I had a project the other day to video the inside of a furniture store. Not ever having flown indoors before, I went to all the forums I could find to get advice on what to look out for. the most common advice was, "Don't do it!". Not an option. The most usefull advice was to learn to fly in ATTI mode because you'll not have GPS indoors and it will be all manual flying. Or, if you do fly in P mode look out for an occasional GPS signal near windows and doors, as the switchover to GPS when it acquires a signal may cause the drone to shift position a foot or two. I found that in ATTI mode it is difficult to maintain a smooth path when the turbulance near walls and obstructions wants to push you around. In P mode I can use the downward cameras and altimeter to help hold position and smooth out the flight, but what about that possible temporary GPS signal? Tin foil. A few layers of that taped over the GPS antenna fixed that by assuring I will never have a signal strong enough for the P4 to work with. Also, I turned off all the safeties:  RC Signal Loss = hover, Enable Stereo Vision = OFF, Enable Horizontal Obsticle Avoidance = OFF, Enable Obsticle Avoidance = OFF, and of course leave Enable Vision Positioning ON. Had to turn off obsticle avoidance since it seemed every time I flew a few feet it would come to a stop. And I really really wanted to fly through those chains.

It turned out to be a piece of cake. The P4 was very stable, held position perfectly and did not seem to be affected by what turbulance it created for itself near walls and objects. As long as you go slow (which you should be doing for a video like this) and follow it closely it is not nearly as difficult as I was led to believe.

I made a short video that I may use as a demo for future customers.

That was AWESOME! Specially thru the chains.

That worked well, I read it as 'Drone in furniture shop', I pictured it as 'Bull in china shop'. But that was a good job. They just have to find all the price tags that got blown away

Great job and thanks for sharing the info on how you achieved it.

Aloha Wingsy,

     Good careful approach to a good job.  Nice flying!  And I thought Aardvark was joking about the price tags getting blown around.  (For real bra!  I seen em!)  The double IMU system really helped you maintain stability.  Good advice.

Aloha and Drone On!

Nicely done, there's lots to break in there if it went mad. Price tags and things being blown around made me laugh, bet those wine glasses ended up on the floor. Turn it around and show the route of destruction

Aardvark Posted at 2016-11-5 06:04
That worked well, I read it as 'Drone in furniture shop', I pictured it as 'Bull in china shop'. But ...

You can say that again. No one considered the effects of the prop blast. This was a new store and most of the price tags had not been attached to the furniture - they were just placed on top of things for now. And most table surfaces had small placards with advertising, and table cloths were lightweight so they got folded back or swept away as well. It was a mess behind the drone after it went by. Most of the video shots that went into the final cut were from after the cleanup.

How many heart attacks did you have shooting this video?

Hey, this brings up a legal question. FAA part 107 does not apply to indoor flying, but what about if it is commercial use? Still doesn't apply?

Very nice job!  Well done!!

I could see a Mavic maybe being better suited for going under and over and between things as it is smaller, less tall, and squattier.

fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2016-11-5 14:52
Very nice job!  Well done!!

I could see a Mavic maybe being better suited for going under and over  ...

Not much difference in size once it is unfolded - 335 mm V 350 mm  "Diagonal Size (Excluding Propellers)"

However, being nearly half the weight would presumably mean half the prop blast, but maybe more susceptible to air currents pushing it around?

Wingsy Posted at 2016-11-6 00:14
You can say that again. No one considered the effects of the prop blast. This was a new store and  ...

Yeah, I can see that... And +1 for the wine glasses. After seeing the tags flapping around before that, I was wondering when I saw the glasses coming up.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

It's a nice video. You do want to be weary of doing this too often if it begins to cause prolonged flight issues.

Great flying I would not have been so steady with things flapping around

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2016-11-6 10:07
It's a nice video. You do want to be weary of doing this too often if it begins to cause prolonged f ...

Jamie, I'm curious. What prolonged flight issues could be caused?

Just use an action camera on a gimbal on a pole.