I just joined the group potential customer help

0ursisthefury · Mar 29, 2017

I wanted a drone for a few years but never found one I really liked until the Mavic Pro. I think it is amazing, but the only issue is I live in Brooklyn, NYC. I am getting very unspecific knowledge on drones and the law in NYC.

I wanted to know if I can fly the drone in my house without issue? Also am I able to use in my own backyard or roof? thanks

Pushpak · Mar 29, 2017

0ursisthefury said:
I wanted a drone for a few years but never found one I really liked until the Mavic Pro. I think it is amazing, but the only issue is I live in Brooklyn, NYC. I am getting very unspecific knowledge on drones and the law in NYC.

I wanted to know if I can fly the drone in my house without issue? Also am I able to use in my own backyard or roof? thanks

Congrats on your first drone and welcome to MavicPilots.
Check this Know Before You Fly OR NewYork drone laws

mkp2020 · Mar 30, 2017

Welcome to the forum. It will be very tempting to fly indoors but I would recommend that you do several outdoor flights out in an open area where you can become comfortable with the drone and how it responds to the controls. You will need to be aware you will probably not have GPS indoors which means you would be flying in a different mode there - either Opti mode or Atti mode. Those modes don't control the hovering as precisely so it is easier to drift into things like walls or TV's. It certainly is possible to fly indoors and many have done it, but many have had crashes too. If you cannot resist the temptation and decide to try it indoors please make sure you set your RTH to "Hover" so that if you lose communication with the controller your drone wont attempt to climb to RTH altitude - crashing into your ceiling. Also most people do not fly with the gimbal cover on, but I would make an exception for any early indoor flights just for crash protection. Good luck!

0ursisthefury · Mar 30, 2017

Thanks, I have been looking at laws for drones in NYC, and it really has made me reconsider this purchase. I like this because the video is amazing and I love the portability. I live in Brooklyn, NY and I found out that the NYPD said if anyone sees a drone being operated to call 911 immediately. I also heard that anyone flying a drone in NYC illegally is put on the counter-terrorism list. My issue is the laws are incredibly vague. For now I would like to just play around with it in my house to avoid this situation, I would also want to use it in my backyard. But if I do use it in my backyard, am I breaking the law? It is outside in their airspace, but I am in my property, so how can I be breaking the law if I own the house? What if a neighbor calls the police to tell them I am flying a drone in my backyard, will the police come knock on my door? I don't plan on going over 200 ft high let alone 400 ft, and I would keep it on my property.

I plan on using it when I go on vacation, etc. For instance this summer I plan on going to the Grand Canyon in Nevada, will I be able to even use this?

Hexagon · Mar 30, 2017

If am not from US but I have read that flying a drone in the Grand Canyon is a BIG no go. I might be wrong though...

0ursisthefury · Mar 30, 2017

Your right, I figured you would have to get permission from a ranger but it's a no go. Does anyone know if this is legal to use in carribean islands or Europe? Being from New York City makes it difficult to just of this purchase which is disappointing because I really want this.

Hexagon · Mar 30, 2017

Regarding Europe I am afraid that you have to check each destination separately for drone laws as each country has applied different or slightly different rules.

newnan3 · Mar 30, 2017

If you feel the need to fly in your house or around the yard get a Syma X11. Its a toy quad thats actually pretty fun to fly. Its the first drone I learned to fly before I moved to racers. I gave it away but i wish i still had it. Its a good idea to have some idea of what it takes to fly these things before too.

A Mavic would get real boring really fast indoors or in a small yard. The only thing you'd really be doing is risking damage to a really expensive-to-repair quad.

The main problem with these amazing machines is you cant fly them in a lot of places....Im doing the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal in December and it appears that getting the appropriate drone permissions is quite expensive and difficult.