Indoor at an ice rink?

[Paint Rock Drones]

Has anyone flown indoors at an ice rink? I've read the post about flying indoors, but in addition to the possible GPS issues I'm wondering what happens when the big cooling fans start blowing. Especially with my mini 2 I'm thinking it might get blown out of control.

 

[Gagey52]

Welcome to the forum from the land of Oz. Have never flown in an indoor area, but the mini 2 can handle a fair amount of wind. It would be good fans that could put the mini off it’s game.
Regards

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

..
The cooling fans would have to be close, but just watch when flying in front of (or below) them, or simply avoid them in the flight planning.

If the ambient temps are low, keep batteries in your pocket before flight to keep them warm too.

Be prepared to have to fly in ATTI if GPS problems happen.
Depends on the building, but the worst thing is if you have GPS sometimes, and it keeps dropping in and out.

Recreational flight or doing something commercial ?
I suppose you will be doing this with the rinks approval and have a plan if people are involved and / or using the rink.

 

[sarimento1]

welcome to the forum!
i've never done indoor in a rink, but i think the mini2 can handle it.
bigger issues, getting clear permission from the rink management.
also filming at close range over people, which, as i understand, is a bit of a no-no also without their permission.
you might fare better outdoors, at higher altitude, with nicer surroundings and obviously in the winter!

 

[Meta4]

Have never flown in an indoor area, but the mini 2 can handle a fair amount of wind. It would be good fans that could put the mini off it’s game.

If the roof blocks GPS signals, the drone won't have any horizontal position holding ability and won't be able to resist any wind at all.

 

[Rich QR]

Indoors, the FAA has no jurisdiction. So recreational vs. commercial doesn't matter. There's no explicit regulation prohibiting flying over people, where the FAA lacks jurisdiction, but at least ordinary tort law holds, so be very careful not to do anything that might cause injury.

You probably won't have GPS. If you lose visual positioning on the ice, you'll go into ATTI mode. Those fans will be a challenge if you're in ATTI mode.

Be very careful.

 

[StantonZ]

Flying indoors with a drone that is designed to fly outdoors (with a decent GPS signal) is a recipe for disaster. If you really want to fly indoors (especially around people), use a drone that is designed for that environment (e.g. no GPS--and probably very lightweight).

 

[JimSteadman]

I have done interior flying, albeit without big fans on the ceiling. Make sure your light is good, since you do not have GPS inside. Fly low until you have the hang of it. You might consider using your propeller guards until you get the hang of it. Do not take your eyes off your drone - they can be unpredictable. Be prepared to do a hand capture if necessary, as they will sometimes get erratic. Good luck.

 

[Zbip57]

Has anyone flown indoors at an ice rink? [...] I'm wondering what happens when the big cooling fans start blowing.

Big cooling fans? Huh? Say what?

The ice surface is usually cooled by pipes embedded in the concrete below the ice, no? And, yes, the refrigeration plant that provides the coolant flow may have large cooling fans, but those usually exhaust to the outside of the building, no?

And what's the big deal about flying a Mini 2 indoors? Assuming the GPS signal may be blocked (which is not always the case), the Mini still has its Visual Positioning Sensor system which works up to a height of 10m (~30ft). And even if the VPS fails due to insufficient lighting (unlikely in a sports arena) or insufficient surface detail for the VPS camera to fix on, it just means the drone defaults to ATTI mode.

That doesn't mean it stops flying. It only means it won't automatically stop and hold a fixed position in hover when the control sticks are centred. It will drift freely, but you still have full control of the joysticks to move the drone to where ever you want.

Practice flying ATTI mode in an underground parking garage, or your basement, where the GPS signal is reliably blocked. Cover the camera lens of the VPS sensor with a piece of tape (not on the two infrared height sensors). That should force the Mini into ATTI mode. Go slow and use only small stick inputs until you get the hang of it.

 

[buddb55]

I've flown several times inside a steel building that is a maintenance building for a golf course. Flying ATTI mode with no problems. Just careful on the sticks.

 

[xedder]

I have flown inside a curling rink with a mavic 2 pro. No problems at all . Had to watch out for banners hanging from the roof which blew around from the prop wash though. Dress warm as well.

 

[SpitFire]

Also, would be good to disable RTH, enable obstacle avoidance, tripod mode turned on. I own the MP, it was designed for long range flying camera, so I don't do much indoors.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

Thanks for all the input.
i don’t really know why there are large air ducts near the ceiling at several of the rinks I visit (I have an ice dancer in the family). I guess they might be to warm up the spectators.
I tried practicing with my mini 2 outdoors in gusty wind. Impressive performance!
Now I just need to work on getting permission from a rink manager.

 

[Rye68]

Thanks for all the input.
i don’t really know why there are large air ducts near the ceiling at several of the rinks I visit (I have an ice dancer in the family). I guess they might be to warm up the spectators.
I tried practicing with my mini 2 outdoors in gusty wind. Impressive performance!
Now I just need to work on getting permission from a rink manager.

I flew in a curling club on the weekend and had some issues. The air vents and fans are to control the room temp and humidity, and they are indeed super strong. The problem flying indoors without GPS is that flying over white ice means the Mini's sensors have very little to "see" they may know how far off the ice they are, but no way to know where they are laterally. With no GPS lock you're flying in Attitude mode which really means you're flying it - it's not flying itself!! that means that every stick input requires the opposite input to stop it, and with the blowers going, drift WILL be an issue.
I was hoping to hold a solid hover directly in front of curlers delivering their rock so we could watch the line of delivery and watch hand position on release - as a training tool. Unfortunately flying over a solid white surface with no GPS lock was very difficult and I had to constantly correct for drift. Not as easy or as helpful as I'd hoped!
You will be fine flying indoors, but A) you have to know how to fly and B) don't expect to be able to take you hands off the sticks! Doable but it requires you to have to fly with little time to think or react so put on the prop guards and have at it. In my opinion - everyone should be able to fly this way if they're going to fly. Drone pilots shouldn't be expecting the drone to fly itself, but we get lulled into that world by artificial intelligence, algorithms and satellites!
Good luck and have fun, but be as safe as you can.

 

[buddb55]

Just get a good 360 camera with a good selfie stick, do some editing and it's done. End of problem.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

RE: Curling - Thanks, that's what I suspected. Given the racket that the blowers make when they turn on I figured they are pretty strong. I have flown little drones with no intelligence, so am familiar with the effect of moving wind on the drone and needing constant control input. And I would definitely use prop guards. But at this point its probably a thought exercise, not something I'm actually going to try.

RE: selfie stick - The problem I was trying to solve was a non-skater (me) videoing skaters, with no good vantage point for seeing the full ice without a net or piece of plexiglass getting in the way. But I'm guessing it wouldn't work well enough to justify the hassle of getting permission.

 

[buddb55]

RE: Curling - Thanks, that's what I suspected. Given the racket that the blowers make when they turn on I figured they are pretty strong. I have flown little drones with no intelligence, so am familiar with the effect of moving wind on the drone and needing constant control input. And I would definitely use prop guards. But at this point its probably a thought exercise, not something I'm actually going to try.

RE: selfie stick - The problem I was trying to solve was a non-skater (me) videoing skaters, with no good vantage point for seeing the full ice without a net or piece of plexiglass getting in the way. But I'm guessing it wouldn't work well enough to justify the hassle of getting permission.

Run along a sideline unless you can't

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

Run along a sideline unless you can't

It's a rink that is also used for hockey, so the entire rink is surrounded by boards with plexiglass up to about 10 Ft. And obstacles so that it is hard to move all the way around. There are elevated observation areas, and I can video most of the rink from there. But even then, when the figure skaters (e.g. my son and his partner) get close to the boards at my end or side of the rink, they are partially obscured.

I don't know if you have watched any of the Olympic skating. In their case they have control of the arena, so there are no plexiglass windows or netting to obscure the view. But they still have a huge articulating crane like thing with a camera at the end that they use for overhead shots. They do of course have to deal with stands full of audience members (OK, not so full this year), which I don't have to worry about.

Fortunately for me this isn't a professional challenge, just an idea that on initial though sounded like fun, and possibly would have been useful for their training.