Landing a Drone on a hotel balcony

[Bransty]

Hi guys and gals!

I've recently been on holiday in Croatia, and decided to fly my MA2 from the hotel balcony. This was mainly due to "Account not Logged In" error, but that's another story.
I had no problems taking off from the balcony coffee table, and lying on my bed while flying. Recommended! Bliss!
However, when bringing it back to land, it's sensors stopped it from coming into the balcony. It remained about 3 or 4 feet away, bleeping and whirring and attracting unwanted attention.
In the end, I had to lean right out of the balcony (6 floors up. Not recommended!) and grab it from underneath. In the panic of the moment, I didn't know how to switch it off, other than to turn the drone upside down.
I know I'll get told off here by the drone police. I won't do it again - honest!
But what's the best way to bring a drone into an area it doesn't want to come into? And how do you switch it off if you have only one hand spare?

 

[Dave-in-Elland]

Hi guys and gals!

I've recently been on holiday in Croatia, and decided to fly my MA2 from the hotel balcony. This was mainly due to "Account not Logged In" error, but that's another story.
I had no problems taking off from the balcony coffee table, and lying on my bed while flying. Recommended! Bliss!
However, when bringing it back to land, it's sensors stopped it from coming into the balcony. It remained about 3 or 4 feet away, bleeping and whirring and attracting unwanted attention.
In the end, I had to lean right out of the balcony (6 floors up. Not recommended!) and grab it from underneath. In the panic of the moment, I didn't know how to switch it off, other than to turn the drone upside down.
I know I'll get told off here by the drone police. I won't do it again - honest!
But what's the best way to bring a drone into an area it doesn't want to come into? And how do you switch it off if you have only one hand spare?

I’ve never tried it but can you turn obstacle avoidance off mid flight? Would that enable you to bring the drone in closer?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Just switch the drone over to sport mode , and you should be fine .
I have flown from the Bedroom a few times and it tempts me to putting a bigger window in every time.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water , Capture the Storm.

 

[Faster]

As said before, disable Obstacle Avoidance in Safety Settings or just put the drone in Sport Mode which will disable Obstacle Avoidance.

 

[MS Coast]

If the MA2 doesn't have side sensors, just rotate the drone 90 degrees and fly it back sideways. I have to do this with the Air 2S when landing in areas with obstructions.

 

[Faster]

If the MA2 doesn't have side sensors, just rotate the drone 90 degrees and fly it back sideways. I have to do this with the Air 2S when landing in areas with obstructions.

That's a good one , never thought about that option. New note taken for my book. Thanks.

 

[Bransty]

Thanks for the answers everyone. They all make perfect sense. In the heat of the moment, my brain stopped working. Just to make sure, I'll book hotels with bigger balconies from now on.

 

[rexster1505]

I faced the same predicament in Cozumel several years ago with my Phantom 4 Pro+. It just hovered there looking at me, til I realized I needed to shut off the obstacle avoidance sensors.

 

[KB9Radio]

Hi guys and gals!

I've recently been on holiday in Croatia, and decided to fly my MA2 from the hotel balcony. This was mainly due to "Account not Logged In" error, but that's another story.
I had no problems taking off from the balcony coffee table, and lying on my bed while flying. Recommended! Bliss!
However, when bringing it back to land, it's sensors stopped it from coming into the balcony. It remained about 3 or 4 feet away, bleeping and whirring and attracting unwanted attention.
In the end, I had to lean right out of the balcony (6 floors up. Not recommended!) and grab it from underneath. In the panic of the moment, I didn't know how to switch it off, other than to turn the drone upside down.
I know I'll get told off here by the drone police. I won't do it again - honest!
But what's the best way to bring a drone into an area it doesn't want to come into? And how do you switch it off if you have only one hand spare?

As others have mentioned, turn sideways, go to sport mode, or turn off in settings are all good ideas. I just wanted to mention that turning the drone upside down to shut the motors off works well, and shouldn't hurt anything. It's probably easier and safer than fumbling around with the controller with one hand trying to shut it off.

 

[SparePartz]

As others have mentioned, turn sideways, go to sport mode, or turn off in settings are all good ideas. I just wanted to mention that turning the drone upside down to shut the motors off works well, and shouldn't hurt anything. It's probably easier and safer than fumbling around with the controller with one hand trying to shut it off.

Especially hanging out over the railing 6 floors up, lol

 

[MS Coast]

As others have mentioned, turn sideways, go to sport mode, or turn off in settings are all good ideas. I just wanted to mention that turning the drone upside down to shut the motors off works well, and shouldn't hurt anything. It's probably easier and safer than fumbling around with the controller with one hand trying to shut it off.

I'd avoid using sport mode when maneuvering in tight quarters and especially when hand catching.

 

[Dbez1]

I agree. Sport mode should work but it could be a trip to the ER unless you have a very light touch with your controller.

 

[Hursty]

If the MA2 doesn't have side sensors, just rotate the drone 90 degrees and fly it back sideways. I have to do this with the Air 2S when landing in areas with obstructions.

never thought about that one

 

[CodaDiLupo]

Hello, I know this thread is a few months old, but this is exactly the same situation in which I found myself with my Mavic 2 Pro and my instinct was to bring the drone over the balcony by disabling obstacle avoidance, which is the suggestion made here. However, in my case this did not work well, because as soon as I switched obstacle avoidance off, the drone started drifting very rapidly and hit the wall. Looking at the flight logs, when I switched off the obstacle avoidance system, the drone had already lost the GPS signal, so I assume it was hovering a few feet from me in P-OPTI mode. Would switching off obstacle avoidance in P-OPTI mode automatically determine a switch to ATTI mode (where there is no more compensation for the wind)? I see no good reason for a software implementation in which obstacle avoidance is switched off by switching off the vision system (and hence terminating P-OPTI as well), as it can be done much more safely by simply disabling any reaction that follows the detection.
More details about my crash can be found in this post