Aircraft 'swivels' on ground just before rotors shuts off

[ChristoffB]

Since I installed landing gear (four little plastic legs like in the picture below) I noticed that when I land the aircraft on the ground it 'swivels' on one of the legs just before the rotors shuts off. I think the same happened before, but the little rubber feet on the spark provided enough resistance for the aircraft not to swivel. I am worried that in the process the landing gear might grip and cause the spark to flip over. Do I need to be concerned?

 

[Multikoe]

Maybe adding rubber pads to the landing gear increases the friction enough to prevent the swivelling?

 

[Andre Levite]

I don't think that behavior is caused by the landing gear directly. Likely just observed now because less friction with slippery new plastic legs.

I suspect when you shut down one of your motors slows down extra slow because it has more friction. With the Spark off check they all move freely. Give them a flick to spin manually.

Could also be a warped or nicked prop. Inspect then closely and swap them around to troubleshoot.

Good luck

 

[ChristoffB]

I don't think that behavior is caused by the landing gear directly. Likely just observed now because less friction with slippery new plastic legs.

I suspect when you shut down one of your motors slows down extra slow because it has more friction. With the Spark off check they all move freely. Give them a flick to spin manually.

Could also be a warped or nicked prop. Inspect then closely and swap them around to troubleshoot.

Good luck

I agree that it is not related to the landing gear. From new I did notice that the spark will kind of pull down more to one side before the rotors shuts down completely (whilst on the ground, JUST before the rotors shuts down). I will swap props around to see if it alleviates the problem. 9 out of 10 times I hand-land, so it does not really bother me. It's just that other one time where I do not want the spark to flip over...

 

[DavidBlezard]

Agree landing gear is probably not the problem. I will add my thought of adding rubber to the landing gear may increase the risk of flipping over.

 

[cooch]

I've had the same legs on my spark with non slip rubber attached to them for over 18 months and have never had the drone flip over when landing on my home made painted landing pad. I think your fears are unfounded.

 

[hiflyer]

Hi,
I think you are not bringing the stick straight back. The spark will rotate if you don’t. However you could recalibrate the controller.
I do not like those landing gear legs period. It’s much better to hand catch or find a decent spot to land. Bad terrain is what they are supposed to guard against and that is the very thing that causes them trouble.
I thought I had to have them when I first bought my Spark....they were cheap and they went in the trash along with the hand guards. The gimble protector and the controller stick guard are big time useful

 

[Tentoes]

IMHO (this means I'm probably not very humble about my opinion) the best landing gear is your hand. Just fly it down to where you can reach it and pick it out of the sky.

 

[ChristoffB]

IMHO (this means I'm probably not very humble about my opinion) the best landing gear is your hand. Just fly it down to where you can reach it and pick it out of the sky.

I hand-land most of the time. Bought the legs more for added protection, should there be a case where I need to land on grass/dirt. I think to be safe I will keep doing hand-landing and only make use of the landing gear when absolutely necessary.