Indoor flight advice

[AyeYo]

I'm going to be shooting a video for my employer inside one of our shops, but I've never flown the Mavic indoors and I have some concerns. I'm already 107 licensed and know the rules, so please don't get into that.

1. Compass issues inside a metal framed building, taking off from concrete... I plenty of VLOS flying skills so I have no problem simply flying in atti mode, but DJI in its infinite wisdom decided to not make that user selectable. What would you guys recommend to avoid flight issues?

2. Any other advice that might be helpful people experienced with flying inside large buildings.

 

[msinger]

I'm going to be shooting a video for my employer inside one of our shops

Can you describe the flying location in great detail?

I'm already 107 licensed and know the rules, so please don't get into that.

No worries. The FAA does not control indoor flights.

 

[AyeYo]

Can you describe the flying location in great detail?

Concrete floor, probably 50ftx200ft horizontal, 30ft ceiling, I beam framed, steal walls and roof, metal hanging everywhere.

 

[AyeYo]

Another concern is that opti mode is also not user selectable (that I know of) and given the openness of the building (lots of bay doors) I will likely get GPS signal... but how accurate will it be and will it create more issues than it helps?

 

[NorthEastJohn]

Let er Rip! I fly indoors all the time. Just make sure you have enough lighting. This will allow you to use the vision sensing. Oh yeh, and set your RTH to hover if signal is lost LOL

 

[AyeYo]

Let er Rip! I fly indoors all the time. Just make sure you have enough lighting. This will allow you to use the vision sensing. Oh yeh, and set your RTH to hover if signal is lost LOL

****, good call. Didn't even think of that.

 

[Lost Boy]

I only have flew indoors once, and without GPS, the drone tended to drift a little. It helped to kind of give it a little direction constantly to keep it smooth. Kinda like a snowboard.

 

[Palliz]

Loadsa indoor flying - under bridges - metal structures - Arenas - go ahead & enjoy - the Mavic is really steady indoors even with metal structures around you. I do enable the avoidance control system but you might be better ( depending what kind of flying ) to put it into tripod mode - I find that waaaay to slow ( no avoidance control ) but may be a good start if our apprehensive.................Go For It!

 

[AyeYo]

Drifting and actual ability to LOS fly doesn't bother me. My only concerns are the drone doing something erratic, but that doesn't seem like an issue from what you guys are saying. Thanks!

 

[finalfantasyfans]

1. Install Prop guard for safety
2. Turn off Obstacle avoidance in case of drifting in tight space
3. Tripod mode
4. Hover when RC signal lost

 

[Gernby]

Prop guards are a good suggestion, but the guards I just bought seem to be way too Rigid and heavy. I think they will help reduce damage that the MP causes to other things, but are likely to increase damage to the MP if it crashes.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Another concern is that opti mode is also not user selectable (that I know of) and given the openness of the building (lots of bay doors) I will likely get GPS signal... but how accurate will it be and will it create more issues than it helps?

GPS indoors in such conditions would likely have a lot of multipath resulting in large errors. I'd turn off RTH completely in case it "home points" and for some reason tries to go to a home point that is not only wrong but likely not in the direction it may want to fly.

 

[Gernby]

Prop guards are a good suggestion, but the guards I just bought seem to be way too Rigid and heavy. I think they will help reduce damage that the MP causes to other things, but are likely to increase damage to the MP if it crashes.

To expand on this, I bought the EXSPORT 4 piece quick release guards from Amazon. They have no flex or give at all, which will result in much greater forces on the folding arms if it impacts the ground. Also, since it seems that indoor crashes are less likely to occur in the forward direction due to obstacle avoidance, the fragile rear arms seem to be at greatest risk.

 

[bluesbruno]

I'm going to be shooting a video for my employer inside one of our shops, but I've never flown the Mavic indoors and I have some concerns. I'm already 107 licensed and know the rules, so please don't get into that.

1. Compass issues inside a metal framed building, taking off from concrete... I plenty of VLOS flying skills so I have no problem simply flying in atti mode, but DJI in its infinite wisdom decided to not make that user selectable. What would you guys recommend to avoid flight issues?

2. Any other advice that might be helpful people experienced with flying inside large buildings.

I attempted this in an extremely similar scenario and it was plagued with signal loss and non-responsiveness.
Please let us know what the outcome was.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

I attempted this in an extremely similar scenario and it was plagued with signal loss and non-responsiveness.
Please let us know what the outcome was.

Were you flying WiFi (phone) or RC?

 

[MaverickMavic890]

Why don't you put it in tripod mode for inside

 

[Bertro]

I've never used Mavic for indoor flights and also wanted to create the post like this. Thanks a lot for all recommendations!

 

[wayy510]

I'm going to be shooting a video for my employer inside one of our shops, but I've never flown the Mavic indoors and I have some concerns. I'm already 107 licensed and know the rules, so please don't get into that.

1. Compass issues inside a metal framed building, taking off from concrete... I plenty of VLOS flying skills so I have no problem simply flying in atti mode, but DJI in its infinite wisdom decided to not make that user selectable. What would you guys recommend to avoid flight issues?

2. Any other advice that might be helpful people experienced with flying inside large buildings.

I don't know how fast you need to move around for your shots. But if that doesn't matter, just use tripod mode. It's slow but very controlled.

 

[Oyibo VFX]

I did this morning my first flight "indoor" which is our steel building under erection and a lot of site winds. No compass and no GPS. Scariest flight I ever did. Because all obstructions, I flew in Tripod mode. Happy it was over

 

[bluesbruno]

Were you flying WiFi (phone) or RC?

I was using RC indoors when I crashed it a month ago.

Today I attempted to make the exact same flight with Wifi instead of RC (and propeller guards, just in case) and I had perfect control over it without GPS signal.

When I switched to RC to test it, the Mavic would sway to the side uncontrollably, which caused my first crash.

I confirm flying indoors with the Mavic Pro in WiFi mode works far better than RC.