Authorization Zone Mystery

[55Kevy]

I have been flying my Mini 2 for a couple of months around my rural lot. The DJI Fly app has consistently shown an Enhanced Warning Zone and I've checked the box and acknowledged that I'm responsible for flying. Today it showed an additional Authorization Zone and would not allow me to take off. The B4UFLY app shows neither of these. Yesterday B4UFLY showed an upcoming Presidential TFR starting in 22 hrs (at around 3:00 pm PDT). However this morning that was no longer shown on the app. How can DJI show an Authorization Zone and prevent me from flying when the official FAA app shows nothing?

I should note that there is also a wildfire burning nearby that has a TFR, but that is over 5 miles distant.

I'd appreciate any feedback and guidance. This was pretty frustrating as weather conditions (wind) has been too bad to fly for over a week.

 

[sar104]

DJI servers pick up scheduled TFRs but don't always seem to remove them if they are cancelled early. If you were confident that there was not TFR in place then why didn't you simply self-authorize and fly?

 

[vindibona1]

I have shared your frustration many times. I sure hope Autel has improved the handling with their new models.

 

[hiflyer201]

I should note that there is also a wildfire burning nearby that has a TFR, but that is over 5 miles distant.

I've found the DJI authorization zone around fire TFR's to be much larger than the actual TFR as verified by Foreflight which shows the actual TFR location. I think it's due to the fact that fire TFR's will possible move.

 

[vindibona1]

I've found the DJI authorization zone around fire TFR's to be much larger than the actual TFR as verified by Foreflight which shows the actual TFR location. I think it's due to the fact that fire TFR's will possible move.

DJI's geofencing tends to be over-aggressive, even with ATC authorization and unlocking. I don't think it has anything to do with moving TFR's.

 

[hiflyer201]

DJI's geofencing tends to be over-aggressive, even with ATC authorization and unlocking. I don't think it has anything to do with moving TFR's.

It's one of those things that it's never a problem until it effects you then it's WTF! but I can see the problem DJI has to contend with. Most people haven't a clue about the airspace around them. I live in an area that has a general aviation tower controlled airport with lot's of corporate jet traffic, and another military airport from which all the modern exotic high speed and stealth military aircraft are regularly flown but when the word airport is mentioned to the average person they think you are referring to LAX..nearly a hundred miles away.

 

[Dharris6891]

When I started flying DJI drones my neighborhood was in a similar area (enhanced warning zone), I just had to check off the boxes and off I went. One evening the sunset was amazing so I decided to get a drone above the trees to take some photos only to discover I now have to request authorization through DJI's unlock webpage. There were no TFR's of any kind in my area. It seems the flysafe database wasn't picking up the airspace properly in my area, the map only showed the blue flight path areas from the runways and considered them an enhanced warning zone, now it displays more like a sectional chart and the flight paths are now blue authorization zones per flysafe with a yellow enhanced warning zone outside the flight path areas. B4UFLY shows nothing in my area. On a side note, you can unlock an area on their webpage for a year (I was able to anyways), I have 4-5 local areas I keep unlocked like this for spur of the moment flights. Being close to a moderately busy airport I always make it a point to keep my flights as low as possible and my situational awareness high.

 

[vindibona1]

It's one of those things that it's never a problem until it effects you then it's WTF! but I can see the problem DJI has to contend with. Most people haven't a clue about the airspace around them. I live in an area that has a general aviation tower controlled airport with lot's of corporate jet traffic, and another military airport from which all the modern exotic high speed and stealth military aircraft are regularly flown but when the word airport is mentioned to the average person they think you are referring to LAX..nearly a hundred miles away.

The answer is ridiculously simple. My opinion is that if a pilot is Part 107 certified, he should be able to register his certification with DJI and they should turn off ALL geofencing. The Part 107 is not an easy test and requires a lot of study and knowledge and attests to the Part 107 pilot's understanding for airspace and the rules. It should be understood that the Part 107 pilot in all liklihood is flying a commercial job and should not be encumbered by overly strict electronic barriers. I've found that if I'm going to fly a commercial job it is almost always required to test fly the area. More than once I've been fenced out unnecessarily. The last job I did, my test showed that I was locked out and even after applying to DJI for a 500 meter circumference unlock, they only unlocked my 120 FEET. Perhaps they mistook feet for meters, but .5 km is hard to misjudge. After three attempts of working with DJI did I get ONE of my drones unlocked properly, but not both. I may need to get an Autel just for self defense.

 

[55Kevy]

DJI servers pick up scheduled TFRs but don't always seem to remove them if they are cancelled early. If you were confident that there was not TFR in place then why didn't you simply self-authorize and fly?

Well I started that process, got the SMS code and entered it, but then balked at agreeing to upload the flight information to DJI. Probably stupid, but I'm loath to give any information to a Chinese company: never know what their government will request.

 

[sar104]

Well I started that process, got the SMS code and entered it, but then balked at agreeing to upload the flight information to DJI. Probably stupid, but I'm loath to give any information to a Chinese company: never know what their government will request.

You are worried about the Chinese government coming after you?

 

[55Kevy]

We had a beautiful day here yesterday and so I decided to fly, and to heck with the CCP getting my info. But then the Fly app told me my DJI account wasn't logged in... I fussed around for probably 10 min or so trying to figure out how to log in from the app (never did) or log in thru a web browser (never did). Went back to the app and lo and behold - I could take off! No more Authorization Zone. Go figure...

 

[55Kevy]

The mystery deepens.....
I upgraded the Fly app to 1.4.12 yesterday and went out to fly. No problem taking off, flew for 20 min or so, landed. No authorization zone noted. Decided to take off again, and boom - authorization zone. I went through the unlock process and got the message unlock success, however I was still locked out. Went through this multiple times, getting the unlock success message but not able to fly.

What I find frustrating is the randomness of this behavior. Sometimes the authorization zone is shown, sometimes not. And then to not be able to unlock, even though the app says unlock was successful.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[sar104]

The mystery deepens.....
I upgraded the Fly app to 1.4.12 yesterday and went out to fly. No problem taking off, flew for 20 min or so, landed. No authorization zone noted. Decided to take off again, and boom - authorization zone. I went through the unlock process and got the message unlock success, however I was still locked out. Went through this multiple times, getting the unlock success message but not able to fly.

What I find frustrating is the randomness of this behavior. Sometimes the authorization zone is shown, sometimes not. And then to not be able to unlock, even though the app says unlock was successful.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

It's really difficult to diagnose this issue any further without knowing the location that is causing the problem.