Couldn't fly across Restricted and Authorization zones during an approved Custom Unlock fly

[marciano]

Hi everybody.

Image #1 is a DJI screenshot of the Custom Unlock and approved area (violet), Restricted Zone (red) and Authorized Zone (blue)

Image #2 is a composition of previous zones and area with the same color.
There you see two Home Points of flies 1 and 2.
Pay attention to point A at path 1, points B and C at path 2.

Image #3 shows the screen flight at the point A when leaving blue zone and entering red zone.
Home point was at blue zone. Fly #1.

Image #4 shows the screen flight at the point B when leaving red zone and entering blue zone.
Home point was at red zone. Fly #2.
“Aircraft entering Restricted Zone (red). Exit zone promptly”. I was already in Restricted Zone!!!

Image #5 shows the same behavior as described in Image #4 but in the other side of the restricted zone.

It was impossible to free fly in the approved area.
I was afraid to continue flying despite the warnings. I had issues in the past when the drone couldn’t return to home point from blue zone to non restricted area.
Ref.: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=320477

How do you fly through different zones you are authorized to fly?

Image #1


Image #2


Image #3


Image #4


Image #5

 

[Bad Santa]

So you want us to tell you how to break federal law?

Good luck with that.

 

[mavic3usa]

I think the OP is in Uruguay and he's asking how to fly *into* an area he is authorized to launch from, if that is even possible in a restricted zone.

 

[marciano]

So you want us to tell you how to break federal law?

Good luck with that.

Please read the first line of the post and the rest of it carefully

 

[marciano]

I think the OP is in Uruguay and he's asking how to fly *into* an area he is authorized to launch from, if that is even possible in a restricted zone.

I was authorized, first by local authorities and then by a custom unlock.
I was able to fly in red zone but crossing to blue zone and viceversa.
Without DJI approval I wouldn't have been able to even turn on motors.
I also had flown in similar areas before, legally.

 

[brett8883]

1. I’m not sure what the question is? You werent prevented from flying right?

2. DJI has mostly ended forced no fly zones. Positively verify that DJI still has forced no fly zones in your country.

3. Notices in the app may seem scary but they don’t mean the aircraft won’t fly there.

 

[Cafguy]

From a Drone savy member of the forum named GadgetGuy from an post long ago.......This just may be whats happening

""You have to be inside the unlock when you launch, because the area outside the unlock automatically becomes an NFZ. If you somehow manage to enter an unlock from outside of it (home point not yet acquired), you will not be able to fly out of it. You must create a circular custom zone that includes your lunch point.""

 

[GadgetGuy]

How do you fly through different zones you are authorized to fly?

Image #1

I don't believe you can. Once you create a custom unlock, you cannot fly outside of it, once inside of it. The rest of the world outside the custom unlock becomes an NFZ. That's why custom unlocks should be avoided wherever possible.

However, you can get an unlock from DJI for each Blue Authorization Zone that turns it off permanently, for up to a year at time. Then, the Blue Authorization Zones can freely be flown in and out of. I haven’t examine the details of your flight, but I would start there, and then create a custom unlock solely for the area of your flight within the Red NFZ zone.

 

[marciano]

1. I’m not sure what the question is? You werent prevented from flying right?

It is the last line of my first post 'How do you fly through different zones you are authorized to fly?' Every time I tried to cross zones I got 'Exit restricted zone promptly'. It doesn't make sense, in fly #2 I took off and were flying in Restricted Zone. Issues in Image #2, point A, B and C, zone limits.

2. DJI has mostly ended forced no fly zones. Positively verify that DJI still has forced no fly zones in your country.

Only USA and Europe are in that situation

3. Notices in the app may seem scary but they don’t mean the aircraft won’t fly there.

I had issues with that as I stated here: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=320477
I entered in a blue zone, didn't keep attention to that warning and then I couldn't go out, couldn't return to home. I had to go a couple of km to land it in my hand. That's why I'm afraid not taking seriously those warnings.
In the case I am presenting here it was dangerous entering in the same situation.

 

[marciano]

I don't believe you can. Once you create a custom unlock, you cannot fly outside of it, once inside of it. The rest of the world outside the custom unlock becomes an NFZ. That's why custom unlocks should be avoided wherever possible.

However, you can get an unlock from DJI for each Blue Authorization Zone that turns it off permanently, for up to a year at time. Then, the Blue Authorization Zones can freely be flown in and out of. I haven’t examine the details of your flight, but I would start there, and then create a custom unlock solely for the area of your flight within the Red NFZ zone.

So you mean I cannot fly that path?

 

[Felix le Chat]

From a Drone savy member of the forum named GadgetGuy from an post long ago.......This just may be whats happening

""You have to be inside the unlock when you launch, because the area outside the unlock automatically becomes an NFZ. If you somehow manage to enter an unlock from outside of it (home point not yet acquired), you will not be able to fly out of it. You must create a circular custom zone that includes your lunch point.""

Illustrating the difference between a geofence and a geocage.

 

[marciano]

""You have to be inside the unlock when you launch, because the area outside the unlock automatically becomes an NFZ. If you somehow manage to enter an unlock from outside of it (home point not yet acquired), you will not be able to fly out of it. You must create a circular custom zone that includes your launch point.""

My custom unlock is the violet area. It includes both home points, and both red and blue zones.
I never intended to fly outside the custom unlock area.
I understand that I have have the launch point inside the requested unlock area and couldn't go outside it. Same as if the launch point is outside that area, I cannot enter the unlock area.
But those were not my case.

 

[BlueHeeler]

OP,

I believe you need to contact the FAA equivalent in your country for advice, not sure if they have the same levels of airspace restrictions as we do, like class A, B, C, etc, etc.

 

[marciano]

OP,

I believe you need to contact the FAA equivalent in your country for advice, not sure if they have the same levels of airspace restrictions as we do, like class A, B, C, etc, etc.

They have restrictions, of course. First I have to fill a request form with flight data, dates, altitudes and check all other data they already have in their database. After all internal procedures I get the permission. In this case max altitude 45m agl. Sometimes they ask to contact control tower before and after the flight. This was not the case, I guess it was because the runway in use was 08-26 longer than 01-19.
Then I uploaded the aproval doc to Custom Unlock

 

[brett8883]

""You have to be inside the unlock when you launch, because the area outside the unlock automatically becomes an NFZ. If you somehow manage to enter an unlock from outside of it (home point not yet acquired), you will not be able to fly out of it. You must create a circular custom zone that includes your launch point.""

My custom unlock is the violet area. It includes both home points, and both red and blue zones.
I never intended to fly outside the custom unlock area.
I understand that I have have the launch point inside the requested unlock area and couldn't go outside it. Same as if the launch point is outside that area, I cannot enter the unlock area.
But those were not my case.

View attachment 185194

In theory, since you have a custom unlock you should be able to fly within the custom unlock area even if you cross over different zones. The app may still give you the alerts that you are in a restricted area, but won’t prevent you from flying there. Auto return to home may not allow crossing through the red restricted area even with a custom unlock since it is an automated flight mode. As others have noted, you may also have to take off from within the custom unlock area and not be able to fly outside the custom unlock area while it is activated.

I wonder if the issues you had before were due to having a self unlock rather than a custom unlock? A custom unlock is needed to fly through multiple zones.

In practice, unfortunately DJIs unlocking process and GeoZones don’t always work as advertised and is buggy at best. Proceed with caution and have a back up plan if it doesn’t work as intended.

 

[marciano]

In theory, since you have a custom unlock you should be able to fly within the custom unlock area even if you cross over different zones. The app may still give you the alerts that you are in a restricted area, but won’t prevent you from flying there. Auto return to home may not allow crossing through the red restricted area even with a custom unlock since it is an automated flight mode.

That's why I went back after those warnings, affraid I couldn't go back as happened to me in the past trying to go out from a blue zone to a non-colored zone (home point), more than once in other area. I remember a couple of years ago I had to walk 20m to land the drone in my hand. It was the border between a blue and a non-colored zones.

As others have noted, you may also have to take off from within the custom unlock area and not be able to fly outside the custom unlock area while it is activated.

I had selected a large area to prevent keeping always inside the custom unlock area

I wonder if the issues you had before were due to having a self unlock rather than a custom unlock? A custom unlock is needed to fly through multiple zones.

Custom unlock. Whithout it I couldn't even turn motors on.

In practice, unfortunately DJIs unlocking process and GeoZones don’t always work as advertised and is buggy at best. Proceed with caution and have a back up plan if it doesn’t work as intended.

The issue I mentioned before, https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=320477 I send .dat files to DJI but I never got an answer.