DJI FlySafe issues - "Can not fly" in an area NOT restricted

[steve495]

Has anyone experienced something like this? I was at a client location yesterday afternoon and locked out from flying for 2.5 hours.

Although I was in a DJI Warning Zone, I was not in a Restricted or Authorization zone. Yet, the DJI Fly 4.0 application was constantly informing me I was in a Restricted Zone and could not lift off. This was indicated by the red "Can not take off" notification in the top right of the application, and when viewing the Overall Status, I had the red exclamation point triangle with "Can not takeoff in a no-fly zone."

App was updated. Drone, batteries and controller had current firmware. Drone and app knew exactly where it was ... GPS positioning was correct and strong signal. (15+ Sats)

I went ahead and fired up the laptop to apply unlock the Authorization Zone that was more than a couple of miles from my location. That did no good. At some point I may have requested some other sort of authorization in frustration, that seems to have provided me with a big green circle on the map in the app with my location in the middle. I thought that was a good sign. Nope.

Contacted DJI via email and they got back to me within 13 minutes stating I was good to go and unlocked for that area. They included the "Unlocking Steps for DJI Go 4" PDF that I'm familiar with. They said if I still had an issue, send them a video of what I'm doing on the screen which I did. I also provided them my current LAT/LONG and told them flat out I should not need any sort of authorization from DJI.

They got back to me with the standard "update everything, delete and reinstall app..." instructions. Did that including deleting and reinstalling DJI Fly 4.0 on my iPhone. Still no joy.
But there was an additional instruction in there...

Ensure all licenses are turned off.

Why would I turn off the licenses if the app is telling me that I need approval to fly and can not fly in a no-fly zone?

I guess those licenses were active prior to me arriving and I was just doing what the app and DJI told me to do. Well, I turned off the license set and I was able to fly. WTF? There were six authorizations in there for different areas. Some expired, some nowhere near my location. The one that I had requested earlier was in there and approved with the proper dates.

Any other experience with this? It was a frustrating afternoon to say the least.

Steve

 

[vindibona1]

Welcome to my world. I had the same issue trying to fly from friend's house that was NOT in a restricted area, though close to one. I got an unlock code and got to fly there- but another day as I could not get it done from the location.

In terms of general flying, INTUITIVE action would just tell you to keep the unlock licenses turned on. But in the DJI world- no. You only turn them on when flying within them. If you have one or more licenses open that is not where you're flying you can't start the motors. So frustrating. I had to call DJI to find out why my drone wouldn't fly in front of my house.

I think one of the things that most of us have difficulty understanding is the Chinese Corporate/National culture. They are so used to central control of everything that controlling everything is natural to them. I think over-control is my biggest issue with DJI which I've stated in other threads.

 

[Aerial Edge]

If you have a current unlock checked and are out of the area then it will not let you take off. I use the pilot app daily and seen all kinds of weird stuff lately. The last time I used the Fly app I was in an approach and was able to unlock right through the app without going through the website. So normally my routine is

Check the map page, see if I am in a DJI locked area, if I am not then go to the unlocking section and see if any Unlock authorizations are checked, if they are uncheck all of them and then see if I am good to fly. 9 times out of 10 we are able to unlock.

 

[steve495]

So to sum up...

• If you have licenses ON (checked) they will default to ON when you shut down and travel somewhere else
• If you arrive somewhere that has no restrictions and try to take off, the app will tell you you are in a restricted zone. No amount of approvals will get you airborne and the only notification the app will provide you is that you are in a no-fly zone and you need to apply for authorization.
• They way to get out of this lockdown is to turn OFF (uncheck) the licenses you have activated, and ignore what the app is telling you to do.

DJI can do some fixes here for usability. They could default the app to turn off the licenses when you shut down so you need to activate the license every time you fire up the app to fly in an appropriate zone. This is not a good solution at all. I really think the default should be "licenses ON."

They need to set up a notification on the screen that clearly states "Although you may need FAA approval to fly here, you are not in a DJI Restricted or Authorization Zone. To take off, click here to turn off the licenses you have activated."

That's logical. Telling users that you're in a restricted zone and a no-fly zone is a totally false error. It's not rocket science.