Flying a drone indoors for creative shots of a home’s interior is innovative but comes with increased risks of flight accidents, property damage, and injuries. Indoor flight requires education, planning, focus, and caution. Real-world examples include skin lacerations, fly-away crashes, and damaged curtains. Many mishaps can be avoided with diligent safety measures. Some drone manufacturers discourage indoor flight due to high-risk factors. Commercial UAV pilots suggest avoiding indoor flights unless absolutely necessary and well-planned. Following pre-flight procedures, using appropriate flight modes, and adjusting drone settings can enhance safety. Consider these 11 indoor drone flight tips for a successful mission.

Pre-Flight Aerial Drone Tips for Flying Indoors

Safe flying is paramount when flying indoors. Before you turn on and take off, make sure to apply these pre-flight aerial drone tips for flying indoors.

1. Attach Drone Propeller Guards

Propeller guards should be a non-negotiable requisite for indoor drone flight for both new and experienced aerial drone pilots alike. Propeller guards are lightweight, yet designed to protect the UAV pilot and objects around them by prohibiting the propellers from making direct contact should a collision occur. 

Aerial drone pilots should also consider any extra weight added to the UAV – such as propeller guards, and make note of battery life while anticipating a reduction in flight time.

2. Create Flight Environment Map

Wherever you take off from, identifying and understanding the surroundings are imperative for enhanced aerial drone flight safety and mission success. Before indoor flight, create a visual map of the full intended indoor path. 

The objective for generating a flight path map (plan) is to stimulate pilot situational awareness through careful flight planning, flight risk analysis, and indoor area flight rehearsals to alleviate potential hazards and remove any element of surprise – all combined to successfully accomplish the aerial drone indoor flight mission more safely, more efficiently, and more confidently.

3. Prepare Indoor Flight Staging Area

Scan the areas surrounding your entire flight path. Begin an indoor flight staging process by moving unwanted obstructions out of the mapped flight path, remaining mindful of fixtures – hanging or otherwise, and define an empty location for a safe indoor flight lift off.

4. Check Lighting Mix

Not only from a photographic vantage point, but also from a significant safety standpoint, proper indoor flight lighting conditions are critically essential. Naturally, the creative aerial photographer will set dramatic scene lighting to fit the story, to amaze an audience, or to satisfy a client. The UAV, on the other hand, needs enough light for its vision positioning sensors to fully function. 

When operating an aerial drone indoors, GPS signaling may be unavailable or may be lost during flight. As can be the case, UAVs must be able to rely upon their aircraft’s vision positioning sensors to avoid collision or personal injury. This is why ample indoor flight path lighting is so important. Thus, a balanced blend must be achieved between that of artistic lighting design and the lighting necessary for optimal visual positioning sensor responsiveness.

5. Activate Drone Tripod Setting

When the UAV pilot opts to fly indoors for recreation or commercial purposes, the drone’s Tripod or Cinema mode are considered a more indoor-friendly flight feature. This flight mode slows the movement of the aircraft, rendering the pilot-in-command greater precision and control necessary to fly safely indoors. Additionally, gimbal adjustments can be applied to control sensitivity to acquire greater command over imaging while in flight.

6. Activate Hover Setting

Indoor flight means reduced GPS signal communications. UAV pilots rely upon the drone’s vision sensors should GPS signal loss occur. Placing the aircraft in “hover” mode will hold the drone’s position in air using vision sensors.

7. Adjust Exposure Levels

Adjust exposure levels to ensure optimum visibility from the UAVs remote or brand-proprietary smartphone app. Test out different settings to ensure flight is safe and pictures look outstanding.

Aerial Drone Flight Tips for Flying Indoors

Once pre-flight planning and interior setup are complete, the closer to a safer indoor take off, flight, and landing the pilot will be. Prior to lift off, here are a few important tips for aerial drone indoor flight.

1. Activate Manual Take Off

Auto Take Off is one convenient way to take off for an outdoor aerial mission. Flying a UAV indoors requires an opposite approach. When flying indoors it is imperative that the pilot activate manual takeoff mode. The manual take off approach renders complete aircraft control over to the UAV pilot-in-command.

2. Manage Drone Status

When flying indoors, drone pilots must manage the aircraft status in real-time. This is commonly accomplished through the drone manufacturer’s remote control app. Extreme caution must be exercised throughout the full duration of the indoor flight operation. The UAV pilot must be constantly aware of the drone’s battery life and signal connection strength as indoor environments can cause connection interference between the aircraft and the remote controller.

3. Minimize Inputs and Movements

Flight control inputs and movements should remain slow and simple during the entire indoor aerial mission. For safer indoor flying experiences, the pilot can fly in short straight lines and reduce yaw movements.

4. Stay Clear of Objects, Subjects, and Barriers

Avoid flying near furniture, ceilings, walls, other objects, pets, and people.

The Takeaway

Whether for commercial purposes, practice proposes, or if the pilot is confined to indoor flight due to bad weather, flying indoors can be both safe and enjoyable. We hope these few drone flying tips safely prepare you for a wonderful indoor flight adventure!

Happy safe and clever flying ! T 🙂

Written by: Tony Marino, MBA – FAA Certified Part 107 Commercial Drone Pilot and Chief Business Strategist at Aerial Northwest

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.

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