Cautionary tale (Mavic Pro Newbie more money than sense)

[choo choo]

Being new to the world of drone pilots, I made the mistake a lot of you more experienced souls warn about, I wish I read them before “TURNING ON MY DRONE” (in the living room) the first thing that scared the life out of me was the sound, it was amplified because of the enclosed space, and of course it could not get a gps fix so it farted towards me and of course I panicked [emoji22] “yes I’m an idiot I know” the drone seemed to look at me and if it had a voice said “why have you summoned me? I looked at it, it looked at me and then it attacked, smashing into my finger as I tumbled over.

**** this is not a toy, visibly shaking I composed myself and removed the smashed blades with my cut and trembling fingers, I decided to read some instructions, but like the fool that I am I became impatient and decided to try again, this time hiding behind the door and peeping around the corner into the living room, (by the way this was on Christmas Day) so I stated it up again and surprise surprise it did exactly the same thing.

Well after that I joined this forum and spent two days reading and watching YouTube videos.
Good news is I took it outside in the rain [emoji102] and had a successful flight. Wow **** scary but I lived to tell the tale.

I haven’t laughed so much in ages...thanks for being honest and brave to post this, and for the hilarious way it’s written. I had a vision of you peeping round the door while the mavic chewed up the Xmas tree and the decorations while those ‘malevolent eyes’ of the mavic gave you a knowing look as if to say ‘ha dare to stop me, fool’ . I’m in the UK, grounded by the weather at the moment. By the way I don’t recommend flying in rain, droplets get sucked into the front air take behind the camera by the fan and can wreck the electronic circuit board.

 

[MichiganMavic]

You are not alone! There’s more people that have done this, but are too embarrassed to post it [emoji38].
I too have done this stupid thing. I started up my Q5004K+ (BIG quad) in my bedroom last year. Little did I know if left idling (with props on) that it would rise to orient itself if needed. I thought it was going to take off from the rpms rising, so I jumped up and tried to grab the body from the top to stop it..... too late [emoji17]. My wife came in after the noise woke her up and she thought Freddy Kruger visited me . I had blood whipped everywhere from the props and 3 of the 4 blades shattered all over the room. It was ugly and taking blood thinners don’t help either. So.... what did I learn Never to do again?
Needless to say, this will only be my outside toy, and it will never be turned on unless props are off !

 

[Lapeer20m]

Was your first flight pretty much like this?

 

[nutsnbolts]

This is funny. I have to admit though there are many folks who buy a drone, specifically DJI products that doesn't realize the seriousness of what they have just purchased or received as a gift.

 

[2nckayakers]

Hilarious! I mean, sorry to hear you got hurt, glad your MP survived, but this is side splitting funny because I can picture you cowering behind the couch scared of the mavic. If you had a GoPro set up and you had done a video of it, you would have gone viral, or at minimum we would have all gotten an even bigger laugh.

Honestly though, glad you didn't get hurt more than you did, and that your bird survived, and that you learned the same lesson that many of us have, don't try flying in confined indoor spaces.

 

[JamesA]

Being new to the world of drone pilots, I made the mistake a lot of you more experienced souls warn about, I wish I read them before “TURNING ON MY DRONE” (in the living room) the first thing that scared the life out of me was the sound, it was amplified because of the enclosed space, and of course it could not get a gps fix so it farted towards me and of course I panicked [emoji22] “yes I’m an idiot I know” the drone seemed to look at me and if it had a voice said “why have you summoned me? I looked at it, it looked at me and then it attacked, smashing into my finger as I tumbled over.

**** this is not a toy, visibly shaking I composed myself and removed the smashed blades with my cut and trembling fingers, I decided to read some instructions, but like the fool that I am I became impatient and decided to try again, this time hiding behind the door and peeping around the corner into the living room, (by the way this was on Christmas Day) so I stated it up again and surprise surprise it did exactly the same thing.

Well after that I joined this forum and spent two days reading and watching YouTube videos.
Good news is I took it outside in the rain [emoji102] and had a successful flight. Wow **** scary but I lived to tell the tale.

I have to ask, did you give it throttle after it started? I have started my Mavic quite a few times in my house and never had any problems, but I don’t give it any throttle and do not let it run very long. I just like to hear the whirlwind sound.
I hope your wounds heal soon.

 

[Mossiback]

If you want to fly indoors:

• Get some prop guards and don't fly indoors without them.
• Set RTH to hover.
• Start with it facing away from you for proper stick orientation (right/left and forward/back sticks match movements).
• Run in Tripod mode.
• Stay away from drapes, plants, anything light that can get sucked into props.
• Stay at least a foot from ceiling. If you get too close it will suck itself to it.
• After flying inspect motors, gimbal, and fan intake for hair and other debris. You will find out how dusty your house really is once you fly in it.

Edit: Also turn off forward anti-collision sensors.

 

[ajsiemers]

Flew mine indoors once(!). I raised it a few inches from the kitchen table and wanted to set it down again, but by then it had moved backwards a little bit and wasn’t above the table anymore so I backed it up a little more to set it down on the floor. That’s when the obstacle recognition kicked in and it just went back and sideways towards my freshly painted cabinet doors...it started scratching away at them but didn’t crash, it just kept scratching and in my panic I couldn’t think of anything else to do than put my foot down on it and force it to the ground until I had the common sense again to “land” it and stop the props. Total damage: 2 props got nicked and the cabinet doors (and my ego) suffered some scratches. But I won’t fly indoors again

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

Flew mine indoors once(!). I raised it a few inches from the kitchen table and wanted to set it down again, but by then it had moved backwards a little bit and wasn’t above the table anymore so I backed it up a little more to set it down on the floor. That’s when the obstacle recognition kicked in and it just went back and sideways towards my freshly painted cabinet doors...it started scratching away at them but didn’t crash, it just kept scratching and in my panic I couldn’t think of anything else to do than put my foot down on it and force it to the ground until I had the common sense again to “land” it and stop the props. Total damage: 2 props got nicked and the cabinet doors (and my ego) suffered some scratches. But I won’t fly indoors again

Sounds like my experience ahhh man why do we do it? But I have no problem it’s how we learn I guess. This is too funny I can just imagine you putting your foot on it [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

I have to ask, did you give it throttle after it started? I have started my Mavic quite a few times in my house and never had any problems, but I don’t give it any throttle and do not let it run very long. I just like to hear the whirlwind sound.
I hope your wounds heal soon.

Yes of course I gave it throttle I did mention that I’m an idiot[emoji23] most sensible people like you would just let it hover [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] yes thanks my finger is healing nicely

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

I haven’t laughed so much in ages...thanks for being honest and brave to post this, and for the hilarious way it’s written. I had a vision of you peeping round the door while the mavic chewed up the Xmas tree and the decorations while those ‘malevolent eyes’ of the mavic gave you a knowing look as if to say ‘ha dare to stop me, fool’ . I’m in the UK, grounded by the weather at the moment. By the way I don’t recommend flying in rain, droplets get sucked into the front air take behind the camera by the fan and can wreck the electronic circuit board.

Yep part One was flying indoors part two was flying in the rain. Don’t worry I read a lot of the feedback on this forum and there are some great people here with great experience and I’ve learned a lot. Thanks for the advice regarding rain I won’t do that again. I’m in the UK also so we are both grounded due to adverse weather conditions. Your vision of me peeping around the door is spot on [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

Hilarious! I mean, sorry to hear you got hurt, glad your MP survived, but this is side splitting funny because I can picture you cowering behind the couch scared of the mavic. If you had a GoPro set up and you had done a video of it, you would have gone viral, or at minimum we would have all gotten an even bigger laugh.

Honestly though, glad you didn't get hurt more than you did, and that your bird survived, and that you learned the same lesson that many of us have, don't try flying in confined indoor spaces.

It frightened the crap out of me but we are friends now. You are a bad guy for wanting to see a video of that [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] thank goodness there is no footage

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

This is funny. I have to admit though there are many folks who buy a drone, specifically DJI products that doesn't realize the seriousness of what they have just purchased or received as a gift.

Yep you are so right that is me, but I learn fast with the first wack on my finger I quickly realised this was not a toy.

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

Was your first flight pretty much like this?

Oh my goodness this brings back scary memories yep that was not far from my experience but more chasing me around the room

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

You are not alone! There’s more people that have done this, but are too embarrassed to post it [emoji38].
I too have done this stupid thing. I started up my Q5004K+ (BIG quad) in my bedroom last year. Little did I know if left idling (with props on) that it would rise to orient itself if needed. I thought it was going to take off from the rpms rising, so I jumped up and tried to grab the body from the top to stop it..... too late [emoji17]. My wife came in after the noise woke her up and she thought Freddy Kruger visited me . I had blood whipped everywhere from the props and 3 of the 4 blades shattered all over the room. It was ugly and taking blood thinners don’t help either. So.... what did I learn Never to do again?
Needless to say, this will only be my outside toy, and it will never be turned on unless props are off !

Lol thanks for sharing that I can only be honest and it shows me that so many people are just human and big kids at heart, we all can’t wait to fly our drones and because it’s relatively new Tec to some of us we have no idea what the hell we are about to start up. Poor you, Happy you didn’t bleed to death with the drone hovering over you, I’m so happy I was alone when I did mine my son and wife would have never let me forget it.

 

[crooz77]

Really, you should write a book. Enjoyed reading your story.

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

Really, you should write a book. Enjoyed reading your story.

You are a bad man, you really want to enjoy my pain and suffering in a book [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] “never” I’m only letting you guys in on my horror story because you are fellow pilots. But it looks like I’m not the only one so many of us make the same mistake.

 

[dennyc39]

"It's sort of like a tamed lion; You can pet him, you can pull on his ears if you want, but all the time you're thinking: Those claws. Look at those claws."

- Thomas Cromwell character in Wolf Hall (by Hilary Mantel)

 

[dennyc39]

I have 0 hours of drone time, as my MP is defective and being exchanged by DJI. There are probably people on this forum with experience in wet conditions. However, there is a youtube where a guy analyzes the MP innards. He's favorably impressed with construction, but notes the internal cooling fan is able to pull in water, dust, and contaminants, with possible bad effects on the reliability of the drone.

 

[PJNEWPILOT2018]

I have 0 hours of drone time, as my MP is defective and being exchanged by DJI. There are probably people on this forum with experience in wet conditions. However, there is a youtube where a guy analyzes the MP innards. He's favorably impressed with construction, but notes the internal cooling fan is able to pull in water, dust, and contaminants, with possible bad effects on the reliability of the drone.

Ummmme that sounds scary, it seems like we are all living on borrowed time before the drone either crashes, gets lost, or confiscated, or attacks us [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] still fun though, I can’t imagine a £1000:00 drone sucking in water [emoji97] but I’m sure the YouTube guy is right. I think I will fly mine in perfect conditions ie no rain, bright daylight, no wind, not too hot, not too cold, not out of sight, Not over rivers. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji848][emoji1431][emoji1431][emoji1431]