Mavic Air survives ten-story fall

[Sfusiondj]

So today I had the bright idea of trying to fly my beloved Air from the window of my 10th floor apartment (I live in a massive apartment building, typical here in Korea). I held it outside the window, fired it up and let go. The drone immediately drifted back into the wall (quite an impact) before dropping like a rock for ten floors and landing flat on its back in the parking lot below. I ran down to assess the damage. It's got all the chips and scuff marks you'd expect, a generous ding to the top part of the battery (nowhere near the cells, luckily), and the ND filter I had on was smashed to pieces (probably saved the lens). I took off the broken filter, replaced the battery and shattered props, and to my astonishment the drone appears to be working fine. It was 'drifting' for the first few minutes, which was weird, but then appeared to level out. Camera/gimbal appear to be working perfectly. Further testing is warranted.

Kicking myself though. I've been flying it for nearly a year without incident

Anyone got any tips on how to fly out of windows? Haha. At first I tried to launch it just inside the window and fly it out, but the sensors stopped it (probably picked up the window frame). Hence my attempt to start it up out the window. I'm thinking I should've stuck with strategy A, but put it in sport mode to disable the sensors.

 

[Mossiback]

Lucky you. Why take the risk? It fell 10 stories to a parking lot. Think what could have happened if it hit a person or a car. The best advise I can give is to not do it again.

 

[JDawg]

" I held it outside the window, fired it up and let go "

You had no GPS lock most likely so the bird was in atti and that is why it drifted into the wall. I have read where people have made platforms outside their windows so they can launch. And what Mossi said.

 

[WayneDorsa]

I flew my MA from my 6th floor balcony in China. Had to disable the sensors first. First time I tried, I had to hand catch it just off the balcony because the sensors wouldn't allow my MA to get too close to the inside wall of my balcony. A little scary because I only owned the drone for several days and I was still learning how to control it.