I purchased an AIR 3 around a week ago, so far I've flown it a thew times, gotten confident with hand take offs and basic manuvers. I own a phantom 3 which I have hand landed but I havent flown it for years and the batteries are dead. Obviously DJI doesnt recommend hand landing the air 3, but often times it is the only or best method to use, when on a small boat, in thick foliage, wading, etc. I've tried turning sports mode on and raising my hand up to catch it but the drone always rises to avoid my hand. From what I've seen on youtube and some forums, the only real way to land it is to turn on sports mode and trigger and automatic landing and then catch it while it is descending. This method doesnt seem bad but I am not confident to try it without control of the decent speed. Does anybody know any other ways to hand land the DJI air 3 or if it is possible to disable the downward facing sensors?

I live on a large boat so I always hand launch and recover when flying any of my drones.  For landing the Air 3 when I get it close to where I want to hand land I just reach up on the RC and switch to Sport mode and then put my hand under and pull down on the stick and it settles right into my hand every time.  The other option that will also work but is not as safe is to grab it fast and flip it over to kill the motors.  

If you go to 3:52 of this video you'll see how easy switching to sport's mode works for hand landing.

If you turn obstacle avoidance to brake and bring the drone down, continue to hold down on the left stick with your hand under it it will descend as if it’s landing and you can catch it. You have to hold down on the left stick for a few second though with your hand underneath before it goes into landing mode or once you catch it the propeller will stop on their own. With this method no need for sports mode

This same method you use for the Mavic 3 also works on the Air 3

https://youtu.be/0-cQfWQA9PQ?si=SGK7Xq9Jvss44qb_

Hi, FlattyDog. At present, only Spark supports Palm or Hand Launch/Land. Other Consumer drones don't support Palm or Hand Launch/Land. In addition, it is not recommended to land the drone on your hands which is dangerous.

Im a flipper.   Let the drone hover then take hold from underneath and flip it to kill the props.