I've only flown my new Phantom twice now but both times I lowered it close to where I was standing, reached over, grabbed onto it, and held down on the throttle with the other hand.  It's easier and less likely to have a mishap from landing on the ground so my question is how many of you land on the ground or catch in the air?  For those who land on the ground is there a reason you do?

I always land the aircraft, no reason not to. You might do a catch if there is nowhere decent to land, but I always make sure I have a landing place selected.

I have a small take off/landing pad, but often land on the ground or short grass.

I don't fly from precarious locations too often, so not a problem, plus I am confident in my landing ability.

Also I play a Yamaha Motif XF8, so I very much wish to keep my tactility intact. ;-)

RedHotPoker

Proper landing is great exercise  and saves your gimbal a lot of work.
Hand catching is ok when there's no flat surface to land on though but be careful!

l've never landed the P3 on the ground. l landed the P2 when l first got it but switched over to hand-catching almost right away.

I use the left control and slowly lower the P3 until I touch ground , keep the left control down until the motors shut off ..   SO I Never hand catch ..

I land on the ground most of the time because there's no reason not to.  If you land properly, it is the safest way to land.  If there is something wrong with the landing surface, like tall grass, rocks, etc., I'll hand launch and catch.  However, it isn't my preferred.

I've only hand caught one time because I was on top of a mountain and there were too many rocks to land safely. Otherwise, I always take off and land from the ground.

I hand caught once because I was on top of a mountain and there were too many rocks to land safely. Otherwise, I always take off and land from the ground.

Hand catch ALWAYS, less chance of a tip over and broken blades.

I find that I pretty often have trouble to find good locations to start and land from. The main problem is that the camera is mounted so close to the ground that the lens sometimes gets wet.

I have yet to catch land, however.

I almost always land, I have hand caught a few times for fun, but one thing I do is usually land and take off in Atti. That way there is only one pilot and I keep the visual/sonar system off too.

Nice thing about atti is you really become aware of the wind. Sometimes I wish the P3P had full manual mode, that really teaches you how to fly.

When I first got the P2 I landed on my case.  This lasted about 4 flights.  Since then hand catch all the time.  My P3P has never landed - 100% hand caught.

Normally I land on the ground, I like to practice putting it exactly where I want it, landing on a dime as they say. I hand catch every so often. Do your shutdown by bringing the throttle all the way down. If you do a CSC shutdown the Phantom will most likely tip and you may have prop damage.

With hand catching, all it takes is one mistake and you'll be headed to the emergency room to get your hand or arm stitched back together.

My nitro copter with 3 foot long blades mandated a landing pad, or the coroner may be paying your remains a visit.

I don'c catch because:

There's certainly a good amount of people on both sides of the fence, I wasn't expecting that!  I sit in front of a computer during the day, play guitar, drums, piano, so my fingers are important to me.  I have a wood shop in the basement and am very careful as not to lose my fingers.  I've only flown in low wind so far and in GPS mode so I never considered I'd have any issues like those in the pictures; however, with some of the threads I've read regarding the latest firmware, etc. I suppose something like this could happen and I'd rather lose some props than taking one to my body...

Sometimes I simply find it more convenient to land my Phantom a little bit away from where I'm standing. I tried catching it a couple of times. If you're careful it seems fine.

I just figured if I land it on the ground and something goes wrong, it has a more difficult chance of harming my arm, my hand, my fingers, etc.

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

There are excuses for hand catching even though it is'nt allways successful , specially if youre a little Mental

Came across a video for us Hand Catchers to see

If you use prop guards and it tips over during landing, your blades should be fine. Don't land so hard and only land vertically. Unless you can't safely land, I really see no need for hand catching. It's not worth the risk.

Hand catch is very dangerous . It's recommended to land the aircraft in a normal way . For your own safety , please take care of that !

Hi.

I guess it's better land it on the ground in order to avoid injuries.
When landind or take off in place where it's difficult start from ground i catch it,but it's not a good habit

Wow, that video was intense!  I didn't realize the Phantom blades had such cutting power!!  Definitely need to land it normally for now on.  Thanks for sharing, I didn't realize it had that kind of power.