Hi All,

     Wanted to ask if anyone takes off from metal car roof with Mavic 3. With Mavic 2 (Pro), it was pretty much not possible for me to do due to metal surface of the car roof. Also if a car has a sun / moon roof and it's made of glass being surrounded by metal car roof surface, have people maybe tried taking off this way. The reason I am asking sometimes it's difficult to find flat surface and I keep thinking of trying to take off from the car roof, but worried about compass getting affected since the roof is made of metal. I guess those that have a convertible wouldn't have that problem.

Thanks in advance, Mike.

I took off and landed on the hood of my car a many times never had any compass issues. Don't want to land on my new cars paint and I'm now using a 50"x 50" folding table from Walmart. Landing and taking off on clean surfaces is great because it keeps all the dirt away from the motors, especially the bearings. Motors will last a lot longer.

I know this is not recommended by I personally have done this several times without issues and I have a friend that always does the same thing without issues.
I guess worth the shoot.

Hi Mike
Taking off from or close to any hunk of metal is likely to show some interference and from there you can have all sorts of problems. I have also seen this many times and nothing has happened. But below I explain what happens if interference affects compass prior to take off. My advice is don’t or be vigilant.

The best way I can explain this is. If you put your Aircraft on the ground in normal circumstances, start it up, then lift it up and turn it 90 degrees to the right both your compass heading and IMU will both move together 90 degrees and no problems.
If you put your Aircraft on the ground and there is magnetic interference only the heading of your compass will change, your aircraft will still take off. But when it clears magnetic interference compass will then move to correct heading which you would think was great. But No, what happens is IMU is then conflicted and confused because of this sudden movement by compass, so after take off and into your flight you receive IMU exceptional heading warning, your aircraft cannot deal with data conflict so decides to switch to Atti mode or worse you get Yaw errors and from here your craft becomes out of control.

This is of course worse case scenario but it has and will continue to happen when interference to the drone happens at take off.

Falcoc Posted at 6-2 11:01
I took off and landed on the hood of my car a many times never had any compass issues. Don't want to land on my new cars paint and I'm now using a 50"x 50" folding table from Walmart. Landing and taking off on clean surfaces is great because it keeps all the dirt away from the motors, especially the bearings. Motors will last a lot longer.

Hi Falcoc,

    Thank you for the advise. I had a landing pad that I lost that used to help me with dirt. But thank you for sharing your experience, I am thinking to maybe do this if I can't find any spot on the ground. Actually folding table sounds like a great idea, maybe I should look into that too

Thank you, Mike.

ZeuS-FL Posted at 6-2 11:02
I know this is not recommended by I personally have done this several times without issues and I have a friend that always does the same thing without issues.
I guess worth the shoot.

Thank you for sharing ZeuS. Good to know that people have done this, might need to do this if not able to find any flat surface otherwise. Good to know it worked for you.

Thank you for sharing, Mike.

hallmark007 Posted at 6-2 11:06
Hi Mike
Taking off from or close to any hunk of metal is likely to show some interference and from there you can have all sorts of problems. I have also seen this many times and nothing has happened. But below I explain what happens if interference affects compass prior to take off. My advice is don’t or be vigilant.

Thank you for sharing Hallmark007. I also have heard that it's not recommended and wasn't even possible with M2P. That you for detailed explanation on how this all works. I may need to do this if I have no other way of taking off and would be very cautious and vigilant to test it low close to the ground if it behaves well.

Thank you for detailed explanation, Mike.

Hello there Mike. Good day and thank you for reaching out. Just a friendly reminder that all metal objects and structures can give out magnetic interference and might affect your flying experience and please take time to check your compass arrow if it is pointing on the right heading as well. Have a safe and a happy flying always.

DJI Stephen Posted at 6-2 19:59
Hello there Mike. Good day and thank you for reaching out. Just a friendly reminder that all metal objects and structures can give out magnetic interference and might affect your flying experience and please take time to check your compass arrow if it is pointing on the right heading as well. Have a safe and a happy flying always.

Just a friendly reminder that all metal objects and structures can give out magnetic interference.
That's not true.
Copper, brass, aluminium and most other metals won't cause any problem.
It's iron and steel that you need to beware of.

DJI Stephen Posted at 6-2 19:59
Hello there Mike. Good day and thank you for reaching out. Just a friendly reminder that all metal objects and structures can give out magnetic interference and might affect your flying experience and please take time to check your compass arrow if it is pointing on the right heading as well. Have a safe and a happy flying always.

Thank you DJI Stephen.

Labroides Posted at 6-2 23:09
Just a friendly reminder that all metal objects and structures can give out magnetic interference.
That's not true.
Copper, brass, aluminium and most other metals won't cause any problem.

Thank you Labroides, now I need to do some research to find out what material my car's roof is made of

How about turning on the aircraft away from the car, wait until it has a homepoint, then place it on the roof and take off? Then the car metal will not affect compass initialization.

ArcticPhoto Posted at 6-3 05:17
How about turning on the aircraft away from the car, wait until it has a homepoint, then place it on the roof and take off? Then the car metal will not affect compass initialization.

Will this work? Have you tried this yourself?
Thanks

ArcticPhoto Posted at 6-3 05:17
How about turning on the aircraft away from the car, wait until it has a homepoint, then place it on the roof and take off? Then the car metal will not affect compass initialization.

If you can do that, why just take off there. You can hand launch.  

ZeuS-FL Posted at 6-3 06:29
If you can do that, why just take off there. You can hand launch.

Yes, that's would be the safest way I think.

ZeuS-FL Posted at 6-3 06:29
If you can do that, why just take off there. You can hand launch.

Sure, I hand launch and catch most of the time. But OP asked specific about taking off from a car roof, which I think is a bad idea because it could affect the compass and cause a yaw error.

I have never tried hand launching before. Is it safe and easy to do btw? The RC Pro is kind of big, I think it would need to be operated with one hand pushing the take off stick up or I guess maybe one could choose the take off button. Never tried doing this before except for my Tello drone. Do you guys find it safe to do and also do you hold the drone by the bottom and once the props start spinning and pulling up do you have to release the grip at certain point , I mean what if you release the grid too early and drone just falls on the ground because it wasn't pulling up hard enough. Sorry I have never done this before that's why I am asking.

Mzp Posted at 6-3 06:54
I have never tried hand launching before. Is it safe and easy to do btw? The RC Pro is kind of big, I think it would need to be operated with one hand pushing the take off stick up or I guess maybe one could choose the take off button. Never tried doing this before except for my Tello drone. Do you guys find it safe to do and also do you hold the drone by the bottom and once the props start spinning and pulling up do you have to release the grip at certain point , I mean what if you release the grid too early and drone just falls on the ground because it wasn't pulling up hard enough. Sorry I have never done this before that's why I am asking.

Hand launching is easy and perfectly safe if you are a little careful. Hold the drone by the bottom, with your arm stretcehed out. You will feel when the drone has enough lift to let it go. Some use auto takeoff, others take off manually. There are plenty of instructional youtube videos.

ArcticPhoto Posted at 6-3 07:51
Hand launching is easy and perfectly safe if you are a little careful. Hold the drone by the bottom, with your arm stretcehed out. You will feel when the drone has enough lift to let it go. Some use auto takeoff, others take off manually. There are plenty of instructional youtube videos.

Thank you for the tip ArcticPhoto. I may try it as well when I can't find a launch spot. Good to know it's possible.
Thank you, Mike.

Mzp Posted at 6-3 04:28
Thank you DJI Stephen.

Hi there Mzp. You are very much welcome and if you have any inquiries or any concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are all here to help and assist you. Thank you.

Mzp Posted at 6-3 11:03
Thank you for the tip ArcticPhoto. I may try it as well when I can't find a launch spot. Good to know it's possible.
Thank you, Mike.

Although I think it's not recommended by DJI, you should learn how to hand launch and catch your drone in case you can't find a flat surface. It's easy, you just have to be a little careful. Personally since I learnt hand launching/catching, I have never looked back. Here's a video with some instructions:

mcde Posted at 6-6 23:17
Although I think it's not recommended by DJI, you should learn how to hand launch and catch your drone in case you can't find a flat surface. It's easy, you just have to be a little careful. Personally since I learnt hand launching/catching, I have never looked back. Here's a video with some instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57rsGiGDuf0

Thank you mcde. This is some useful video, good skill to have just in case.

DJI Stephen Posted at 6-6 20:45
Hi there Mzp. You are very much welcome and if you have any inquiries or any concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are all here to help and assist you. Thank you.

Sure, much appreciate it, will do DJI Stephen.

I did, many times, from from the roof, and from the hood. M3 does it fine, unlike m2, which always complained about interference.
Now, landing is a different story. Don't recommend it. I broke a prop while doing so, as it slided during landing and hit the side rail, which probably saved it from sliding off the rood and damaging the entire craft. In the wild I pretty much always hand land.

I use the mini 2 and mini 3 pro and launch from the sunroof glass or metal without issue. I have done it about 20 times as its something fairly recent for me.

DarthSLR Posted at 6-7 18:25
I did, many times, from from the roof, and from the hood. M3 does it fine, unlike m2, which always complained about interference.
Now, landing is a different story. Don't recommend it. I broke a prop while doing so, as it slided during landing and hit the side rail, which probably saved it from sliding off the rood and damaging the entire craft. In the wild I pretty much always hand land.

Thank you for the tip DarthSLR. I recently tried it this way and luckily it did not slide. Good to know about this as the sun / moon roof glass may end up being slippery for the drone while landing. Thank you for sharing, Mike.

It is much more convenient to launch and land in your hands if the remote control is equipped with a neck strap. then it is more convenient to launch the remote control with one hand and release the drone with the other hand.
As for the hood, I would not risk it, it can drift into the windshield.
about the roof, I launched the m3 both from the roof of the mini-bus, and from the truck and body, everything is fine.

MXss Posted at 6-7 18:37
I use the mini 2 and mini 3 pro and launch from the sunroof glass or metal without issue. I have done it about 20 times as its something fairly recent for me.

Thank you for sharing MXss. Maybe Mini being a much smaller drone than Mavic 3 is easier to land like that. I need to find my landing pad, I think it should make it easier for Mavic 3. Thank you for sharing, Mike.

Oldschool Posted at 6-7 19:24
It is much more convenient to launch and land in your hands if the remote control is equipped with a neck strap. then it is more convenient to launch the remote control with one hand and release the drone with the other hand.
As for the hood, I would not risk it, it can drift into the windshield.
about the roof, I launched the m3 both from the roof of the mini-bus, and from the truck and body, everything is fine.

Thank you for the tips Oldschool. That sounds like a good tip to use a neck strap. I am also worried about the drone sliding / falling / flipping and damaging car paint or windshield. I need to find my landing pad, I think it should make it easier. Thank you for sharing, Mike.

Mzp Posted at 6-7 19:30
Thank you for the tips Oldschool. That sounds like a good tip to use a neck strap. I am also worried about the drone sliding / falling / flipping and damaging car paint or windshield. I need to find my landing pad, I think it should make it easier. Thank you for sharing, Mike.

Neckstrap is a lifesaver.

DarthSLR Posted at 6-7 21:09
Neckstrap is a lifesaver.

yes, it makes life much easier), leaves your hands free, it is more convenient to use a pinch grip with it. I have the simplest fastening for a strap, for $ 1), but it works fine ..


the photo also shows an extension cord for a smartphone, the original one on the remote control is very tight and uncomfortable for samsung note 10 plus. And such a trifle facilitates the landing of the smartphone, does not clamp the buttons and puts it on a slope, which is more convenient for viewing the screen.

Well, tuning sticks are more convenient than the original ones ...

Mzp Posted at 6-3 04:29
Thank you Labroides, now I need to do some research to find out what material my car's roof is made of

Just use a magnet to see if there’s any iron or steel and it. If it’s not magnetic it won’t be a problem.

DarthSLR Posted at 6-7 21:09
Neckstrap is a lifesaver.

I need to get one too

digibud Posted at 6-7 22:09
Just use a magnet to see if there’s any iron or steel and it. If it’s not magnetic it won’t be a problem.

Thank you for the tip digibud, that is a good tip indeed!

Oldschool Posted at 6-7 21:35
yes, it makes life much easier), leaves your hands free, it is more convenient to use a pinch grip with it. I have the simplest fastening for a strap, for $ 1), but it works fine ..

Wow those are nice tools you have there Oldschool

it takes off from the steel roof of the tundra, so no magnet is needed. These are all the necessary accessories to make flying comfortable. came with experience. By the way, the original "muzzle" on the m3, I changed it to a non-original one a month later, since it is more convenient for frequent use and storage in a hard case.

Oldschool Posted at 6-8 04:00
it takes off from the steel roof of the tundra, so no magnet is needed. These are all the necessary accessories to make flying comfortable. came with experience. By the way, the original "muzzle" on the m3, I changed it to a non-original one a month later, since it is more convenient for frequent use and storage in a hard case.

That's good news that it does take off this way. I was able to take off from sunroof. I use the original "muzzle", I seem to like i, but this plastic cover looks nice too! These are nice accessories you got there, you seem to have put the "Enterprise" light beacon  on top of the drone.

Mzp Posted at 6-8 05:15
That's good news that it does take off this way. I was able to take off from sunroof. I use the original "muzzle", I seem to like i, but this plastic cover looks nice too! These are nice accessories you got there, you seem to have put the "Enterprise" light beacon  on top of the drone.

This is probably just an Ulanzi drone strobe.

mcde Posted at 6-8 06:00
This is probably just an Ulanzi drone strobe.

Thanks Mcde. thought it was a strobe light there, but was not sure.

mcde Posted at 6-8 06:00
This is probably just an Ulanzi drone strobe.

+1 ,yes ,that ulanzi