Flight Data Center

[hopeful21]

As a new Mavic pilot I'm open to being told I'm foolish, but it occurs to me that the Flight Data Center is a 2-edged sword!

Great for reviewing flights and getting help on positioning, but also the law enforcement agencies have a silent witness to anything
I inadvertently do that's illegal. No possibility of denying it, and all they have to do is demand to see my controller. If I allow a synch to the
cloud does that mean my flights are on the DJI servers for all time? Or perhaps they're on there anyway?

Is there any way of controlling this data?

Can any of you Master Mavics out there put my mind at rest? Please.

 

[old man mavic]

@hopeful21 ,after over 4 years of flying DJI drones ,i have never had any reason to worry about any of my flights being considered illegal or not ,that information would only be relevant ,if you and your drone were to be involved in some sort of illegal activity ,the information could be requested ,by the authorities ,but it would have to be something pretty bad for that to happen
i think you are just overthinking it ,just go out and enjoy your drone ,unless of course you are some sort of criminal mastermind

 

[hopeful21]

@hopeful21 ,after over 4 years of flying DJI drones ,i have never had any reason to worry about any of my flights being considered illegal or not ,that information would only be relevant ,if you and your drone were to be involved in some sort of illegal activity ,the information could be requested ,by the authorities ,but it would have to be something pretty bad for that to happen
i think you are just overthinking it ,just go out and enjoy your drone ,unless of course you are some sort of criminal mastermind

Perhaps I didn't explain enough. I live in France. Here, it is illegal to fly over a hamlet, a village, town or city. Nearly all houses are painted in RED on their website (Géoportail). So when I send my AIR2S out on a simple photography mission to the local town, if I am not VERY careful, I am likely to cross an orange or a yellow band - or, God forbid, a RED zone.
What I am saying is that people here are quick to report drones. There are very few of us. And the gendarmes come, and they don't mess about. And the evidence is there for the taking.
I guess you don't have these problems in GB or USA.
And you didn't answer my question.

 

[old man mavic]

@hopeful21 ,well maybe you should get a Mini 3 which here in the UK and I believe in the EU is allowed to fly over the areas you mentioned because of its weight classification
or if the population are so touchy about drones ,perhaps the hobby of drone flying is not a good idea in France ,on hearing your post ,i am glad i live in the UK ,yes the flights will be recorded on the RC, but you can choose whether to send them to DJI or not, in the settings menu under profile flight logs

 

[hopeful21]

@hopeful21 ,well maybe you should get a Mini 3 which here in the UK and I believe in the EU is allowed to fly over the areas you mentioned because of its weight classification
or if the population are so touchy about drones ,perhaps the hobby of drone flying is not a good idea in France ,on hearing your post ,i am glad i live in the UK ,yes the flights will be recorded on the RC, but you can choose whether to send them to DJI or not, in the settings menu under profile flight logs

@old man mavic Hmm. Well, I have a Mini 3, and it makes no difference. If you bothered to examine Geoportail you will see that flight in the red zone is not permitted. I cannot even take off from outside my house, the UAV weight is not relevant.

The EU in general has its own set of rules, but individual countries can modify them, and France is a very controlling country. So much for "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" hey? Not much liberty.

You are stating the obvious. I need to hear from people who can give me more relevant detail on the control of this option, if there is anyone.

 

[mobilehomer]

You can turn off Auto-Sync. Then delete individual flight records from the controller. Fly settings. Open your flight logs list. Swipe left the one you want to delete, that is where the option shows up. You can download them to your PC before deleting them if you want.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

@hopeful21 , In theory you are correct but...

Logs would, as far as I know, only be on the controller if you have one of the smart controllers. For a normal (no video screen) controller the logs are stored on the attached 'phone'.

Besides ......
a) in phone logs on the phone it isn't that easy to find a specific flight unless you know the date and time. Any other search would mean watching at least part of each replay until the correct log was found, that would be time consuming.

b) You can delete logs and if they aren't backed up to somewhere then they are gone, as in cease to exist

That said I MOVE mine from the phone to an external HDD, this isn't done with hiding questionable flights in mind but rather with to make them available for processing on computer and ensuring I don't process the same log multiple times.

 

[hopeful21]

You can turn off Auto-Sync. Then delete individual flight records from the controller. Fly settings. Open your flight logs list. Swipe left the one you want to delete, that is where the option shows up. You can download them to your PC before deleting them if you want.

Excellent, @mobilehomer, @Yorkshire_Pud, exactly what I needed. Thanks very much! But that presupposes I haven't allowed access to "the cloud", i.e. DJI servers. Yes?

It's an iPhone for my Air2S and a smart controller for my Mini 3.

​

 

[old man mavic]

@i do not wish to get into a protracted discussion with you about where you can fly in France
i did indeed log on to the Geoportail site that you mentioned in your post, but unfortunately it was all in French ,and i could not find a change language icon any where, to translate it to English
just out of interest which government body ,is responsible for the Geoportail web site

 

[hopeful21]

@old man mavic
If you use Edge or Chrome they will translate it for you.

 

[hopeful21]

@Yorkshire_Pud Hi there. I am not quite sure what you have read into my "other posts" that make you think that I would be deliberately breaking the law, or putting the lives of people or animals at risk. Where did I say that?

That is not the case, and I wouldn't behave in a way that might cause harm.

But I am a new pilot, and flying here is difficult as you will see if you look at my link. Even professional photographers in Paris struggle with the rules here.

So where YOU fly is free and easy. Well, aint you the lucky one.

Please get off your high horse. I'm sure you're not perfect, either, and I won't take any lectures from you. Maybe you, too, have made the odd mistake?

 

[mobilehomer]

Excellent, @mobilehomer, @Yorkshire_Pud, exactly what I needed. Thanks very much! But that presupposes I haven't allowed access to "the cloud", i.e. DJI servers. Yes?

It's an iPhone for my Air2S and a smart controller for my Mini 3.

​

I am pretty sure that you cannot delete from the DJI server. But, you can delete files from the Airdata site, if you use that site. Not sure about France, but law enforcement here must have a specific warrant from a judge to search any server. And since the DJI servers are in China, a French warrant may not be enforceable. I really don't know.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

@Yorkshire_Pud Hi there. I am not quite sure what you have read into my "other posts" that make you think tha.....

Ah my mistake, sorry, I had two beers last night on an empty stomach and was tired. I miss read you post. I deleted the post.

 

[hopeful21]

@Yorkshire_Pud. Forgiven. I'd rather be friends.

 

[hopeful21]

@mobilehomer. Yes, thanks for that. I'm building up my knowledge slowly, and every new piece of info helps a lot!​