Hi all,
I'm a new drone flyer with a Mavic Air. After some successful outdoor flights I wanted to get a shot inside a large hall for a little video I'm creating. I've seen plenty of video of indoor flights so it wasn't on my radar that there would be problems.

It would have been a very simple shot, just vertical flight down with camera tilt up (plenty of safe space to accomplish this in). However when the MA took off I pretty much lost control of it immediately, it lurched forward a couple of metres then sped off South East (of my position facing forwards) until it hit the wall. Thankfully wall and drone were undamaged.

Have I missed an important step for prepping to fly indoors or is it just straight up against recommendations?

Here is the flight record if anyone can tell me what went wrong: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/SIR9PCZUOULYO1KL9R8D/

The room was very dark, for the purposes of the video (except the subject that was lit), so I understand the warnings regarding that. But for a straight up and down shot I figured light wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for any help people can offer.

"the room was very dark" - there's your answer.

AJC-W Posted at 6-7 04:28
"the room was very dark" - there's your answer.

If the safety sensors don't work due to it being dark, I can understand that. I still don't understand though why it went careering off by itself with no input from me.

mattjeh Posted at 6-7 07:17
If the safety sensors don't work due to it being dark, I can understand that. I still don't understand though why it went careering off by itself with no input from me.

If the lighting conditions are too dark the drone will switch from OPTI mode (using the downward vision positioning system to hold a precise hover) to ATTI mode (getting a strong GPS signal indoors is rare). This will cause the drone to drift without any input and is increasingly difficult to manage the hover manually. Always ensure the room is well lit and use prop guards when flying indoors. I've been flying for nearly three years and never crashed until a couple of months ago when the same thing happened to me indoors. I thankfully only lost 4 props with zero damage to my M2P - it could have been worse.

AJC-W Posted at 6-7 08:13
If the lighting conditions are too dark the drone will switch from OPTI mode (using the downward vision positioning system to hold a precise hover) to ATTI mode (getting a strong GPS signal indoors is rare). This will cause the drone to drift without any input and is increasingly difficult to manage the hover manually. Always ensure the room is well lit and use prop guards when flying indoors. I've been flying for nearly three years and never crashed until a couple of months ago when the same thing happened to me indoors. I thankfully only lost 4 props with zero damage to my M2P - it could have been worse.

Thanks for your reply. I tentatively tested the MA in my own (well lit) house yesterday and there were no problems at all, even in a much smaller space. So it must be down to the lack of light (it really was almost pitch black in there except the subject which was lit up a few metres in front).

I just hadn't considered that lack of light would be an issue when flying, something to keep in mind for future shoots for sure.

mattjeh Posted at 6-8 01:50
Thanks for your reply. I tentatively tested the MA in my own (well lit) house yesterday and there were no problems at all, even in a much smaller space. So it must be down to the lack of light (it really was almost pitch black in there except the subject which was lit up a few metres in front).

I just hadn't considered that lack of light would be an issue when flying, something to keep in mind for future shoots for sure.

Yep, the sensors need to ‘see’ and detect the surface beneath. Even the material and pattern of the floor can cause the VPS to become erratic. It’s also why you shouldn’t fly too low to transparent surfaces like water with the VPS turned on. There is a page of do’s and dont’s regarding VPS in the manual.