Can You Fly The DJI Mini 3 Pro Indoors?

If you are planning to get the DJI Mini 3 Pro or just got one, I know you can’t wait to get out and fly it. I know the feeling and have experienced it every time I get a new drone.

However, what if you have a tight schedule and can’t wait until you have a free weekend to fly?

Or, it’s snowing or raining, and you don’t want to get water damage on the first flight. Or you may want to fly indoors for a filming gig, such as when doing real estate photography.

If you are limited to flying indoors for the reasons mentioned above or any other reasons, you may want to know whether it’s advisable to fly the DJI Mini 3 Pro indoors.

Yes, you can fly the Mini 3 Pro indoors, but to maintain a smooth flight without crashing, you will need to switch off obstacle avoidance, change signal settings to RTH, fly in Cine mode, and use propeller guards.

Surveying the room beforehand is also essential to identify its features and the appropriate height to fly in to avoid bumping into anything.

Please keep reading to learn more about flying the DJI Mini 3 Pro indoors, the dos and don’ts, and how to get the most out of your indoor flights.

Indoor flight with the DJI Mini 3 Pro is possible, but you must be very cautious.

For starters, this mini drone is a GPS drone. So, it will need to get enough satellites to hold its position, update the homepoint (though you will not need it when flying indoors), and for navigation.

Since you are indoors, you will not get enough, if any, satellites.

Without GPS, you will have to fly in attitude mode, where the drone keeps drifting, and the pilot has to use the controls skillfully to maintain the drone’s position.

Secondly, this drone has obstacle avoidance. The DJI Mini 3 Pro has three-way obstacle detection, which means that it only detects obstacles forward, back, and downward.

As I will describe later in the article, obstacle detection is both good and bad when flying indoors.

And lastly, when flying indoors, the DJI Mini 3 Pro is exposed to more interferences than outdoors.

These include metallic objects that might interfere with any calibration you may need to do and WiFi connections that may interfere with the connection between the controller and the drone.

The walls, structures, and other objects within the house may also block the signal, or the drone may crash into them.

Tips for flying the DJI Mini 3 Pro indoors #

While indoor flight has many limitations, it’s still possible to experience what this mini drone offers without going outdoors. Below are some tips on how to do that.

1. Switch off obstacle avoidance #

When discussing how you can fly the DJI Mini 2 indoors, I indicated that it lacked obstacle detection, which made it relatively easy to bump into objects indoors.

While the DJI Mini 3 Pro has obstacle avoidance, it can’t sense what’s on its sides. So if the drone lost connection and started drifting, it may still end up crashing into something on its sides.

Secondly, these obstacle detection sensors are visual sensors. So, if there isn’t much light in the house, they will not be of much use.

Luckily, the DJI Mini 3 Pro gives you three options when it comes to obstacle avoidance:

1. Bypass
2. Brake
3. Or switch it off entirely

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Pro Obstacle Avoidance (Explained for Beginners)

To be safe, I’d prefer to keep it switched off.

In Bypass, they may avoid an obstacle, only to crash into another one on its side.

And when you choose Brake, it may not be that effective if it can’t see the obstacle.

Another reason I prefer to leave them off is that when a DJI drone detects an obstacle, it will not respond to your controls until the obstacle disappears.

Imagine flying in a tiny room where the drone will always be close to something and stops whenever it’s close to an obstacle. It’s pretty frustrating, and it will be challenging to produce smooth footage.

Note: Even after switching the obstacle avoidance sensors off, the downward sensors may still be active.As a result, the drone will slightly ascend every time they sense a surface beneath them. And if there are objects above it, it may bump into them and crash.This effect will also cause a meandering effect in your footage, and you don’t want that happening.Since you can’t switch them off, identify all surfaces in the room and fly the drone some distance above them so the sensors won’t detect them.

2. Change connection lost settings to hover #

When a drone loses connection to the controller, the default setting is Return to Home, which works ideally outdoors.

However, when flying indoors, you will want to leave this off. Why?

During RTH, the drone shoots to the preset RTH height. It’s often set to 120 Meters, but the limit for RTH is 65 Meters.

Unless you are flying in a really high building, when the drone initiates RTH, it will crash into your ceiling. And based on the speed it ascends, your drone may suffer significant damage.

Instead, change it to Hover, so when the connection is lost, the drone will maintain its altitude until the connection is regained.

You can also walk to the drone and catch it to disarm it if it can’t restore the connection.

You can access this setting by going to Settings > Control > Advanced Safety Settings > Signal Lost.

3. Clear out the room #

Once you have decided to fly indoors, look for a large room, and remove everything that may hinder the drone’s flight. This includes:

• Electronics
• Lamps
• Furniture
• And even people

If you can’t clear everything out, at least be aware of where everything is and its height, and always ensure the drone is above this height.

4. Switch to Cine mode #

When flying indoors, it’s not a good idea to test how fast the drone can move, especially if you don’t know its breaking distance.

You could use Normal mode, but it will still move fast if you accidentally go full-throttle.

As such, start with Cine mode and fly the drone slowly. This also helps you practice cinematic moves you can apply when you get time to fly outdoors.

5. Get some propeller guards #

One thing about flying indoors is that it creates more chances of crashing than when flying outdoors. And if you’ve touched a drone’s propellers, you will realize they are quite fragile.

Since propellers are often the first thing to get damaged when a drone crashes, you should consider getting propeller guards like these.

They will shield your propellers from impact and ensure you have a smoother and less stressful flight.

While propellers aren’t that expensive, such as this 24-set below, the costs will eventually add up if you crash often.

I’d also recommend you get a few sets of propellers and propeller guards just to be safe.

6. Get a wide-angle lens #

When flying indoors, the main concern is not to crash. But the DJI Mini 3 Pro’s field of view is limited, hindering your situational awareness.

A wide-angle lens will come in handy if you want a wider view, which will make it easier to see objects on the side, at the top, and below. This way, you can fly using your screen and not be surprised by obstacles you had not seen.

Wide-angle lenses also provide a wider view, which is essential in real estate, where the agent wants to show a room’s spaciousness in one shot.

7. Switch on Display Radar Map #

The Radar Map is a feature that allows you to see which obstacles the drone is detecting and how far they are from the drone. This can be useful when flying in tight spaces or houses you’ve never been to.

It will display the obstacles the drone sees even when you can’t see them in orange and red colors. Orange means you are at a safe distance, and red means you are too close to the obstacles.

You can also switch to Compass mode on the bottom left map so you can know exactly which direction the obstacles are so you can avoid them while producing smooth footage.

8. Adjust sensitivity #

In the Gain and Expo settings, DJI allows you to adjust how the drone responds to your inputs.

When flying indoors, you will want the drone to respond gradually but not so slowly that the drone seems to be dragged by some weight.

If you are not sure how sensitive you want your drone, enter 0.1 in all Expo values and test before increasing or decreasing the values.

9. Lock the exposure #

Now, this isn’t a safety feature. It’s mostly a feature to help you get better footage.

When flying indoors, different rooms will have different lighting depending on how much sunlight they get.

As a result, when in AUTO, every time the drone detects different lighting, it will adjust the exposure, and you may not get good footage.

To avoid this, tap the screen and hold to lock the exposure to your desired value, and if there is any overexposure or underexposure, you can rectify it later.

You can also fly in Manual mode, where you will have control of the exposure, ISO, and shutter speed and change them every time the lighting changes.