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Taking off from hotel balcony.

shb

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I have a fourth floor room with a balcony. The usable space on the balcony is 4 feet square. I moved a table out there, with a small high contrast rug on it. I still had to elevate 2 feet to get over the railing. So I started it up. I couldn't get all the satellites because half the building was blocking them. Of course, I had to turn obstacle avoidance off. So the first two times I made it up, and out into open space. Landed ok. The third time, it started moving backward and forward. Ended up hitting myself and some windows and railings. Crashed down on the balcony. No drone damage that I could see, but three props were damaged. I changed all four, since I have about 10 spares. After that, I flew twice from the ground with no problems.
There's no real advantage from flying from my room, except i don't have to walk downstairs, and i stay in aircon room. I wish i had recorded the third attempt with my camcorder so i could see exactly what happened. It's unlikely you would lose your drone, because it will most likely just crash in the balcony and damage props. I'm wondering if i should have waited longer on the balcony for more satellites. I have a small cut on my leg above the knee but nothing requiring care.
 
I wish i had recorded the third attempt with my camcorder so i could see exactly what happened.
Your recorded flight data would probably show what happened
I'm wondering if i should have waited longer on the balcony for more satellites.
Your drone would have picked up more sats when you flew out away from the building, but you might have lost some when you came back close to the building.
If you post your flight data, it might have some clues to help answer that question
 
Are you hand launching and hand catching?
Is the balcony door large enough to fly in and out of?
With only a 4x4 balcony with a railing taller than your table, better to just fly in and out of the balcony door. Keep the table inside and fly out from on top of it, after getting a Home Point lock. Then close the door for AC. You should be able to get enough satellites to launch from inside, or just fly out the balcony door in ATTI mode. Alternatively, mount a small 1 foot by 1 foot wooden launching platform onto the top of the railing, and launch from there, and upon return, open up the balcony door, and fly back inside the open balcony door, and land on the floor or the bed, if you can't managed to hand catch it! Good luck!
 
Are you hand launching and hand catching?
Is the balcony door large enough to fly in and out of?
With only a 4x4 balcony with a railing taller than your table, better to just fly in and out of the balcony door. Keep the table inside and fly out from on top of it, after getting a Home Point lock. Then close the door for AC. You should be able to get enough satellites to launch from inside, or just fly out the balcony door in ATTI mode. Alternatively, mount a small 1 foot by 1 foot wooden launching platform onto the top of the railing, and launch from there, and upon return, open up the balcony door, and fly back inside the open balcony door, and land on the floor or the bed, if you can't managed to hand catch it! Good luck!
No, I said I'm taking off from a small table. The sliding glass doors are slightly narrower than the balcony. So no advantage to flying through them. Right now I see no reason to try again since I need a working drone till i return to the Philippines on July 8th.
 
No, I said I'm taking off from a small table. The sliding glass doors are slightly narrower than the balcony. So no advantage to flying through them. Right now I see no reason to try again since I need a working drone till i return to the Philippines on July 8th.
You also weren’t hand catching for the landing?
Since flying through the door is such a small opening for landing, hand catching will be your best option, if you want to try again. You still have full manual control even without GPS. However, if you have no ATTI flying experience, live to fly another day!
 
You also weren’t hand catching for the landing?
Since flying through the door is such a small opening for landing, hand catching will be your best option, if you want to try again. You still have full manual control even without GPS. However, if you have no ATTI flying experience, live to fly another day!
I can't operate the controls and hand catch at the same time. I'm alone.
 
Get used to hand catching by yourself, and you'll never want to land on the ground again!
Looks good. I think I'll try it on the ground before I try it on the balcony. Question. When you do auto take off, how high will it go? Because I have a ledge only a few feet above my balcony.
 
Looks good. I think I'll try it on the ground before I try it on the balcony. Question. When you do auto take off, how high will it go? Because I have a ledge only a few feet above my balcony.
Definitely practice outside in an open area before you try it in a confined area on a balcony. Auto takeoff rises 3-4 feet and then hovers, until you take over. Hand catching stops any instability in the landing area that led to your crash, once you have grabbed it!
 
Just looked at the ledge. It's about 9 feet above the balcony floor. So if I was holding it 4 feet above the balcony floor, it would be a close call. Also, what about obstacle avoidance? It would not let you get closer than 15 feet from the ledge, so I don't see how this would work. Just went up to the top floor of the hotel. No roof access, not suprising. Used my smart rc for the first time yesterday. Made me pair it with the drone, even though I bought it with the drone. Before I've been flying with my old RC-N1.
 
Just looked at the ledge. It's about 9 feet above the balcony floor. So if I was holding it 4 feet above the balcony floor, it would be a close call. Also, what about obstacle avoidance? It would not let you get closer than 15 feet from the ledge, so I don't see how this would work. Just went up to the top floor of the hotel. No roof access, not suprising. Used my smart rc for the first time yesterday. Made me pair it with the drone, even though I bought it with the drone. Before I've been flying with my old RC-N1.
Turn off Obstacle Avoidance before landing, or sneak upon it from the side while in a hover. Only one RC can be paired to the drone at a time. Changing RC's always requires repairing.
 
T
Turn off Obstacle Avoidance before landing, or sneak upon it from the side while in a hover. Only one RC can be paired to the drone at a time. Changing RC's always requires repairing.
That's really stupid. Obviously you're not gonna have both Rc's turned on at the same time. Not sure I know how to bind the RC-N1.
 
Not sure I know how to bind the RC-N1.
Google it. Lots of YT videos on it. Only one RC can be bound to the drone. You can pair it with any compatible RC but are only allowed 5 flights before you must either fly again with the bound RC, or switch the binding to the new RC, which requires internet access. Pairing does not require internet access.
 
This definitely seems like the situation whereas the manual for the unit should have been read first before getting into a situation like this. I would suggest if you have questions read the manual first look at some YT videos and then experiment. Good luck! Happy flying!
 
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This definitely seems like the situation whereas the manual for the unit should have been read first before getting into a situation like this. I would suggest if you have questions read the manual first look at some YT videos and then experiment. Good luck! Happy flying!
Then DJI wouldn’t seem so stupid, as it is operating exactly as described.
Tech support has an acronym for this type of support call. RYFM!
 
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