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Is it a bad idea to fly the Mavic from a roof of a building in the middle of downtown?

Dafar

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In terms of safety of the Mavic... I don't know what's gonna happen if I fly it from a high rise balcony or the roof.

I have an amazing roof with the good view of downtown...I wanted to fly the drone from the roof and get good shots of the skyline. Is the drone gonna have issues if I take off from the roof? Is it likely to lose signal if I fly it around a building??

Am I even allowed to fly a drone around downtown? Ah who gives a **** ;)
 
No problems if
- there is a good view of the sky so the Mavic can acquire enough satellites for a good GPS fix
- there is not to much metal around to distract the compass
in either case the app will warn you.

If you fly behind a building it is likely to loose signal.
In this case it will rise to the RTH altitude. If you set it high enough to clear buildings and other stuff around it will re-establish the connection once back in sight.
 
IMHO...Bad idea...have you considered it flying away..or you losing your signal and the possibility of it falling and hitting someone..a car...anything? FAA is quite clear about flying over folks..and airspace flying eligibility...I'm sure it would be beautiful if..you have your 107 license and you have verified there is no one below..and you have permission to fly in that airspace...are you flying in the US where you must follow FAA guides?


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots
 
I've seen a few people do it. It does depend on the "density" of the city you are flying from. As mentioned above, you don't want it to go behind a building, you want to ensure your antenna have "sight" of your drone, don't want too many big steel structures that can interfere with the Compass. And if there is a lot of "unseen" wifi noise it can reduce the distance you can fly...

IMO, it could be risky and you may not know how risky till you fly and start getting warnings....
 
You shouldn't fly over people and in this case RTH height is critical. Lose reception and your aircraft will likely hit a building if you don't.

Don't fly too far away since city reception is often problematic.
 
In terms of safety of the Mavic... I don't know what's gonna happen if I fly it from a high rise balcony or the roof.

I have an amazing roof with the good view of downtown...I wanted to fly the drone from the roof and get good shots of the skyline. Is the drone gonna have issues if I take off from the roof? Is it likely to lose signal if I fly it around a building??

Am I even allowed to fly a drone around downtown? Ah who gives a **** ;)

It's people like you with the AH who gives a s%it attitude that get us bigger fines more stupid rules and less places to fly!!!


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots
 
I have seen several videos of people doing it and they did not seem to have any problems. One person that instantly comes to mind is Casey. If I was you I would start off very slowly, keep the first flight close in and watch the signal levels and warnings. If everything is good you can widen the distance.
 
It's people like you with the AH who gives a s%it attitude that get us bigger fines more stupid rules and less places to fly!!!


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Who says he even did it yet! People are so quick to blow up and have an attitude about something, chill out. Now if he has already done it and is doing it that's one thing. Sounds like he is being somewhat responsible and at least asking if it's a good idea before he does it. This forum is for help and advice and he sounds like he is asking for advice. It's people like YOU who make people not want to get on these forums and ask. We need to educate people not belittle them, just my two cent.


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots
 
There are basically three options with various degrees of hazard/difficulty:

(1) Don't fly the drone at all from your roof in the city. (Obviously, the safest option).

(2) Fly a straight up-and-down flight. If you really just want to get some shots of the skyline as you say, this should suffice. Go up, take pictures or video as you do a 360 degree rotation, and then come straight down. Mission accomplished.

(3) Take pictures and videos as you're weaving about the buildings. Not advisable in my opinion. Lots of wind gusts around the corners of buildings, not much room for error in terms of distances to collide with objects, potentially big consequences if things go wrong.
 
There are basically three options with various degrees of hazard/difficulty:

(1) Don't fly the drone at all from your roof in the city. (Obviously, the safest option).

(2) Fly a straight up-and-down flight. If you really just want to get some shots of the skyline as you say, this should suffice. Go up, take pictures or video as you do a 360 degree rotation, and then come straight down. Mission accomplished.

(3) Take pictures and videos as you're weaving about the buildings. Not advisable in my opinion. Lots of wind gusts around the corners of buildings, not much room for error in terms of distances to collide with objects, potentially big consequences if things go wrong.


Good idea.... I think I'm gonna go straight up and come down.
 
I've never flown over a city like that but when I fly over houses, etc I do it late at night so there is less chance of hitting someone if it falls from the sky. Really not supposed to do that though. Regarding flying around buildings, I wouldnt do it, you are def likely to lose signal, ive seen lots of videos of this happening to people when a building gets between them an the drone. Maybe RTH will not hit anything but not worth the risk.
 
IMHO...Bad idea...have you considered it flying away..or you losing your signal and the possibility of it falling and hitting someone..a car...anything? FAA is quite clear about flying over folks..and airspace flying eligibility...I'm sure it would be beautiful if..you have your 107 license and you have verified there is no one below..and you have permission to fly in that airspace...are you flying in the US where you must follow FAA guides?


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots
What does FAA authoritative literature say about flying over folks?
 
This is definitely a dangerous endeavor. The Mavic is essentially a vehicle and can be just as deadly if you think about it.

When automobiles first became mainstream there were hundreds of traffic accidents until society had time to develop and infrastructure(stop signs, speed limits, driver's license etc.) which allowed safe use cars. Also, there are no regulatory authority ensuring the mechanical integrity of these drones, thus you ultimately I are crossing your fingers that DJI "got it right" every time you fly this thing so that it does not fall from the sky. That is quite a bit of unmitigated risk which would be hard to defend in a negligence law suit. I realize drone to car analogy may seem absurd and exaggerated but helps to highlight the reality that there are minimal laws, quality controls, licensing, or general safe guards in place to govern the industry.

Those on these forums who insist on being a self appointed authority to scold pilots that "ruin it for the rest of us" are truly delusional to think that this will stop or slow down drone legislation.


^^All that being said- everything in life is a risk. 99.9999999% chance the mavic will function as intended and you will get some great shots. I would so go for it dude. Live a little. I have flow in several downtowns both the ground and from the top of parking garages and buildings and have gotten great shots.
 
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