Thanks for the reply. May I be more specific. I am a fire investigator in So. Cal. The DJI restrictions do not allow me to fly in many areas where I need to get video of roofs. Frankly, that's all I do with a drone. I got the Autel nano under 250 gr. unit and am able to fly even in a landing path at a major airport, so no geofencing or flight restriction. So, is this a USA hates DJI thing as they have legislated or any small drone can fly such as the Autel?
I think it's more that DJI requires that you follow the law. Do you have your part 107?
I defected to Autel for the same single reason, the work I do requires close inspection in difficult environments and a significant number have been in areas where there are DJI geofenced areas where cell coverage is nonexistent - this is where one carefully pre-planned job has snowballed into two or more ancillary paid deployments in a reasonably close geographical area outside the original unlocked geozone. I switched back to DJI because the NANO+ drones were both mechanically defective. Yes, DJI drones are top of the heap for quality, reliability and camera tech, but this enforced geozone nonsense is a real pain in the pistachios.
Jbrownfire, I'm assuming you're part 107 as you are doing inspection to furtherance business.
I'm in Britain, so the 107 doesn't apply. Because of Brexit (massive joke of epic proportions) the EU A2CofC certificate is grudgingly recognised but not respected and the GVC hasn't got the weight behind it that it has on the European mainland. We in the GB are in limbo at present while the CAA works out how to structure and re-introduce an updated version of the old PfCO, which is considerably more of a money spinner and puts far more power back in the hands of what was, before 1972, the Air Ministry (the CAA). The CAA permissions process is a massive pain with an administration process (for drones) that moves only slightly faster than a racing snail. For a red zone permission, you can actually get a faster response and a discretionary decision by dealing direct with the ATC duty officer. Red(RED) zones require the full bag of proofs submitted to the CAA, then you can be twiddling your thumbs for a few weeks before you get a response, let alone a decision. My bag is forensic standard photography of scheduled monuments, grade listed structures, the survey of sites of potential archaeology and ongoing digs.
