16 November 2024

Drones can perform aerial photography feats that no one would believe possible just a few short years ago. New technologies require learning about new accessories that facilitate and optimize their use. Most often this need for new accessory process is discovered by trial and error. Trial and error can be a costly process with Inspire 3 drones costing north of $16,000. So let’s save you some time and money by discussing how and why drone landing pads have become a necessary accessory for drone flight.

There are eight main benefits to using a drone landing pad that new drone pilots need to discover.

• Getting great aerial photography/video is a complete waste of time and energy if your lens has dust all over it from takeoff thrust blowing up from the ground. You will have a minimum of 4 rotors producing enough thrust to pulverize your lens and gimbal with debris.  One grain of sand can lock up your gimbal.  A Landing Pad provides you with a clean surface to take off from as well as insurance that your lens and gimbal will be clean throughout takeoff.

• Let’s talk electric motors … pulling sand and dirt through your drone motors at takeoff and landing is the biggest cause of motor failure. The clean surface of a landing pad can eliminate premature motor failure.

• One 5 second takeoff and landing on a beautiful sandy beach will cost you at least an hour of clean up maintenance. Your Paint will be sand blasted so now your bird looks old before its time. Who wants to spend an hour cleaning sand out of your drone.

• There are times when you must take off and land in a field of tall grass. Your drone is not a weedwhacker.  Placing down a Landing Pad will prevent tall grass prop strikes.  Props can be very expensive and when they get nicked, they get out of balance and performance is diminished. 

• Pebble strikes are worse than hitting tall grass. Landing Pads keep your props insulated from pebble and gravel surfaces.

• All pilots need to be Safety Conscious. We do not want pedestrians setting up a picnic in your ground operations vicinity. A landing pad clearly marks your ground operations so that pilot, crew and the public know to stand clear.

• Safety during night flight ground operations is greatly enhanced by green lighted Landing Pads. Green lights keep your night vision intact. Your crew and the public will clearly see the illuminated landing pad and know where the pilot plans to take off and land from.

• If you have ever lost sight of your drone and your controller tells you to look to the Northeast, you do not have time to get out your compass and wait for it to settle to figure out where Northeast is. Hoodman drone landing pads have a compass rose printed on each pad that can be oriented prior to flight.  Pilots know where Northeast is by a quick glance at their landing pad.

• The bright orange color of the drone landing pad shows up as a big bright dot easily to manned aircraft above. Communicating visually to manned aircraft that a drone is flying alerts pilots to be proactive in avoiding drone collisions.

Search and Rescue operations often deploy drones and manned aircraft as part of their life saving efforts.  When the manned aircraft arrives, the pilot is on his radio talking with the drone pilot to see where the drone ground operations are.  The drone pilot quickly replies: see the big orange dot in the North corner of the clearing? The manned aircraft pilot reports: Roger, I see your landing pad and will set down at the South corner of the clearing. The visual ID is made quite simple and facilitates safely operating multiple aircraft in the same area.

Not all drone landing pads are created equal.  Really cheap pads blow away just like a tarp or towel would as soon as the drone thrust hits them.  Some cheap pads offer stakes to pound in the ground to hold the pads down.  Good luck pounding in stakes on the tarmac.  Who wants to lug a hammer around and who wants to pull stakes up every time you move.

Hoodman Corporation created the drone landing pad product category in 2015.  We have gone through all of the learning curve for you.  Our landing pads have galvanized steel cables running along their perimeters which keep the pads weighted down without needing to pound in stakes.  The cable is permanently sewn into an extremely rugged 22 ounce black vinyl sleeve which is then sewn to the 600 denier polyester Orange landing pad material.   Hoodman landing pads are quick and easy to deploy.  Just pull the pad out of its convenient carry bag and the pad springs into shape.   When it is time to move, the pads neatly fold into 3 circles and slip into a compact carry bag which is 33% of the deployed size of the landing pad. Pad materials are waterproof and rustproof. Hoodman Landing pad back sides are polyurethane coated to make clean up very easy.  Just hose down and rub debris off with a wash cloth and mild dish soap.

Over the past 9 years, drone sizes have grown in both directions- bigger and smaller. Hoodman is the only company offering 5 different sizes of landing pads from 21inches in diameter to 8 feet in diameter.  The key to figure out what size you need is to look at the prop wash perimeter and get a pad size that encompasses the prop wash. 

For Simple Landing Pad Reference:

A Mavic sized drone would use the 21-inch Landing Pad- Model LP21 or Model HDLP2

A Phantom sized drone would use a……... 3-foot pad- Model HDLP3

An Inspire sized drone would use a ………. 5-foot pad- Model HDLP

A Freefly Alta sized drone would use an…  8-foot pad- Model HDLP8

The FAA has recognized the safety features drone landing pads bring to mitigating risk when requesting a waiver to fly around crowds as well as flying over 400 feet and at night with lighted landing pads. For more information on waiver requests please reach out to Hoodman at Support@Hoodmanusa.com

Entrepreneurs in the drone marketplace are always looking for a way to build brand awareness.

Hoodman has created a great way for drone aviators to increase your brand awareness… We can custom print your logo onto your landing pad for a small fee.  Instant brand exposures take place on all of your jobs and most beneficially when your photos of ground operations are tagged on social media platforms.  Give Hoodman a call and we usually can ship your custom logo pad within a week. Larger fleet orders of 50 to 100 landing pads can usually be turned in 4 to 6 weeks. 500 to 1000 unit orders can be completed in 90 to 120 days.  We are happy to receive your calls regarding custom logo projects and take great pride in helping our customers build their businesses.  For Questions about custom projects call Hoodman at 310.222.8608 and just ask for Bob in the Custom Pad Department.  We have had great success with printing QR code homing device landing pads for the US Navy.

Hoodman has also been providing glare fighting drone controller hoods for the US Army for the past 7 years. Reconnaissance drone pilots can see their images glare free in the brightest conditions.  Keeping stealthy during Night Ops is also a great benefit to using Hoodman’s Patented military drone hoods.  If there is something you would like us to build, just give us a call at 310.222.8608 and ask to speak with Lou in the Military Support department.

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