Flying inside a room. What should I know?

[lomposlapos]

For the purposes of testing, I need to power up the drone and the TC Pro controller and do a lift off to check and ensure that connection, software, batterie, everything are working properly.

Any advice what should I be aware of when flying in a room?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Find a window, wait for GPS signal , use the Auto Take off feature only, and Keep it to a Hover.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Or in the Shower ? lol

 

[Suren]

Flying inside a room with a drone the size of the Mavic 3 can be risky, especially if the room has furniture in it. There is a risk of crashing, why can't you test outdoors.

 

[lomposlapos]

Does this thing has reliable sensors in all six directions or will crash into the ceiling on autotakeoff?

 

[Suren]

Does this thing has reliable sensors in all six directions or will crash into the ceiling on autotakeoff?

It has reliable OA sensors but taking off inside puts the drone at risk of entering Atti mode, which happens when GPS signal drops of is lost completely, which happens a lot when trying to fly inside. Even if you acquire sats outside and then bring the drone inside, it will lose sats and could possibly enter Atti mode. There is a Risk

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The room MUST be well lit. Indoors position holding is most likely going to be via the VPS system alone and that needs light....unless the drone has its own bottom lighting.
GPS is not required.
With a big drone do not fly over loose stuff or stuff that can flap, flapping may upset/disturb VPS.
IMO, the last thing you want is OA on, basically it will cause the drone to get stuck with warnings front, back and sideways if it has sideways looking sensors.
If it has upward looking sensor you may also have very little height to play with.
I fly the M2P/Z indoors and OA is ALWAYS off, I recollect switching to sports mode to switch the upward looking sensors off.
Small delicate movements of the control sticks is a must unless the room is large.

 

[MA2 317]

Use prop guards or have extra props if things go wrong.

Don't get too close to walls or the ceiling.

The prop wash may suck the aircraft into it.

The reason for prop guards.

 

[old man mavic]

@lomposlapos ,firstly please dont try to take off inside ,to do the things you mention safely ,firstly remove the props ,so there is no chance that the drone can unexpectedly get airborne
connect everything up as if you were going to fly ,and also have a small fan blowing over the drone to help with cooling
then once everything is connected you can check for updates ,check your settings check battery readings in fact ,check just about anything in the App display ,but safely and without risk to you or your drone or indeed other family members who may be present

 

[GFields]

This would be very risky, to say the least. Why not just step outside to do the testing you're doing?

 

[Starz]

Any particular reason for the indoor idea? Bad weather?

 

[vindibona1]

It has reliable OA sensors but taking off inside puts the drone at risk of entering Atti mode, which happens when GPS signal drops of is lost completely, which happens a lot when trying to fly inside. Even if you acquire sats outside and then bring the drone inside, it will lose sats and could possibly enter Atti mode. There is a Risk

I didn't read all the replies, but Suren is stating a hard truth. It can slip spontaenously into the Atti mode and when it does that it's like driving your car on black ice with no brakes and crazy accelerator control.

Are there prop guards for the Mavic 3? I wouldn't fly this drone indoors without them. And even then there are things that can happen. I had one major crash indoors with a Mini 2 and even with props managed to do significant damage to my drone.

In addition to Atti mode, when you get near walls or objects, those walls or objects can interfere with the airflow and make the drone less controllable. So if you choose to fly indoors you should be aware of that too.

 

[Deleted member 162835]

If the room is huge and has high ceilings you should be fine assuming you have satellite lock and are only going up down. I would NOT fly around. The Mavic 3 has some serious power and in closed spaces it will NOT air brake in time to avoid walls. If you do not have sat lock it will drift around and if close to a wall will smack it and you’ll be sad. Flying inside is risky.

 

[StantonZ]

Any advice what should I be aware of when flying in a room?

Don't

 

[Walleye Hunter]

I guess I got lucky. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Mine came in in the afternoon and I wanted full battery charge before first launch. Batteries were charged, it was dark out so the living room it was. About an 8' ceiling. Totally ignorant, I fired it up, lifted it up to about four feet and whirled it around the living room. God watches out for babies and fools.

 

[ZmoothOperator]

I've "flown" mine many times inside a small living room. Lift off with the sticks in/down. Just flying very slowly, and always at decent distance to walls or obstacles. I had no problem controlling it, and I had no satellite lock.

I make sure to turn off obstacle avoidance though. You don't want the drone to move anywhere unless you tell it to...

 

[Horsefly]

For the purposes of testing, I need to power up the drone and the TC Pro controller and do a lift off to check and ensure that connection, software, batterie, everything are working properly.

Any advice what should I be aware of when flying in a room?

Make sure you have good lighting. Preferably over a surface that has patterns. Move very slow and consider using tripod mode. Be aware that the machine may switch to ATTI due to rebar in concrete or loss of light/contrast and the aircraft will require more advanced control inputs. Light weight objects may be blown over and unsecured papers will waft around the room. The wife may get edgy so warn first. Resist urge to scare the pets.

Sensors generally pick up obstacles and the 3T has good overhead and underneath warnings. Consider turning the volume down since the alarms will be going off constantly.

This has worked for me with a 2Zoom and 3T without propeller guards flying around the house and from inside to outside through a window.

 

[twickers14]

Tons of really good advice above. When I am checking for an FW update etc I do fire my MA2 up, making sure there is nothing that would be blown away when the props are under way, but never TO. Seems to be OK and have never had a problem.

 

[Ralph thompson]

You can fly indoors but you need to be an experienced operator.
- use prop guards
- altitude will be limited to 15 to 20 feet & be assist by optical sensors
- it will drift quickly, you have to be 100% attentive
- the area needs to be clear of lose objects including small carpets
- depending on why yr doing this, you may have to turn off the sensors to fly higher & avoid interruptions in the video. You can’t turn off the upper sensor
- you may have to launch from a raised platform if the floor has rebars (they’ll cause magnetic interference)

If yr just doing this for fun then maybe best to go buy a $50 toy drone

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

If the lighting is sufficient and the floor 'pattern' is appropriate I think it is unlikely that the drone will drift. The warning about 'suck in' if you get too close to a wall, is something I forgot to mention but I have, several times, left a Mavic Mini or Mini 2 hovering indoors with absolutely no stick input (controller not in my hands) for upwards of 5 minutes and it stayed where I left it. The M2P/Z is similar but, owing to its cost, I haven't put its controller down.
If the lighting is poor or the floor in shadow e.g. lit from the side rather than above, or the floor pattern inappropriate then, yes, ATTI mode is a risk but other than that I have never had a problem with a Mavic style drone switching to ATTI mode indoors.
Unless you have very high ceilings then the drone should never be above VPS height and even then probably limited to 5m.
Indoors with the Minis I get a warning, nearly every time I try to start the motors, that the lighting is poor and that the drone may go into ATTI mode and I have to accept liability, or something similar, twice before the motors will start but once the drone is air borne and the sensors are not in the drone's shadow VPS works perfectly.
Yes I have flown a Mini into a dark area (the stairs without the stair light on) and it did switch to ATTI mode and I did crash it but I have also navigated those stairs, once, in ATTI just to see if I could do it.

 

[JoelP]

For the purposes of testing, I need to power up the drone and the TC Pro controller and do a lift off to check and ensure that connection, software, batterie, everything are working properly.

Any advice what should I be aware of when flying in a room?

While you can’t take off you might just power it on to test connection, SW, and battery. Alternatively you can remove the props. I never take off with my Mavic 3 indoors. Even outdoors in my courtyard when I do such tests it beeps incessantly as the collision avoidance sees all of the surrounding obstacles.