DJI No Fly Zones and what you need to know before you fly near them!

[Aerial Edge]

So on a previous thread Here some people were talking about issues recovering an aircraft when flying near DJI no fly zones, there was also another thread that I cannot find with someone that lost an aircraft over a cliff that eventually hit Critical Battery Level and landed into the ocean. I ran into this issue and upon investigating this we were able to get to the cause of this and I posted on the thread why this issue exists and the lack of Documentation.

Recently there was an accident on June 2, 2021 with a Matrice 300 that caused bodily injury and was reported to the NTSB. Here is the info on this M300 Accident and here is a link to Pilot Institute video on this. I decided this is important enough to put a Video together to help people become educated on it and possible help others.

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I hope this helps keep others from loosing their drone or getting injured!

Dave

 

[fgphoto]

This is good information and fantastic tip for how to verify you are not taking off in a no fly zone.

 

[GFields]

I always go to the DJI GEO Zone website and If I am doing a shoot anywhere near a NFZ I go ahead and do a manual unlock

 

[Aerial Edge]

I always go to the DJI GEO Zone website and If I am doing a shoot anywhere near a NFZ I go ahead and do a manual unlock

Well that will do nothing for you in this scenario. This is DJI red No fly zones, when you are outside the boundary there is a buffer zone that can cause some serious problems. It is rare that you can get a manual unlock in a DJI red zone but not impossible, We have flown at the Nuclear Plant and had to provide documentation to fly in the SSI zone. You will not get an unlock on a red zone unless you can provide DJI with an Authorization from the authority in the SSI and FAA authorization if in controlled airspace. We had a base commanders approval in writing, and sent that to the FAA since it was dual airspace, FAA said No even though we had base approval, we tried to get DJI to unlock the SSI since we would not be flying into it, but the power lines rand 75 feet outside the fence. We could not get close enough to get the data needed. DJI would not unlock it, and the FAA COA had bold letter for us not to fly the SSI zone. In this scenario you are not flying in the NFZ and can be well outside the boundary area and still have problems. Please check out the thread I linked to, it is very helpful.

Generally when going on to site of Airspace, I too like to get all my approvals before hand. Helps to simplify things.

 

[Donnie Frank]

The unfortunate solution is to hack your drones so you, the user, is in charge of their limitations and not the FAA or DJI. As a safe, conscientious pilot, I know where I am in the NAS and where I am not supposed to fly. I know how far I am from all airports, helipads, NFZ's, including hospital helipads and other less obvious areas of the NAS. So when I go out on a job where people are counting on me, I don't have the time or inclination to deal with erroneous limitations, up to and including a disabled drone. All my drones are hacked so I CAN fly in any Class C airspace I wish. Of course I do not. I have no desire to. I just want to get out there and do my job without having to worry about erroneous, unpredictable limitations and/or shutdowns. I honestly don't see how ANY professional drone pilot can operate with that problem looming over their head. Logistics for these jobs is off the charts without having to add "oh yeah...my drone may randomly land or decide to not spin up" to the mix. Yeah...let's at THAT to the s*** pile of things I have to think of and/or worry about. No thanx.

I'm going on 7 years in the business and I have been shut out of my own drone ONCE. That was years ago and will never happen again.

D

 

[fgphoto]

The unfortunate solution is to hack your drones so you, the user, is in charge of their limitations and not the FAA or DJI. As a safe, conscientious pilot, I know where I am in the NAS and where I am not supposed to fly. I know how far I am from all airports, helipads, NFZ's, including hospital helipads and other less obvious areas of the NAS. So when I go out on a job where people are counting on me, I don't have the time or inclination to deal with erroneous limitations, up to and including a disabled drone. All my drones are hacked so I CAN fly in any Class C airspace I wish. Of course I do not. I have no desire to. I just want to get out there and do my job without having to worry about erroneous, unpredictable limitations and/or shutdowns. I honestly don't see how ANY professional drone pilot can operate with that problem looming over their head. Logistics for these jobs is off the charts without having to add "oh yeah...my drone may randomly land or decide to not spin up" to the mix. Yeah...let's at THAT to the s*** pile of things I have to think of and/or worry about. No thanx.

I'm going on 7 years in the business and I have been shut out of my own drone ONCE. That was years ago and will never happen again.

D

Donnie, what method of hacking have you found most effective for this?

 

[Donnie Frank]

Donnie, what method of hacking have you found most effective for this?

"Legacy apps and firmware" is the short answer. This sends you down a rabbit hole of legacy iOS, legacy iPads, legacy iTunes and on and on.

Believe it or not, there once was a time when we, the users, were in almost complete control of our iPads and our drones. That power has been usurped by Apple, DJI and the FAA. Third-party software companies like MapPilot cower to the Apple Gods, disabling features under the guise of "compliance." So we use legacy versions of those apps, too.

The short answer is to simply go back to those times. The "methods" depend on the drone.

D

 

[Aerial Edge]

"Legacy apps and firmware" is the short answer. This sends you down a rabbit hole of legacy iOS, legacy iPads, legacy iTunes and on and on.

Believe it or not, there once was a time when we, the users, were in almost complete control of our iPads and our drones. That power has been usurped by Apple, DJI and the FAA. Third-party software companies like MapPilot cower to the Apple Gods, disabling features under the guise of "compliance." So we use legacy versions of those apps, too.

The short answer is to simply go back to those times. The "methods" depend on the drone.

D

It is one of the very reasons I have started building my own. At least when it comes to heavy lift drones and medium payloads.