Advice needed flying through a building

[Mavic-Max]

Hi folks. I have a MA and would like to fly through a derelict church and out through a window and across fields. I’ll start off with a clear view of the sky then pass through an area of about 12 feet through a stone tower before leaving the building. I can stand directly behind the M air as it passes through the tower before it leaves the building. Will I loose control and will it want to RTH. Any advice much appreciated

 

[PhantomFandom]

Hi folks. I have a MA and would like to fly through a derelict church and out through a window and across fields. I’ll start off with a clear view of the sky then pass through an area of about 12 feet through a stone tower before leaving the building. I can stand directly behind the M air as it passes through the tower before it leaves the building. Will I loose control and will it want to RTH. Any advice much appreciated

As long as you are right behind the MA with controller in clear line of sight to it, you should not lose control. When you enter the building you will lose GPS coverage so the MA will switch to ATTI mode, and you will need to carefully control it so that it does not hit anything. Also note that if the inside of the building is dark, your collision sensors will not function either.

In case anything were to happen to the controller connection, the MA would indeed begin an emergency RTH which in this case might be a very bad thing. You may want to set the RTH mode to Hover or Land in Place instead of returning to home point. Just be prepared to have total control of the MA indoors. You may want to think about putting it in Tripod Mode before this flight so everything is slower and more precise.

 

[brett8883]

Hi folks. I have a MA and would like to fly through a derelict church and out through a window and across fields. I’ll start off with a clear view of the sky then pass through an area of about 12 feet through a stone tower before leaving the building. I can stand directly behind the M air as it passes through the tower before it leaves the building. Will I loose control and will it want to RTH. Any advice much appreciated

The biggest issue with flying indoors is the intermittent GPS signal the drone will recieve. When it loses GPS when it goes inside it will switch itself to Atti(altitude stabilized mode) or OPTI Mode(Atti mode with the added help of VPS position hold.)

In Atti mode or OPTI Mode the drone is unable to determine its position so all its able to do is ensure that it holds its altitude using the barometer. When you push on the right stick the drone will tilt in the direction you specify like normal but when you release the sticks it will not brake automatically it will just return to level and continue in the current direction unti it’s inertia runs out. To stop it before that you will need to pull the stick back in the opposite direction to counteract its inertia. Basically in this mode your fingers can’t leave the right stick, you will always be adjusting its movement. It’s not hard indoors because there’s no wind but it does take practice.

The bigger issue is if it regains GPS unexpectedly and adjusts its position with only weak a weak GPS lock while you are trying to fight it because you are still adjusting for Atti mode. This can cause issues and it’s widely understood that when flying indoors it’s better to just force it to stay in Atti mode the whole time.

The low tech way to do this is to cover the GPS receiver on the drone with tin foil so it doesn’t get GPS. There is also a way to change the “sport mode” switch on your remote to be “forced Atti mode” instead using Assistant 2 v1.1.2. With the latter method, once you are outside you can switch the remote back into p-mode and it will instantaneously switch back to normal. This method is considered a “modification” to the normal operation of the MA but not a hack because DJI put this ability in there they just hid it because if you don’t know what you are doing or what it is Atti mode is a reciepe for a crash. There are all kinds of threads about how to do this but if you need help let us know

 

[Mrmund]

And... Prop guards.

 

[Mavic-Max]

Thanks Brett. I will be flying in a straight line into the bell tower and out the other side and I will be standing right behind it. So when it passes into the tower it will instantly loose gps signal then when it comes out side it will reconnect to the gps. Is that correct.

 

[Mavic-Max]

Will it try to enter RTH or will it fly straight through

 

[Meta4]

Will it try to enter RTH or will it fly straight through

Your drone would only initiate RTH if the control signal is lost.
It has nothing to do with GPS and if GPS signal was lost, the drone would be unable to RTH and would just hover.

 

[Bill combs]

Hi folks. I have a MA and would like to fly through a derelict church and out through a window and across fields. I’ll start off with a clear view of the sky then pass through an area of about 12 feet through a stone tower before leaving the building. I can stand directly behind the M air as it passes through the tower before it leaves the building. Will I loose control and will it want to RTH. Any advice much appreciated

make sure your rth altitude is set low

 

[B-dog]

You can always try to catch it before entering, walk it through with the rotors off, when you get to your opening hand launch and continue. [emoji2369]

 

[brett8883]

Thanks Brett. I will be flying in a straight line into the bell tower and out the other side and I will be standing right behind it. So when it passes into the tower it will instantly loose gps signal then when it comes out side it will reconnect to the gps. Is that correct.

If you are in it for what sounds like a really short time you may not lose GPS but if it does lose GPS it might take a couple seconds to recover GPS.

When it loses GPS it will send an alert to the remote and announce, “Atti mode!.” The key here is not to be startled by this because you know it’s coming and remember you will not have brakes in this mode so just play it cool fly it through.

 

[Mavic-Max]

Thanks one and all. It’s great to be amongst some very knowledgeable and experienced pilots

 

[Moose1967]

Just carry it thru - activate the video camera and walk thru the building with it in hand - one day it was too windy to film motocross racing so I carried the drone around in my hand and got some awesome video !!!

 

[SpitFire]

Yes, I agree with Moose, activate the video camera and walk thru the building. Although I have one better, I have my drone on a telescoping pole which can extend to the height of 13 feet. I use Aries Raptor skids which I have modified with a quick disconnect from a Monopod holder. And, just like Moose the Bird is up in the Air some 13 feet up, and nobody can tell the difference if its flying or on a pole. Great, when in doubt, and rather then take a chance crashing , I carry it on a pole. I Use the osmo 2, the same way. And , with the church, scene, you could carry it thru the church, and out the window a feel feet. And, pick up the footage flying outside from the window, Any way I am all about safety, keeping people safe and my drone safe'

 

[Mavic-Max]

Thanks for all your wise words

 

[Johnny C!]

Be sure to post the video!

John

 

[NITEWULF]

Would turning off obstacle avoidance and using the tripod mode not suffice? I am at a bit of a loss as to what the issues are.

 

[DanMan32]

The AC will not drift or not much in OPTI mode, assuming the ground has enough definition and there's sufficient light. OPTI optically uses ground reference to stabilize it's lateral position.

I've been quite successful using VPS on my M2Z in a large expo hall with no GPS.

 

[Rick0504N]

My first MA tried to fly through a building.

 

[Moose1967]

Have a look at this video to see how creative they were in producing a video part with flying and with hand.

 

[tcope]

Do you have coverage for damage to the drone? There is a very good chance it will crash. This is just the nature of the beast. Lacking a GPS signal your altitude will be limited to about 20 feet. If you have enough light the downward camera should help to hold its position as long as you don't have a GPS lock.