Can't remember but I think it was in atti mode, from what I saw of the videos it said to switch to tripod mode. Tried it but said I had to take off, once I had I tried putting it into tripod mode but panicked when I saw it moving backwards even though I wasn't using the joysticks. So had no time to get it into tripod mode.
I took it off beginner mode as well, not sure if keeping it in beginner mode would have helped. I had the setting for controller set to hover if it lost contact.
Suffice to say I will not be trying that again unless I hadn't set it up properly
The drone being in Atti mode should have been a big clue, given that it isn't a mode that you can normally select but which the drone defaults to if it can't do something else. Indoors really is just a big no, especially for the first flight. I don't think you'd really properly prepared to use it, as you turned off beginner mode without understanding that it wouldn't really have made much difference in such a confined space apart from perhaps slow down your crash.
Now I've had my Mavic a while and taken it on quite a few flights, I try and perform a mental checklist every time before I fly, along the lines of:
- where am I going to fly
- what do I want to do when I'm flying (photo, video etc)
- what are the obstacles and height of them (to set a safe RTH height)
- wind conditions (I always try to fly route that returns with the wind rather than against it)
- are there birds (been attached once, don't want to try that again)
- are there people
- where is the best secondary landing point that's also accessible
- battery charge level on everything
- remove the gimbal lock!
- check the memory card is in (been caught out by this a couple of times in the early days)
- don't take off until GPS mode is activated (I normally like to get the satellites into double figures)
- launch but don't fly off until the home point has been updated
Apart from a recent overly curious seagull, just thinking through stuff like that has kept me largely out of trouble.
I've seen much longer, more complex lists, and some overly paranoid stuff about checking apps for solar flare activity that could damage the connection between the controller and drone, but I just want to be safe rather than pretend I'm a pilot.