previous team had cut everyone on board with mavic/mavic 2 while trying to catch it, and they canceled the event cause they needed to drive them to hospital, and that was a referee boat.

Not that i dont like Mavic series, but DJI should really continue their Phantom series, since there, they are not limited with space and weight, they could put crop size sensor easly. Portability is not everyones 1st major thing and they act as that is main goal for drone design

I do not have an M3 but from what I have read of them it seems to me that switching obstacle avoidance off is a MUST when attempting a boat landing in any sort of sea.
If the bottom sensors can not be switched off then I would suggest putting tape over them to prevent them working. Test this in a safe area on dry land just to see if the drone will fly and if so how it flies.
With regards to stopping the motors. I think that, once the drone has been caught, you will end up having to tilt/roll the drone so that propellors are more or less vertical. Test this on dry land.
In 2m seas I doubt the normal method of stopping the motors in a hand catch, throttle held closed until the motors do stop, will work. Given the almost inevitable motion of the hand holding the drone I think the drone will think it is still in flight and therefore the throttle-held-closed position will not stop the motors.
Ditto the CSC method, in the default CSC response mode, "emergency only", the CSC ONLY works when the drone is still (as in hand held by a still hand or on the ground) or if the drone thinks it has suffered an emergency.
However the CSC should worked if the CSC response mode is set to "Anytime", or what ever the name is, but the position has to be held for a moment or so. PLUS the delay period is likely to be too short for it to be safe to leave the setting at "Anytime"during normal flight. Mavic type drones have been lost because the response was set to anytime and the CSC position was used, inadvertently, whilst the drone was in flight.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 2-5 14:15
I do not have an M3 but from what I have read of them it seems to me that switching obstacle avoidance off is a MUST when attempting a boat landing in any sort of sea.
If the bottom sensors can not be switched off then I would suggest putting tape over them to prevent them working. Test this in a safe area on dry land just to see if the drone will fly and if so how it flies.
With regards to stopping the motors. I think that, once the drone has been caught, you will end up having to tilt/roll the drone so that propellors are more or less vertical. Test this on dry land. In 2m seas I doubt the normal method of stopping the motors in a hand catch, throttle held closed until the motors do stop, will work. Given the almost inevitable motion of the hand holding the drone I think the drone will think it is still in flight and therefore the throttle-held-closed position will not stop the motors.

I think putting tape on sensors might work, but if it comes loose in any way and light gets in then this is likely to play havoc with sensor continually seeing the tape flapping about .

Hi, look at what this guy installed on his M2 Pro : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNSihmXy11o
Those kind of 3D printed legs are may be it is better than a grip, but I can't find where to buy thoses, neither reals tests...

Hello there Chamann. Good day and thank you for sharing these information with us. Just a reminder that it DJI does not recommended hand catching your DJI drone or any DJI drone for safety purposes. Please do not stop the drone by hand, it could be dangerous and please land the said drone and stop the motors by sticks, or use the auto landing function if possible. Thank you for your kind understanding and have a nice day.

DJI Stephen Posted at 2-6 20:30
Hello there Chamann. Good day and thank you for sharing these information with us. Just a reminder that it DJI does not recommended hand catching your DJI drone or any DJI drone for safety purposes. Please do not stop the drone by hand, it could be dangerous and please land the said drone and stop the motors by sticks, or use the auto landing function if possible. Thank you for your kind understanding and have a nice day.

Hi Stephen, of course DJI has no responsability in case of something bad happened

Hand catching on a boat is not a big deal as long as you know what you are doing, meaning you have practice the maneuver first over land, I have hand catch an Inspire 2 from a boat many times in choppy waters, ideally boat is idle and you give your self enough battery to manuver, hover as best as you can and calmly hand catch it,  of course the phantom is easier with the legs to grab on, in the case of the Mavic line, the  Mpro, M2, or M3,  yes you can catch it but is tricky becase not much room to literaly (sneek grab) while at hover on a boat this is more difficult, I think if this handle is strong enough, it is a good alternative as long as it does not interfere with the downward sensors.
If you are doing a paid job, ideally production should know of the risks, and you and or them should have the proper insurannce, in case you loos the drone, at that point ideally, you should have a backup drone, lick your wounds and try again, because on a paid gig, as they say the show must go on. at that point the only real bad thing if you loos a drone over water is the awesom footage you just lost too.

But yes it is a very risky manuver so only try it, like I said, if you know what you are doing and you or production have the proper insurance

When there are winds, waves and swell, it is impossible to make the boat idle.
So the best is to be 2 people, one piloting the drone, the other one catching it, but as the is a mavic 3, I don't want to ask anyone to take the risk and damage it or a finger cutted.

I did some shooting already with success, but always with little winds and calm sea and it was ok (not so easy, but ok).
I had to disconnect all sensors before the catch, otherwise alone, it is very difficult (it is really not the same compare to when you are on the ground).
And I don't really needs sensors in open seas (but I still let them ON when flying)

My fear is more for birds.
I shot a pretty cool scene once, but there was like 50 birds around the drone, very agressives, so I had to fly very high in S mode to leave them and ask the skipper to goes in another area

I bought the grip already, it has been shipped to Europe, I will get it back in July and try it... I hope it will works fine because in winter, it is rare to get less than 30Km/h wind.
Hand catching on a boat depends also how is your boat...

Now regarding insurance, I live in a country where insurance doesn't really exist or are used, so for drones, lol...

Hi did you find a way to land safely on a boat?

I just came back home 2 days ago, but the weather is ..., I can't fly before next week to test the stick...

TonyPHX Posted at 2-5 07:27
Considering the OA issues, the size of the props, the power of the motors, and the added complexity of this maneuver while on water, I propose that the best viable option is below.
[view_image]

I had my Mavic 3 get stuck hovering in the air. I tried grabbing it underneath and flipping it. Forget it, those props put out a lot of thrust. You are indeed asking to get messed up trying to hand catch a Mavic 3.

djiuser_CgYhBqmxP83j Posted at 7-19 09:47
I had my Mavic 3 get stuck hovering in the air. I tried grabbing it underneath and flipping it. Forget it, those props put out a lot of thrust. You are indeed asking to get messed up trying to hand catch a Mavic 3.

Oh heck yes.  I have no doubt.  No thanks, I'm keeping my fingers.  I need them point at others and laugh when they try to hand catch their drones!     : )

Hi,
so after few tries, here are my comment.

First of all, I do hand catching all the times with my M3 when I'm on the ground, as the landing area where I'm is not "safe" and even with strong wind, it is really doable, but on my boat, that's tricky, even if we are 2 people.
I had to ask one of my crew to do hand catching while I'm piloting the drone, Outch, no good...

So I bought the cheap stick from China on Amazon, and it's doing the job!

Indeed, this stick seems to be very fragile, made on a 3D printer, only one little screw, so I need to check it very carrefully when I'm using it, because if it breacks during the hand catching, the drone will fall into the ocean...
So I will try to find another one with a lot better quality (if you find something, please advise!)

Now, regarding the fly with the stick, I haven't notice any difference with the stability. I had to stop all the securities captor for sure, but when you pilot over the sea, it is useless...
I tried with 40km/h wind average, 2m waves and I'm very happy with it.

The guy from my boat crew can catch it very easily now while I'm piloting it!

Here is a video made with the stick, winds around 25Km/h, 1m waves :

^nice video!

Chamann Posted at 7-27 20:11
Hi,
so after few tries, here are my comment.

Excellent video. I would have loved to have done the same while in Alaska watching humpbacks as well as Orcas, but I wasn’t on a private boat. I’m pretty sure I would have been thrown overboard if I tried.

Today, I spent a couple of hours with whales, weather was very fine, only 25Km/h wind and the swell was low...
Hand catching with the stick is very appreciated, I use CSC emergency stop when the drone is catched, I really don't regret the sitck, especially for the low budget price!

Hey all,

I’d like to chime in my experience with hand deploying and catching an M3C from a 110 foot motor yacht. My day job is first mate onboard and most of the best shots are honestly in the worst conditions. At 23kt cruising we don’t exactly come to a stop to catch or deploy. As you can imagine it’s tricky even on a good day. Flying the thing in like an aircraft carrier matching yacht speed and wind speed while another crew member catches. I can confirm that obstacle avoidance can be turned off and in my opinion must for an at sea landing. Haven’t seen this handle in the past but definitely worth a buy. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my height will get skewed taking off above sea level. Seems as though the drone measures baseline sea level from home point rather than the IR sensor in real time. Though the IR only has a range of about 18m it would be useful say sub 10m in real time to relay height based on swell or transitioning from water over solid terrain.

Happy flying,
Trev

Has anybody tried using cut resistant kitchen gloves while hand catching?

Hi All, literally just picked up my M3 classic and pretty disappointed this hasn't been resolved. It's annoying that those downward sensors cant be turned off - has anyone found a workaround? I'm filming sharks next week on a liveaboard which should be too rough but I hate the thought of the drone rising in the air every time i go to grab it. Not a huge fan of the snatching technique sneaking up on it...why something so simple that the M2 has and this drone doesnt frustrates the bejesus out of me!

Nick Thake Posted at 1-19 19:50
Hi All, literally just picked up my M3 classic and pretty disappointed this hasn't been resolved. It's annoying that those downward sensors cant be turned off - has anyone found a workaround? I'm filming sharks next week on a liveaboard which should be too rough but I hate the thought of the drone rising in the air every time i go to grab it. Not a huge fan of the snatching technique sneaking up on it...why something so simple that the M2 has and this drone doesnt frustrates the bejesus out of me!

There is a solution, but it is not official. DJI has removed this setting from the DJI Fly app for greater security.
If you are determined to turn off this setting, there are videos on YouTube on how this can be done.

Hi KokoFresha,
If there is a solution you know on youtube would you give a link ?
You might tell me to find by myself but I'm on liveaboard in the middle of the pacific, it takes me half an hour to download 2min video so it would be really helpful if you have an URL.
Thanks !

Try these, they're designed made by a pro drone operator in Liverpool and he sells them to operators and scientists working at sea, all over the world https://www.upshot.photos/produc ... -pro-catch-handles/