Strange occurrence in a restricted area

[jerry2032]

I took off today in a large vacant parking lot and as I was waiting for the Mavic to update its home location from a low altitude suddenly it took off in a south-east direction and at the same time the app came up with a restricted area pop-up and asked me if I wanted to unlock the area. I tried to fly it back to its origin but it acted like it was hitting the border of a geofence and wouldn't let me so I just landed it.
I had already contacted the private airport nearby and received permission so I had it send me an SMS verification token to unlock the area.
I replayed the flight with joystick movement just to verify that I hadn't touched the sticks.

My question is should it have veered off like a bat of out hell like that? Is that DJI's response to a late notification that I'm flying in a restricted area? The drone was facing west and would have hit an obstacle had there been one in the way as it didn't yaw in the direction of travel.

Perhaps the two events are unrelated as I have had the drone fly off in a arbitrary direction for no apparent reason before but thats been when I've flown it indoors. The reason I sense that they are related is that the direction it flew is radially away from the airport.

 

[M daniels]

Can you please educate me as to what The SMS token "looked" like and how you then used it? That for the education


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[GreatScott]

Well, this just scared me a bit. It allowed you to takeoff no issue, but then flew on it's own out of it's perceived restricted area? Interested in the token also.

Thanks for posting this scenario.

 

[lotek]

Don't you usually get the home point before you take off?

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[jerry2032]

Can you please educate me as to what The SMS token "looked" like and how you then used it? That for the education


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The dialog box presented me with two options to unlock the area. A credit card or SMS. I chose SMS and then it asked for my cell. Once I submitted it I received the following text: "Verification Token: 123456" I then typed that token into the dialog box in DJI Go 4 and hit ok and if memory serves me correctly it granted me a few minutes of flight time.

 

[jerry2032]

Don't you usually get the home point before you take off?

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Yes but I find it does it twice, once before takeoff and once while hovering over the home point.

 

[Gringorio]

I took off today in a large vacant parking lot and as I was waiting for the Mavic to update its home location from a low altitude suddenly it took off

Never take off before the home location is locked in.

 

[Ed Ricker]

Yes I ran into this problem too, although I've never flown INTO a No Fly Zone. I've only tried to take off while already in one. I had to get the SMS verification code and input it to be able to take off after contacting the local airport (contacting them did nothing to unlock the area, only the SMS code did).

Once you put in the code, you can fly for days or even weeks after without having to put another one in.

 

[jerry2032]

Never take off before the home location is locked in.

My experience has been that the Mavic will lock in the home location while on the ground a once again while hovering over the home location.

 

[jerry2032]

Yes I ran into this problem too, although I've never flown INTO a No Fly Zone. I've only tried to take off while already in one. I had to get the SMS verification code and input it to be able to take off after contacting the local airport (contacting them did nothing to unlock the area, only the SMS code did).

Once you put in the code, you can fly for days or even weeks after without having to put another one in.

My experience was that it approved me for 8 minutes and kept popping up and making me select the 'I understand yada yada yada' check boxes.

 

[jerry2032]

Here's the replay. You'll see shortly after takeoff the drone goes into autopilot. It doesn't show it but I got a "restricted area" pop-up at the same time.

 

[jerry2032]

I've flown within the file mail radius of the airport in this area with a simple Class B but this area came up as restricted. Maybe someone could tell me why its restricted here: 40.858022,-111.902425

 

[sonof40]

Credit card?

 

[M daniels]

The dialog box presented me with two options to unlock the area. A credit card or SMS. I chose SMS and then it asked for my cell. Once I submitted it I received the following text: "Verification Token: 123456" I then typed that token into the dialog box in DJI Go 4 and hit ok and if memory serves me correctly it granted me a few minutes of flight time.

Thanx for the info

 

[Strafe1]

The way the initial OP report is written, it is as if he took off immediately after props started. When I fly in a restricted area, I get the restricted message and the home point verification well before take off. He got his while already in the air. Is there even a location lock at this point?
But I have never flown in an area that required a code either, only the periphery of a smaller airport.

 

[jerry2032]

The way the initial OP report is written, it is as if he took off immediately after props started. When I fly in a restricted area, I get the restricted message and the home point verification well before take off. He got his while already in the air. Is there even a location lock at this point?

I'm wondering if my GPS receiver is damaged because the drone toggles between ATTI and GPS mode often. I haven't been able to get Follow Me to work due to weak GPS. Perhaps it switches to GPS mode in flight and figured out it was in a restricted area.



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[Strafe1]

I'm wondering if my GPS receiver is damaged because the drone toggles between ATTI and GPS mode often. I haven't been able to get Follow Me to work due to weak GPS. Perhaps it switches to GPS mode in flight and figured out it was in a restricted area.



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I've read where people using iPhone 7 have weak GPS on follow me mode. Only iPhone 7 series though.

 

[jerry2032]

I've read where people using iPhone 7 have weak GPS on follow me mode. Only iPhone 7 series though.

Interesting. That's what I'm flying with but I'm on the prowl for gently used iPad Mini 4. Hopefully that will be better.

 

[jerry2032]

Ok not to belabor this but the purple teardrop is where the Mavic discovered I was in a no-fly (or restricted...not sure if they are synonymous) zone and went into autopilot. The red pin is where I take off from normally with no issues. As you can see the B4U fly app doesn't show any difference between the two areas in terms of being in the same 5-mile radius of a private no tower air port. So what does DJI know about that spot that the FAA does not or is not publishing?

Clearly I'm closer to the the airport at the NFZ but within the same boundary. Could it be because there is a refinery close by? And again is DJI taking the wheel when it discovers you're in the air in a NFZ?


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[IADRN43]

I'd suggest you check your phone bill closely for a while for weird surcharges.
It almost seems like some sort of deal where a person sends a text to a number authorizing a charge or payment to be added to their cell phone bill. (Or credit card, had you chosen that option)