Using a drone above an indoor swimming pool

[RonanCork]

Hey Guys,

Hope you're all well.

Wanted to ask you. I've an Air2S and a client asked about me taking some photos of their indoor swimming pool (pictured below).

I know that when indoors the drone won't have (or will have patchy GPS).

The are hoping to have someone swim in the pool and I take footage (photos maybe video too) of them

I'll be sure to not go to close to the water but I'd like your thoughts on anything else I should be aware of

I've asked the client if I could pop down out of hours and do a "trial run" just to ensure it's doable and the drone is stable etc (not sure how stable the drone would be, would the video be jerky?)

I've never flown indoors before - only outdoors

Any thoughts/guidance would be great!




Thanks Ro

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

You shouldn't have to worry about GPS indoors. You may need to disable obstacle avoidance in thigh areas to fly where you want to. I would make sure you keep an eye on the drone while flying and don't rely solely on the camera view. Just be extra careful when flying indoors and make sure you have great situational awareness at all times.

 

[old man mavic]

looking at the picture of the pool for me personally i think flying inside there would be very sketchy and i would not risk any of my drones doing it

 

[Ty Pilot]

Have you ever flown with GPS off?

 

[RonanCork]

Have you ever flown with GPS off?

I've not. Can the GPS be switch off on the AIR2s ? I thought it couldn't be switched off.
thanks Ro

 

[Ty Pilot]

I've not. Can the GPS be switch off on the AIR2s ? I thought it couldn't be switched off.
thanks Ro

The reason I asked is because you don't want to experience flying without GPS for the first time - indoors.

On older drones you could turn off the GPS, the drone would still stay upright but it does not hold position - ever played air hockey? These modern drones use GPS and their own vision positioning system to hold position but if you were to loose these, the drone goes into (ATTI) mode automatically, which is the same thing as GPS off.

Basically you need to control not only the initial movement but now you also need to be able to bring your drone to a stop without the help of the drone.

Indoor flight is possible, however my Advice is to test indoor flight somewhere else, and not on the job. Judging by the picture, there's not much a drone has to work with, that couldn't be achieved in other ways.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Indoors with no GPS the drone will rely on VPS for position holding. This is normally VERY good, cm perfect for me in a hover with my Minis and the M2P/Z, so I assume it will be the same for the Air 2S.
BUT if VPS is unavailable, for what ever reason, the drone will probably switch to ATTI mode or something similar. In that flight mode it will likely maintain height (via the barometer) but NOT maintain horizontal position nor will it automatically brake when the sticks are released. Rather it would continue any horizontal motion until the speed bleeds off due to friction etc.. So, in those circumstances, you would have to manually and constantly control is position and manually apply braking by applying the reverse stick to what ever horizontal movement you wanted to end.

Out of doors you might be able to simultate the lack of braking by flying the drone horizontally and then, whilst keeping the same speed setting, yaw the drone. If the Air 2s does not use "combined turns" programming it will carry on moving in the original direction for some time whilst also moving in the new direction, so you get a diagonal slide slip.
Unless you have experience of flying in such a flight mode I would suggest it is not something you want to do for the first time indoors and 'low' over water.
I fly a lot indoors and the two or three times where the drone has switched to ATTI mode, my fault I flew it into a poorly lit area, (Mavic Mini) I have not been skilled enough to control it within the minimal space available and it crashed (no damage done).

Daylight lighting does not appear to be a problem for your situation.

I would also have concerns about the water 'upsetting' the VPS and similarily a swimmer, there may be a tendancy for the drone to track the swimmer as a discernible object against a repetitive background.

I am not sure how much of a threat the drone would be to all that glass but I would be wary of the water and of being close to the swimmer.

Would the swimmer absolve you, in writing, of liability for any injuries sustained if something goes wrong and the drone hits them?

I would also investigate if there are height and distance limits when GPS is not available.

 

[BigAl07]

Last year we did a similar shoot for an indoor water park that had a pool area similar to the one pictured. It was a METAL building with a ton of metal all around so GPS was out of the question but I flew long before GPS was a thing. The bad part was that without GPS I couldn't fly as high (very tall ceilings) as I would have liked but the final data exceeded the clients expectations and they had no idea of those limitations.

Just know your flight controls intimately and know how to fly it without all the "safety features" like GPS etc. I don't know how the Air2S handles this but the M2P flew flawlessly.

 

[Meta4]

I know that when indoors the drone won't have (or will have patchy GPS).

I wouldn't be so certain that you'll have no GPS there.
That's a lot of glass giving you a lot of skyview (and potentially enough sats for GPS).

I've asked the client if I could pop down out of hours and do a "trial run" just to ensure it's doable and the drone is stable etc (not sure how stable the drone would be, would the video be jerky?)

GPS reception may be better low down, and closer to the window but you'd need to do some test flying to be able to tell.
If you have to fly over the water, you can't depend on VPS to provide horizontal position holding.

If you don't have horizontal position holding, you need to use very gentle joystick control.
The drone would hold height, but have no brakes and continue drifting when you go hands off.
Think driving on ice.

 

[RonanCork]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the very detailed response on this so quick - you've been so helpful with the wealth of information.

I've decided to not do it - I don't think the benefit out way the risk in this case (for all of the above reasons you've mentioned above). I'm not prepared to take the risk with my only drone to attempt this and also don't want to risk losing control of the drone in front of a client

Thanks Ro

 

[AnGo]

Normally, VPS over water can be tricky and cause drifts, unexpected sink and other side effects, as already mentioned by others before. However from my personal experience, VPS works quite fine over water if the surface is calm/flat and the water is not too deep or too dirty to see the ground structures clearly (here I assume a structured tile pattern). I think personally I'd give i a try, but not with the Air2s, maybe with a Mini and the propguards on.

 

[workingprophotog]

Hey Guys,

Hope you're all well.

Wanted to ask you. I've an Air2S and a client asked about me taking some photos of their indoor swimming pool (pictured below).

I know that when indoors the drone won't have (or will have patchy GPS).

The are hoping to have someone swim in the pool and I take footage (photos maybe video too) of them

I'll be sure to not go to close to the water but I'd like your thoughts on anything else I should be aware of

I've asked the client if I could pop down out of hours and do a "trial run" just to ensure it's doable and the drone is stable etc (not sure how stable the drone would be, would the video be jerky?)

I've never flown indoors before - only outdoors

Any thoughts/guidance would be great!


View attachment 150163

Thanks Ro

That roof is not tall enough for you to capture the whole pool in anyway. Lens is not wise enough. Waste of time.

 

[YVRGUY]

I live in a house with aluminum siding. When I did any work on my Air2S on the ground floor with the front windows 14’ wide by 4’ high… I surprisingly got enough satellites 🛰 to enable ‘Go Fly’ …not immediately, but, in good time. The picture of the pool shows more glass, much more, than what I described to grab satellites.

Here’s what I would do. One, fire up your Air2S inside the pool enclosure, let it grab some satellites on the App to enable Go Fly. Two, don’t fly, but walk the Air2S around the pools interior with drone in hand and see if your satellite numbers stay healthy enough to fly. If the latter checks out then disable obstacle obstruction and do a test run with no swimmer

I know you’ll get the required satellite numbers. Do your shoot …leaving a safe enough distance between the drone and swimmer, and that the swimmer is aware of your flight paths.

BTW…that’s a beautiful pool.

 

[JimSteadman]

At the risk of beating a dead horse ("I've decided not to do it...) I think you could do it. I have done inside work and my Mavic Air got out of control only when the light level was very low. You have plenty of light here and probably satellite connectivity. However, I would NOT fly over the water or the swimmer - only the ends of the pool. If you can shoot an ascent or descent that might be sufficient motion for the client, with the camera aloft while the swimming takes place. But if the client wants a camera over the swimmer tell him to get a long pole and a go-pro camera. I have seen what damage a drone can wreak on a hand - I shudder to think what it could do to a swimmer.

 

[offtheback]

Hey Guys,

Hope you're all well.

Wanted to ask you. I've an Air2S and a client asked about me taking some photos of their indoor swimming pool (pictured below).

I know that when indoors the drone won't have (or will have patchy GPS).

The are hoping to have someone swim in the pool and I take footage (photos maybe video too) of them

I'll be sure to not go to close to the water but I'd like your thoughts on anything else I should be aware of

I've asked the client if I could pop down out of hours and do a "trial run" just to ensure it's doable and the drone is stable etc (not sure how stable the drone would be, would the video be jerky?)

I've never flown indoors before - only outdoors

Any thoughts/guidance would be great!


View attachment 150163

Thanks Ro

Use a ladder and ground camera.Save your drone!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

A ladder and hand held camera would be unworkable and dangerous, you'd have to turn around on the ladder to shoot the pool and that is 'hairy'. More importantly, given the space available the ladder would be very steep, possibly steep enough to tip.

 

[offtheback]

A ladder and hand held camera would be unworkable and dangerous, you'd have to turn around on the ladder to shoot the pool and that is 'hairy'. More importantly, given the space available the ladder would be very steep, possibly steep enough to tip.

I wasn't trying for a direct overhead shot.Many photographers use stepladders.Keep it of reasonable height,face it toward the pool,and have someone bracing the ladder.Safe enough.Or shoot from what on the left appears to be a second floor.

 

[old man mavic]

the OP has decided to abandon the idea ,so to that end ,this thread has served its purpose and is now closed