NFZs - what exactly happens?

[Londroner]

As someone still awaiting their Mavic Pro can some kind soul please clarify exactly what happens if you attempt to fly in a NFZ?

I am aware of DJI's A and B classes of NFZ so if you try to fly in them is your drone totally disabled or do you just get a warning saying it's not a good idea to fly there? Can DJI lock you out of all controls?

Just curious. Not planning to fly in an NFZ but would like to know what the limitations are.

 

[HSK]

I think it may hit an invisible wall and auto land. Not tested myself.

 

[Londroner]

I think it may hit an invisible wall and auto land. Not tested myself.

Thanks, HSK. So you can actually take off in a NFZ? I was wondering if even that was prevented.

 

[HSK]

Hmm no not the red ones - i thought that's what you meant - approaching a NFZ

 

[Londroner]

Hmm no not the red ones - i thought that's what you meant - approaching a NFZ

No. I live near a major international airport and my area, with large open spaces to fly, appears under a Warning Zone on DJI's GEO map. I'm about six miles from the actual airport but was wondering what would happen if I attempted to fly near where I live.

I think my question may have been answered by another post in these forums which clearly states that a drone cannot even be started in a NFZ.

 

[Keule]

So you can actually take off in a NFZ?

No, you can't even start the motors when you are in a (DJI red) NFZ.

 

[RavenTBK]

I think theres a few issues:
1 Flying into a red NFZ from a clear space hasn't been conclusively video tested.
2 Flying into a red NFZ has yielded conflicting accounts of the resultant behavior, which not only varies by what NFZ but also by different FW.
3 Folk confuse the official DJI map with AirMap and B4UFly thinking something is a NFZ when according to DJI it isn't.
4 Folk confuse a DJI GEO warning and NFZ as being the same.

I have several state correctional facilities near by that show up as red no nos on the DJI map. However, I believe because I am on 400fw, I have had no issue flying over any of them during my tests.

I also have been able to spin up the props from inside the passenger dropoff area ("white zone is for loading and unloading only") of the international airport in the next city over. Basically as far "in" the airport bubble you can get without being inside the fence.

There are other accounts of 400FW not being able to do this, and there appears to be no real rhyme or reason to why it differs.

Fwiw, this is how my Mavic behaves. Ymmv.

 

[Oconnb910]

I can tell you this that I am near a NFZ, and display tells me Near NFZ. I try to fly here pretty regularly and I have come up with several different scenarios of what does happen on different days. To start with it will always stop me and tell me I have to either accept responsibility and I am authorized to fly or it will give me a warning saying you are near no fly zone and that my flight will be restricted. This has caused problems for me when I have flown out normally and then on my way back it starts to apply the restrictions and slow is my flight dramatically which actually parsley assisted in my last crash that I had. I have noticed if I'm flying in a direction away from the no fly zone after I get to a certain distance light will start flashing green but if I turned back in that direction the status light will start flashing red and it will typically slow me down when that occurs.

 

[RavenTBK]

That's interesting, as yours is the first account of being "slowed down" I've read about.

Normally it's either a irreversible forced landing, or bouncing off an invisible wall.

What firmware are you on?

 

[Oconnb910]

900, but to a point that's inconclusive because I was also battling a low battery condition. And it was slowing me down to about 15 miles an hour

 

[Oconnb910]

That's interesting, as yours is the first account of being "slowed down" I've read about.

Normally it's either a irreversible forced landing, or bouncing off an invisible wall.

What firmware are you on?

900, but to a point that's inconclusive because I was also battling a low battery condition. And it was slowing me down to about 15 miles an hour, and I also blame myself because I did stretch it too far but it was crazy how much the forced Landing was acting at that point. So yes once again to be fair it was more my error than anything else.

 

[Oconnb910]

900, but to a point that's inconclusive because I was also battling a low battery condition. And it was slowing me down to about 15 miles an hour, and I also blame myself because I did stretch it too far but it was crazy how much the forced Landing was acting at that point. So yes once again to be fair it was more my error than anything else.

I also just wanted to try to interject that being in the Near NFZ, has definitely changed these last two updates and as I said when you were near the no-fly zone your status light will start flashing red if you are facing in the direction of it when you start flying away from it it goes back to green and it seems to give you back more control at that point. I will test further to verify.

 

[RavenTBK]

I also just wanted to try to interject that being in the Near NFZ, has definitely changed these last two updates and as I said when you were near the no-fly zone your status light will start flashing red if you are facing in the direction of it when you start flying away from it it goes back to green and it seems to give you back more control at that point. I will test further to verify.

But yeah, that's my point how all of this varies depending on your firmware. Each revision seemingly handles it differently.

 

[McToddy]

Disclaimer: I'm posting this is an FYI, not condoning flying in NFZ.

There's a narrow window where you can get the motors to start if you are in a NFZ --- in that short period where the Mavic is powering up, but didn't get a GPS lock (to know it was in a NFZ). But once the Mavic got the GPS, the NFZ warning popped up on the Go App forcing a landing. I held the stick up, to keep the drone from descending, long enough to get the Mavic back to the launch point (30 feet away). That is, I had a controlled landing. (Good to know that you can have a controlled landing in such a situation.)

I found this out by accident. I wanted to do a rapid launch, but didn't know I was in an NFZ until after the GPS locked in after ATTI launch.