Indoor Flying Experiences

maxis · Apr 12, 2016

Decided to start up the props the other night indoors about 3' from where I was sitting.... No problem.... Take off.... Up about 3'..... Then the drift started .... Bad..... Directly towards my friend's and my face.. Screams of "shut it down" and "I'm trying".... Echoed in the living room.. Full throttle down, left stick as I try to both protect my face from the rotating Ginsu Knives, and not destroy my equipment either...
While trying to hand catch the landing legs....
Bird Ended up .... On its back [emoji107].... Squealing like a poked pig....
With Blood dripping from my pinky finger, PROPS OFF this time.... She fired right up ...
Flew yesterday, no issues...... Oh yeah except when I was 3300' out flying directly in line with the tv station antenna(see pic) ... Oops didn't see that there! Lost ALL video, radar, compass, control .... Everything! Uttering the words "I think it's gone" over and over for a minute or two.... Low and behold RTH had kicked in and like magic... Maxis returned!

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XJoeyX · Apr 12, 2016

Kampy said:
My very first flight w/ my P4 was in my small apt (see video below). I had to turn off obstacle avoidance because I was so close to the walls, it wouldn't do anything with it on. In tight spaces, it creates turbulence that can cause it to drift... I nearly crashed it as a result. In a larger theater space this might not be an issue. Just make sure you're very subtle with the controls... you might even want to turn down the sensitivity in the settings.

Wow, you are FAR braver than I am! I can see why you had to turn off the object avoidance!! Hehehehe At one point, I thought you were about to take out our projector, but you are obviously a skilled pilot!!

snowghost · Apr 12, 2016

My short indoor flight.

XJoeyX · Apr 12, 2016

snowghost said:
My short indoor flight.

Nice!

And, I love your airliner collection.

snowghost · Apr 12, 2016

I think it best to leave the CA on indoors (also VPS on the P3). But YMMV.

Kampy · Apr 12, 2016

XJoeyX said:
Wow, you are FAR braver than I am! I can see why you had to turn off the object avoidance!! Hehehehe At one point, I thought you were about to take out our projector, but you are obviously a skilled pilot!!

Well, thanks, but in hindsight, it was probably pretty dumb considering that was my first experience flying the P4. I also have a 3DR Solo so I did have some flying experience, but still... and as for the close call with my projector, that wasn't me steering, that was the unexpected drifting / turbulence I was talking about... you can see my eyes get really wide when that happened!

I probably wouldn't fly again in such tight quarters. But at the time I was just really anxious to fly my new P4 and couldn't wait until the next day

Ramphex · Apr 13, 2016

snowghost said:
I think it best to leave the CA on indoors (also VPS on the P3). But YMMV.

CA almost made my p4 crash indoors. It was sensing an object much farther away as close and would not let me fly as it was drifting towards the TV sideways, had to hand catch and shut down to avoid an impact, turned off CA and no problems.

XJoeyX · Apr 13, 2016

Kampy said:
and as for the close call with my projector, that wasn't me steering, that was the unexpected drifting / turbulence I was talking about... you can see my eyes get really wide when that happened!

I probably wouldn't fly again in such tight quarters. But at the time I was just really anxious to fly my new P4 and couldn't wait until the next day

I understand. I've had a few of those wide eyed experiences myself a time or two!! hehehehehe

And, when I get a new toy, I usually can't wait to go play with it!!