Flying within the Kittyhawk app after getting LAANC authorization.....

[scubaddictions]

Hey all,

Tried navigating my way through a LAANC authorized flight this morning, without success. Generally I'm quite lucky to live in such a "rural" area so getting LAANC approval is more of a novelty than a necessity.

Anyways, was using Kittyhawk. Had a couple little stumbles from the get-go but eventually got to the point where I was approved and within the allotted time slot, went to fly the drone within the Kittyhawk app and was met with a red warning in the upper left corner "Cannot take off". This is the same error I'd get within the DJI Go 4 app as I was within controlled airspace. Just don't get why it wouldn't let me take off within Kittyhawk. I'm approved, I'm within the flight boundaries, but still nothing.

One thing I noticed is that on the Mavic controller itself it was displaying the message "In NFZ", or something similar. The drone/controller seem to think I'm doing something bad, the app recognizes I'm LAANC approved but seems to be outvoted by the drone or controller.

Do I need to apply separately through DJI to get some additional authorization?

And just to verify, once I get LAANC authorization through Kittyhawk do I need to perform my flight from within the Kittyhawk app or is it supposed to provide notification to the DJI Go 4 app to allow me to fly within the parameters of the authorization? Since I was never able to get off the ground I don't have a great feel for the Kittyhawk flight experience, the displayed screen seems be simplified.

Please help if you can,

Thanks!

Ryan

 

[scubaddictions]

After a bit of Googling and messing around, I found that I was correct that it was the DJI Geo system that was keeping me on the ground. I went back to the same location, got re-approved for LAANC, then closed Kittyhawk and opened DJI Go 4. It still showed "Cannot Take Off" (same as Kittyhawk) but when I pressed the on-screen button to take-off it prompted me to go through the DJI Unlock process for the area.

I noticed a few things that make me think there's no connection AT ALL between the LAANC authorization and the DJI Go 4 app. In other words, I feel like I could have unlocked the region without LAANC authorization and made my flight, it just would have been very illegal.

I can't yet think of a legal way to test the theory. I could go back into controlled airspace and attempt to take off just with the DJI Unlock before applying for LAANC, but that's not kosher.

What I noticed: The DJI app recognized that I was in controlled airspace and gave me an oddly high "Max Altitude", somewhere north of 1600 feet. LAANC only authorized up to 200 feet AGL for the map grid. The actual flight area was probably about 100 feet above sea level.

Also, there was no overlay in the DJI app's map showing the region I had selected to box the perimeter of my intended flight. This made it a bit disconcerting, going by memory during the flight where I had selected the borders.

I can't figure out why Kittyhawk couldn't handle the complete unlock process. Seems like it would be a requirement to start in Kittyhawk for LAANC, then open DJI for the region unlock. Why would anyone go back into Kittyhawk at that point? (other than seeing the exact area on the map that was authorized)

While outside of controlled airspace I actually performed a flight within Kittyhawk. Holy crud, how limited! It felt like a beta version of DJI Go ver. 1.0.0. Virtually none of the buttons on the Mavic controller were usable during the flight. Pressing the camera shutter button would focus the camera but not take a picture, the video button did nothing. Does ANYONE actually fly within the Kittyhawk app? Seems nearly useless for actual flight.

Thoughts?

 

[DanMan32]

You are correct in discovering LAANC authorization and unlocking GeoFence in Go app are not directly connected. One makes you legal and probably has ATC aware of your intentions, the other enables the AC to fly. Eventually Go will incorporate LAANC since DJI was approved as a LAANC provider some time ago, but not now.
Blue areas in the Go map (and FlySafe map) are Authorization Zones that require you to self-unlock. You need the app to have internet access if you are going to unlock from there, as well as an SMS capable phone.
Grey areas will limit your height. This I found seems to correlate with the FAA Facilities Map. Kittyhawk and AirMap get their grid from the Facilitates map.

You can also unlock ahead of time from flysafe.dji.com and upload a code to the app and AC. It's tricky though. Note that it will ask you for the FC serial number, which is easiest to get from the Go app. This is not the S/N of the AC itself nor the RC S/N.

Most don't use Kittyhawk or Airmap to fly the drone. But even so, they are using the DJI Go API to communicate with the RC/AC so you're not really independent of the Go app.

 

[Prmath]

Hey all,

Tried navigating my way through a LAANC authorized flight this morning, without success. Generally I'm quite lucky to live in such a "rural" area so getting LAANC approval is more of a novelty than a necessity.

Anyways, was using Kittyhawk. Had a couple little stumbles from the get-go but eventually got to the point where I was approved and within the allotted time slot, went to fly the drone within the Kittyhawk app and was met with a red warning in the upper left corner "Cannot take off". This is the same error I'd get within the DJI Go 4 app as I was within controlled airspace. Just don't get why it wouldn't let me take off within Kittyhawk. I'm approved, I'm within the flight boundaries, but still nothing.

One thing I noticed is that on the Mavic controller itself it was displaying the message "In NFZ", or something similar. The drone/controller seem to think I'm doing something bad, the app recognizes I'm LAANC approved but seems to be outvoted by the drone or controller.

Do I need to apply separately through DJI to get some additional authorization?

And just to verify, once I get LAANC authorization through Kittyhawk do I need to perform my flight from within the Kittyhawk app or is it supposed to provide notification to the DJI Go 4 app to allow me to fly within the parameters of the authorization? Since I was never able to get off the ground I don't have a great feel for the Kittyhawk flight experience, the displayed screen seems be simplified.

Please help if you can,

Thanks!

Ryan

I found Air Map so much easier for LAANC requests. Never been turned down and answer was within 60 seconds

 

[scubaddictions]

Thanks for the posts guys, good to know I wasn't all backwards in my thinking. I have Airmap installed on my tablet, no idea why I haven't tried using it yet. I'll give it a whirl.

 

[SkyDogII]

I like Kittyhawk better than AirMap. The interface and ease of use appeal to me