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Hand launch - Anafi rises and falls on its own?

Chris Baish

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New pilot here. Firstly, I sold my Mavic 2 Zoom to get the Anafi, and don't regret it one bit. Really impressed so far.
Secondly I wanted to ask about hand launch behaviour. About 50% of the time when I hand launch (after waiting for the countdown) I find the drone rises straight up for a couple of meters on its own, then drops back down again, before finally stabilising after a few seconds. It does respond to inputs to a point, but is like you are fighting against what the Anafi wants to to! Any ideas if this is normal behaviour, or could it be I'm launching too soon after the gps turns green and I need to leave it longer to know where it is? Once it settles it is perfectly stable and responsive, so only a problem for the first few seconds after launch. Thoughts appreciated...
 
I launch within a few seconds of getting both GPS signals green. I give it a pretty good boost slightly forward and up and it goes to about 2.5 meters and perhaps descends 10 or 20 centimeters before stabilizing. Then I wait for the precision landing message before flying off. If your behavior is close to this, everything is normal.
 
I launch within a few seconds of getting both GPS signals green. I give it a pretty good boost slightly forward and up and it goes to about 2.5 meters and perhaps descends 10 or 20 centimeters before stabilizing. Then I wait for the precision landing message before flying off. If your behavior is close to this, everything is normal.
Thanks for your reply. Sounds fairly similar to what I'm seeing. Probably just the barometer and GPS sorting themselves out. As I've had no issues with maintaining altitude during flight I'll assume it's normal.
 
I have owned myAnafi since July 6th 2018 and never did a hand launch before. Decided to give it a try. Did five or six launches in a roll and all but one did a little drop. The one time it did drop down it was about 6 inches and recovered very fast.
 
Thanks for doing the testing! I think I'll try leaving it slightly longer after gps locks green to see if it helps. I also wonder whether the terrain was an issue last night. It was over varying lengths of fairly long grass that were blowing in the wind, so perhaps it was confusing the downward sensor as the ground appeared to be effectively 'changing height' in the wind!
 
With being my first time and not sure what to expect I was down low to the ground, almost kneeing so if it did crash it would not have far to fall. Maybe that has something to do with it. 2368
 
Just tried a few times in the garden again and established that it does this consistently after startup. Waited for about 30 seconds after aircraft GPS turned green, although not all the squares underneath the logo were green. It shoots about 3 feet up, then back down again until it nearly hits the ground. It has a life of its own for about 10 seconds. If I land it but do not power it down, and then hand launch again it is absolutely fine. Can't figure out what the issue is at all! If it was a sensor fault I wouldn't expect it to settle down, and equally it performs perfectly when launching from the ground. Still open to thoughts as to whether this is a fault.
 
...It shoots about 3 feet up, then back down again until it nearly hits the ground. ...
3 feet up from where? When I do a hand launch the drone leaves my hand during the throw at about head level (from shoulder level) goes up 3 feet and stabilizes minus about 20 cm. Perhaps you are not giving it a strong enough throw? I throw mine hard enough so that it it were a baseball of the same weight, it would rise to about 10-12 feet.
 
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I prefer to get it up around 9-10 feet for just the opposite idea from yours....if it starts bouncing around in the wind I don't want it to hit the ground. :)
 
3 feet up from where? When I do a hand launch the drone leaves my hand during the throw at about head level (from shoulder level) goes up 3 feet and stabilizes minus about 20 cm. Perhaps you are not giving it a strong enough throw? I throw mine hard enough so that it it were a baseball of the same weight, it would rise to about 10-12 feet.
It lifts about 3 feet above shoulder height as a result of spinning up the rotors on its own, then drops down quite quickly to about waist height, sometimes lower (only a couple of inches off the ground) before settling at about waist height. From videos I've seen on YouTube it should just settle at more or less the height you throw it at without the big height variance, but perhaps there's something peculiar about my small walled garden which is confusing the barometer. I'll have to try it elsewhere.

I've noticed if I power it up on the ground and then lift it up before hand launch it is fine! Also normal launch from the ground is fine. I'm guessing during hand launch it is using sensors to work out where the ground is, whereas when moving from the ground it's calculating height from how far it knows it has lifted.

As it is so unpredictable I've tried turning off hand launch but doing a 'normal' launch from my hand. This is so much more stable and predictable and I'd recommend it over the hand launch function. Used to do it with my Mavic 2 Zoom.
 
Interesting. No, this is rather different behavior from what I and others experience. Since the whole point of hand launching is keeping the props from cutting grass or stirring up dust and grit, a "normal" launch using your hand as the method should work fine....I'll have to try it. After all, it is merely the reverse of a hand landing, using the fly/land button.
 
Yes, I recommend the normal launch from your hand. Goes straight up, clear of people, and there's no waiting for countdowns etc. Potentially less room for error too.
 
Not my experience at all, I give it a gentle toss upward and it pretty much holds altitude. I have control immediately and always wait for the launch countdown. Maybe firmware issue try reloading the app.

 
There is no need to throw it into the air. Where else is it going to go? If you just pull your hand out of the way it flies just as effectively as when it is thrown. If it is going to fail to launch for any reason surely it is better for it to just fall rather than be thrown up before it crashes down again. I tend to give it the gentlest of flicks of the wrist as if launching a sleepy moth. It tends to bob a little and then it responds to the command I have given it, why would I leave it doing nothing in particular? The whole point of a hand launch is it is a simple and casual way to get it into the air clear of the ground, grit and vegetation. Just hold it out, press the launch button, wait for the prompt then move your hand away and let it fly. If you want to check it out in a hover do so, if you want to wait for a full GPS signal then wait, and if you just want to get on with flying then do so.
 
When I did my first on Thursday there was no wind at all and the Anafi just basically floated off and hovered. Today it was windy and very gusty and I found the Anafi to rise up a tad more then it did before but it settled out very fast and just hovered there. Here is a screen capture of two launches I did. Very acceptable IMHO.

 
Yes, this is completely different from what happens with mine. It takes about 10-15 seconds to settle, goes up way higher from the start, and won't respond during that time. Thanks for posting the video.
 
Here's my test from this afternoon. Believe it or not there are no stick inputs from me at all until the very last minute to stop it crashing. This was with green GPS. I've contacted the retailer and it's on its way back to them as faulty.

 
Good choice with sending it back. That is not at all right for sure. Even my Anafi that spent 3 months up in a spruce tree during the Canadian winter will fly a lot better then that :eek:
 
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