Hi,As im stuck in qurantine I want to fly from my balcony.

If I fly from my balcony and hold my mavic mini about 10 meters away (at my balcony level 17th floor) when it gets a GPS lock will that be set as my home point even if not at ground level?

Thanks

It is NOT recommended to fly from a Balcony.......Too much steel in the building, and sats are blocked from one side.....

CAUTION!!!

Randy

This is a good question (steel of structure included).  What happens if your RTH is on the rim of a canyon and if iused went you are at the bottom?  Will the RTH altitude be based on takeoff or point where in is evoked?

On an aside,  watch for shifting wind currents when landing.   I  sometimes find is challenging to land on my (near ground level) porch because of eddys coming off the house!

There are countless videos on crashes as people try to come back and land on their balcony.  Way too easy to hit something unintentionally as you come into land and as soon as the props stop, down it goes.

Your Home Point will be the location of your take off but the RTH altitude will be based on your take off height.  So it could fly back over your building and either crash into it above you, or start descending and hit the building roof as it lands.

And certainly in many countries, you have to be more than 30-50 metres from other people and structures when you take off, which would be hard if you'r on top of another appartment.

Cheers
Ian

Remember your the mavic goes up to the home point altitude you set goes to the home point the lands. So I would think that it would think that your balcony is ground lvl so it would think that is the ground but then again if you have people on top of you then it would go down on those people. In my opinion you shoud use RTH to get your drone pointed in the right direction then manually bring it in.

Ian in London Posted at 3-27 13:16
There are countless videos on crashes as people try to come back and land on their balcony.  Way too easy to hit something unintentionally as you come into land and as soon as the props stop, down it goes.

Your Home Point will be the location of your take off but the RTH altitude will be based on your take off height.  So it could fly back over your building and either crash into it above you, or start descending and hit the building roof as it lands.

What happens if your RTH is on the rim of a canyon and if iused went you are at the bottom?  Will the RTH altitude be based on takeoff or point where in is evoked?
All heights, including RTH height are relative to the point where your drone recorded it's home point.
Home = zero.

In your case, I would abandon the use of a home point on the balcony. Perhaps, after takeoff, hover above a safe place to land and then reset the home point? I'm not sure how that would work out though.

We never recommend to fly from the balcony. Home Point will be recorded when the GPS signal is locked, that is, the home point could be the location at which the drone takes off when the GPS is strong. It easily hits something. If the RTH is triggered and you couldn't control it properly, accident could happen. For the safety concern, please fly in open place when everything gets better. Stay safe.

I've thought about is so far but deemed not worth the risk. You have to clear the houses to not disturb the neighbours, you always have to keep unobscruted view, the freq. space is very challenging, you preferably wanna set an homepoint that's several meters clear of the window (should an RTH happen you might smash into your own building).

And I know where to initialize my drone inside to have a good compass heading... should you get warped initialization you risk an immediate fly-away. I could but I DON'T.

I usually like to fly and take off with a tangible home point, but that's not to say it won't work taking off from your balcony?

David Martin Graff Posted at 3-28 10:20
I usually like to fly and take off with a tangible home point, but that's not to say it won't work taking off from your balcony?

In contrary, it was said clearly it won't work.

Matthew Dobrski Posted at 3-28 11:50
In contrary, it was said clearly it won't work.

Oh is that true?

I am not sure how the MM records the home point. However, what I do know is that the M2P takes a picture at take off and uses that as part of the RTH routine. It flies back to a point directly above the RTH point using GPS and then fine tunes from there using the picture taken as guidance for landing. Not sure what the actual height from the RTH point the drone has to be but from what I observed on my M2P 10 feet was required? Not a good use of RTH if you don't live on the top floor.

So, for proper quarantine drone operations, you need a radio controlled tank or truck with a small helipad on it's back.  Then you drive the truck down to a proper take-off location with the mini on its helipad, and then, from your balcony, you take off from there, do your flight, and then land again on the RC truck, and then drive that back to your apartment.  This might require using the elevator, but I'm sure we can work that out somehow.

Also, any ferrous metals or magnets in the RC truck will need to be shielded by Mu metal to avoid the truck itself distorting the earth's magnetic field and being as bad as the balcony itself.

OK.  I'm kidding.

Sort of!  ;)

David Martin Graff Posted at 3-28 12:07
Oh is that true?

No, I was just kidding. Taking off the balcony is a routine procedure, practiced by an elite group of drone pilots known as SUBARA (Socially Unstable Bored Apartment Renters Association). I forgot the link to their website, but they rank themselves accordingly to a floor level. The lower you live, the higher rank you'll get   ...

Thanks for the entertainment... appreciated

If you're experience enough you can hand launch and hand land.  I've done it to all my drones.

Matthew Dobrski Posted at 3-28 12:57
No, I was just kidding. Taking off the balcony is a routine procedure, practiced by an elite group of drone pilots known as SUBARA (Socially Unstable Bored Apartment Renters Association). I forgot the link to their website, but they rank themselves accordingly to a floor level. The lower you live, the higher rank you'll get   ...

Good to hear...

Lucas775 Posted at 3-28 13:36
If you're experience enough you can hand launch and hand land.  I've done it to all my drones.

On a balcony? I doubt it ...

Matthew Dobrski Posted at 3-31 11:20
On a balcony? I doubt it ...

Why not? I have hand-launched and hand-landed on my boat several times. And the balcony isn't bobbing around ;-)

GaryDoug Posted at 3-31 18:34
Why not? I have hand-launched and hand-landed on my boat several times. And the balcony isn't bobbing around ;-)

Here's why not, my friend:

Most of the time DJI drones are flying in P-mode, meaning under GPS control. In wide open space around the boat GPS grip is usually well established, therefore you're in full stick control of your bird. With little persistence and practice you can master hand catching, even on rough waters. Now, take the GPS leash off switching into ATTI Mode, and try to do the same trick. This is what - most likely - will happen near building facade and - certainly - inside balcony cavity, surprising the operator with unexpected switch into ATTI ...

i have seen a lot of videos flying from an apartment (one even at night) and returning, so it is definitely possible, just have to be careful...

If you're experience enough you can hand launch and hand land

Ok, I just tried it myself with a metal roof above a carport with 2 walls. I ground launched within the enclosure, not waiting for the sats. Then flew it outside and hovered at 5 feet, where it gathered 11 sats and set a home point. Then flew it back into the 2-sided enclosure (10 feet inside) and hovered for 3 minutes while the sat count showed 6. Then hand landed it with no problems. Maybe I just got lucky?

As long as you verify your compass isn't interfered you'll be fine. To verify (I've done my tests) I use my smartphone with a compass app around where I want to power up my Mini.

If the compass gets twisted by a magnetically distorting object I don't power up my Mini there. This is something I've never actually done but I've just tested my possibile window launch spots and inside my house.

GaryDoug Posted at 4-1 13:53
Ok, I just tried it myself with a metal roof above a carport with 2 walls. I ground launched within the enclosure, not waiting for the sats. Then flew it outside and hovered at 5 feet, where it gathered 11 sats and set a home point. Then flew it back into the 2-sided enclosure (10 feet inside) and hovered for 3 minutes while the sat count showed 6. Then hand landed it with no problems. Maybe I just got lucky?

No, you just performed properly executed launch from a carport, being aware and prepared for surprises.
However, a carport is not exactly the equivalent of a balcony in apartment building with rebar reinforced floor. steel railing and - eventually - concrete cavity around. Naturally possible, since most modern DJI drones can successfully fly indoor and avoid obstacles ... I just can't see a newbie piloting a drone in and out without catastrophic outcome ...

You can fly, but it will be sad to lose #drone. I fly out of the window on 9 floor, everything is ok.

You can see flight on the link

https://youtu.be/4rMP1PTmYyE

Matthew Dobrski Posted at 3-31 11:20
On a balcony? I doubt it ...

I've done it many time when on vacations and hand launch/land from the balcony.  Like I said you have to have lots of experience to do so.

Porktree Posted at 4-1 19:46

This is not 17th floor apartment balcony. Launching DJI's drone off a wooden house deck/balcony is no brainer whatsoever.

I wonder how this absurd conversation will evolve ...