The Mavic Pro is my first drone. I have a small rooftop deck and prefer takeoff from here because it gives good line of sight to the beach, and is a private space. I have a couple questions for experienced pilots:

1. My Mavic Pro thinks it's on the ground at take off even though it's 25 ft up. Is there a way to set that initial altitude?

2. Are there any downsides to taking off from such a small area? See the photo.

I've hand launched and catches from smaller.  As long as there's nothing metal in that roof you should be fine.  

A start at the burn mark on the left seems to have failed ...
Where do you see the problem with the start altitude?
If that's the first drone, the balcony isn't the best launch site ...

Hi,

After takeoff the baro height is reset to zero.
So your takeoff spot is your zero level for your barometric height readout in the app.
(within range the VPS height shows the actual distance drone<>ground *)

* sea, obstacles etc....

cheers
JJB

Make sure there is no metal in the surface you are taking off from.
That will affect the compass.

My Mavic Pro thinks it's on the ground at take off even though it's 25 ft up. Is there a way to set that initial altitude?
Your Mavic doesn't "think it's on the ground.
It doesn't know what the ground is and doesn't care.

That is not a problem for expirienced flyers or for you as I can see. But I would suggest to gain your first expirience from safer terrain like concrete plato or field for take off and landings (5x5 meters) for first 10 hrs at least.  Do you know what will happen when your drone lose GPS signal and goes to ATTi mode? Do you know what will happen when your drone disconnects from your RC and goes to RTH (if it can)? Try to learn more, without skiping steps. If you fly often, these things will happen to you also. So better to be prepared.

Experience will be the main factor for taking off and landing in such a tight spot. They are a bit loud so you may upset your neighbors. The biggest issue I can see would be the RTH feature. That is a tight spot to try and have it auto land to and if you are unable to take control of the drone before it lands it could crash. Also make sure your RTH height is taller than those palm trees.

Labroides Posted at 5-22 04:43
My Mavic Pro thinks it's on the ground at take off even though it's 25 ft up. Is there a way to set that initial altitude?
Your Mavic doesn't "think it's on the ground.
It doesn't know what the ground is and doesn't care.

Hey... are you trying say my Mavic Pro isn't a sentient being????

DAFlys Posted at 5-22 01:30
I've hand launched and catches from smaller.  As long as there's nothing metal in that roof you should be fine.

Thanks for the tip! I did my first hand landing today.

djiuser_JgvG7wEQboXk Posted at 5-23 09:32
Thanks for the tip! I did my first hand landing today.

There is a video of Hand catching.

Look at other videos from bigginer guide. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mavic+pro+bigginer

djiuser_JgvG7wEQboXk Posted at 5-23 09:32
Thanks for the tip! I did my first hand landing today.

Can be a bit scary at first.