Hi Folks,

First time poster, first time drone owner, Phantom 4 owner. Been slowly building my confidence up over the last couple weeks of ownership of my Phantom, making sure to read the manual from cover to cover.

Tonight I made a choice that I now regret. I decided to launch my Phantom in my living room, in order to test the VPS system. As I understand, this system is designed to allow you to fly your drone indoors.

So to make a long story short, I launched the drone, it rose up a couple of inches off the ground, then proceeded to fly straight into a cupboard/mantlepiece! I killed the motor as quick as I could, but the props did attack the cupboard for a good couple of seconds. I nearly had a heart attack!! I felt like an idiot. I inspected the drone and it appears to have came off unscathed. I noticed some very minor marks on the props, so I decided to swap these out for the second set that came with my drone from new. I then took my drone outside and recalibrated everything. All completed successfully. Im pretty sure the camera was slightly off-level after the accident and before my recalibration. The recalibration seems to have fixed that though..

Could anyone share any thoughts on what could have went wrong? I am thinking that possibly I should have switched from P mode into A mode in order to turn off GPS and rely soly on VPS? Perhaps the VPS WAS in action and it didnt like the pattern of my floor (I have a rug on top of a tile floor which the drone could have spotted in its like of sight). Possibly just the turbulance in a confined space?

Thanks ladies and gents, appreciate your time and experience. I plan to post a lot in the coming weeks.

ps...whats with my mad username? I didnt choose that!

If there isnt enough texture or pattern ( like a gravel ground or grass), the vps cant tell its moving, or like when your over water the current makes it want to follow the flow, cuz the vps thinks its moving

You can change your user-name in your profile.

What most likely occurred was that there was not enough light for the VPS cameras to see a pattern, and at the same time, when inside you cannot receive GPS signals, so you had nothing working to give the aircraft stability.

When we talk about flying indoors, it is more likely in a basketball stadium or something of size, not in your living room. Phantoms are simply not designed to fly in small confined spaces like that unless you are a real pro and experienced at manual flying.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-7 23:00
You can change your user-name in your profile.

What most likely occurred was that there was not en ...

"You can change your user-name in your profile. "

He/she maybe already did ...

Gone incognito and all that

I'll never fly my P4 indoors.  That's because a hexacopter that I own made firewood out of my  living room coffee table a few years back.  I know how exactly how you felt watching the props chew up the cupboard  

As mentioned, the carpet probably didn't have enough contrast for the VPS to lock on to.  Some day I might work up the courage to fly the P4 indoors, but if I do, it will be in a large area and I won't try it without prop guards.

Only fly onago indoors.  Not the P4.

The P4 doesn't like being kept in a cage. Let him out to explore and he will thank you for it.

P3P and P3A can fly just fine indoors.    In ATTI mode.

I would force ATTI / OPTI mode to ensure that accidental GPS lock doesn't interfere. Buy some prop guards (they disbale the front obstacle avoidance sensors, but that's no loss indoors). I have flown in the office to show off to colleagues. It worked perfectly.

I've been right where you were but worse! I have a Q5004k also and I fired that thing up as soon I got home because I was so excited. All I did was started the props and then started to check out my screen on controller. A few minutes went buy and I started to hear the motors revving up faster. My brain new exactly what was going to happen, but panick set and I dropped the controller and closed the few feet in between myself and drone and tried to reach over the tops of all the props to hold the body down before it took off, at the same time, drone started lifting off of carpet and blades contacted my arms, fingers, and knuckles. All but one blade shattered into a hundred pieces and the scenery looked like Freddy Krueger visited me. I was left bleeding , heartbroken , and confused. I started reading the forums for that bird and realized that the gps and barometer system could not tell itself exactly where it was and it was going to go up a few feet and land, but i panicked hearing the props spinning up. NEVER start your bird with props on in the house. Bad stuff happens.

It doesn't matter how many times you read that manual and get to grips with what stick/ button does when you poke or twiddle it. As soon as your beloved drone does something unexpected and panic sets in all that knowledge and wisdom dives out of the window and your left looking for the control-alt- delete buttons! Best advice is to get a £30 drone off amazon with no fancy sensors or gimbals or cameras and learn how to fly it raw and unaided. As soon as you master those controls, which trust me wont be long, you will be ready to deal with those unexpected moments of horror.

We've all done it and worse i'm sure! I crash landed a small drone on my 4 month old baby son who was luckily in a crib covered with blackout mesh which was mangled, now thats an arse twitching moment. Luckily the Mrs wasnt in the room or my drone flying hobby would have been no more. So I went away and learned properly lol.

Drone on!     

I practised on a couple of smaller drones before I went to the P3P.

OTOH, why is the default behaviour of the positioning algorithm to apply power?  If you're in a room and suddenly the lights go out and you are essentially blind, do you start running so you can hit a wall?

Isn't it more appropriate to slowly lower the power and land?  We know the Phantoms can do that.

I would concur with Geebax. On top of the potential lighting issue, you could have incurred overall signal interference.

Guys really appreciate the feedback and replies!! All very useful thank you. And thanks to those who have shared their similar experiences! I just hope that I have not done any "unseen" damage but I dont think so. I have now purchased myself a GPS tracker and 3D printed holder for my Phantom. I also ordered extended feet which arrived today but not sure If im going to fit them now or not as I dont know if they will fit on along side the GPS holder I have ordered. Need to decide on which tablet to buy as well as my Note3 screen just isnt big enough! This is turning into an expensive hobby LOL!

i use a i pad pro 9.7' it fits in the factory p4  holder and is superior in the viewing category. imo      .and yes r/c esp. drones aren't cheap,lol    enjoy your p4
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GdJafYUKm4aY Posted at 2016-9-8 22:28
Guys really appreciate the feedback and replies!! All very useful thank you. And thanks to those who ...

Hi glad your craft didn't get any harm.:-)

I did try it also in my flat but before I got the prop guards - without that I'd smash both my flat and the drone. Straight after take off it started dancing around the room like an idiot without any control and in fact any touch of any stick made things worse, position, attitude just nothing. I tried different surfaces (but my carpet is not very thick and has changing pattern), tried all modes, recalibration, switched off wi-fi (others in the house stayed on though).
In fact I think that in a space small enough (like my flat) no positioning can overcome aerodynamics laws and the huge suck of this machine just needs enough space (I felt like I'm cutting bread with a chainsaw) - all of this was maybe made worse by the prop guards but at least I found out that they work perfectly :-)
GL

Thanks for sharing guys.