Launching and landing surface

[Nightbat2]

I bought one of those circular, folding helipads but it’s proven to be not much use. Up here, the soil is often too dry and hard to get the plastic pegs in far enough so they won’t damage the props. And after it rains—well, lots of red mud.

Without the pegs, it works okay for launch, but the downdraft from the props on landing simply blows it away. I’ve had more success with a very light rectangle of Gatorboard (some kind of foam core coated with cardboard) but even it can move about a bit in the downdraft. Now that the Evo has the boat launch feature, I’ve been thinking about using something more substantial and higher off the ground—maybe a small folding picnic table. Take-offs should be okay, but landings would have to be very precise.

Any ideas?

 

[Ansia]

I bought one of those circular, folding helipads but it’s proven to be not much use. Up here, the soil is often too dry and hard to get the plastic pegs in far enough so they won’t damage the props. And after it rains—well, lots of red mud.

Without the pegs, it works okay for launch, but the downdraft from the props on landing simply blows it away. I’ve had more success with a very light rectangle of Gatorboard (some kind of foam core coated with cardboard) but even it can move about a bit in the downdraft. Now that the Evo has the boat launch feature, I’ve been thinking about using something more substantial and higher off the ground—maybe a small folding picnic table. Take-offs should be okay, but landings would have to be very precise.

Any ideas?

Get a rubber landing pad. Heavy enough to not float away, no peg required and easily washable with red mud.

Amazon.com: XXL Super Large Drone, Helicopter, Quadcopter Landing Pad - 30 by 30 in - Highly Visible, Protect Your Investment From Debris Sand, Soft Eco-Friendly Rubber, Waterproof Cloth-Neon Yellow-Made in China : Toys & Games

Amazon.com: XXL Super Large Drone, Helicopter, Quadcopter Landing Pad - 30 by 30 in - Highly Visible, Protect Your Investment From Debris Sand, Soft Eco-Friendly Rubber, Waterproof Cloth-Neon Yellow-Made in China : Toys & Games

www.amazon.com

 

[Tufargon]

I have the same thing and in those situations I put 3 or 4 rocks on it.

 

[Atomic08]

Try a car back seat floor mat...If you drive to your location to fly, you always have it with you !

 

[CraigCam]

Love my rubber mat...got it from Carolina Dronz and it’s great for any surface including wet beach sand. Put it on grass and the contrast for the precision is super helpful for those RTH landings.

 

[Tufargon]

Try a car back seat floor mat...If you drive to your location to fly, you always have it with you !

Good Idea!!

 

[Franlac]

I bought one of those circular, folding helipads but it’s proven to be not much use. Up here, the soil is often too dry and hard to get the plastic pegs in far enough so they won’t damage the props. And after it rains—well, lots of red mud.

Without the pegs, it works okay for launch, but the downdraft from the props on landing simply blows it away. I’ve had more success with a very light rectangle of Gatorboard (some kind of foam core coated with cardboard) but even it can move about a bit in the downdraft. Now that the Evo has the boat launch feature, I’ve been thinking about using something more substantial and higher off the ground—maybe a small folding picnic table. Take-offs should be okay, but landings would have to be very precise.

Any ideas?

Hello I have the same and it's a very good product !!

 

[Ken Ramsley]

I bought one of those circular, folding helipads but it’s proven to be not much use...

I also worry about the landing force of a hard surface -- landing on concrete or asphalt, I usually place a beach towel folded in half under the target. The Evo is tough, but the rotor arms are plastic all the same.

As already said, rocks work fine in place of pegs.

 

[Ansia]

I also worry about the landing force of a hard surface -- landing on concrete or asphalt, I usually place a beach towel folded in half under the target. The Evo is tough, but the rotor arms are plastic all the same.

As already said, rocks work fine in place of pegs.

Doesn't your Evo stop right before touch down and soft lands like mine?

 

[Franlac]

I also worry about the landing force of a hard surface -- landing on concrete or asphalt, I usually place a beach towel folded in half under the target. The Evo is tough, but the rotor arms are plastic all the same.

As already said, rocks work fine in place of pegs.

That's what I put under the EVO to protect arm, and to soften landing even more.
they are dumpers for DJ Phantom 3.

 

[Ken Ramsley]

Doesn't your Evo stop right before touch down and soft lands like mine?

My Evo does land softly (descending 1-2 feet per second), but concrete is unforgiving, and even landing 'softly,' every bit of the shock goes straight into the rotor arms. I've seen photos of cracked arms, which got me worried, and when I did the math, it was shocking... The arms flex maybe 1/8 inch on a hard-surface landing, and during that time, they must handle 50-100 g of deceleration.

 

[Ansia]

My Evo does land softly (descending 1-2 feet per second), but concrete is unforgiving, and even landing 'softly,' every bit of the shock goes straight into the rotor arms. I've seen photos of cracked arms, which got me worried, and when I did the math, it was shocking... The arms flex maybe 1/8 inch on a hard-surface landing, and during that time, they must handle 50-100 g of deceleration.

Interesting. Where did you see these photos? One would think they would take this into consideration in the design, as is better to take off and land from a hard surface.

 

[Ken Ramsley]

Interesting. Where did you see these photos? One would think they would take this into consideration in the design, as is better to take off and land from a hard surface.

I saw the photo on this forum ...maybe a month ago. Just now, I just did a search looking for the word 'crack' and it looks like a dozen posts on the topic.

A softer surface can still be flat (the primary goal) -- and it doesn't need to be much... adding just a 1/4 inch of padding drops the landing force by a factor of three (15-30 g instead of 50-100 g).

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Not saying your idea is not good and any extra padding will help but any pictures I have seen on here of cracks were not caused by hard landing that I know of and the cracks are on the outer shell which Autel has stated it is a design flaw but not one to worry about.

 

[Ken Ramsley]

Not saying your idea is not good and any extra padding will help but any pictures I have seen on here of cracks were not caused by hard landing that I know of and the cracks are on the outer shell which Autel has stated it is a design flaw but not one to worry about.

It's been a while since I saw that photo, but that's when I began to worry about landing stress. Doing the math today -- even without a photo -- it seems like a reasonable concern.

It might be interesting to record high-speed video to see what happens visually (where and how much the rotor arms flex when landing on concrete).

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I would think you would want some flex to take up the shock or else over time you will get stress cracks from being so rigid.

 

[Ansia]

You should see how mych the landing gear from Phantom like models flex when landing. Those things are flimsier than the Evo legs and none of my Phantoms have shown any sign of stress cracks.

In case of my Evo, the drone literally breaks about 3-4 inches, then eases up for landing. First time this happened, I thought I did something wrong. I manually land my birds. I've seen how auto landing can be really rough with them.

 

[G_G]

Learn to hand catch. Problem solved!

 

[Ken Ramsley]

As it turns out, I was worried over nothing. I made a video today of the Evo landing -- actual speed and 10X slow motion - on concrete and on a beach towel. The last minute shows the essentials. The whole video is 4 minutes...

 

[G_G]

As it turns out, I was worried over nothing. I made a video today of the Evo landing -- actual speed and 10X slow motion - on concrete and on a beach towel. The last 20 seconds shows the essentials. The whole video is 4 minutes...

Good job! I'm also intrigued by your tablet setup with the iPad Mini below the controller, on top of the handles. How is that attached?