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Geofenced First Time

Reelman67

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Centralia, WA USA
I scoped a new area I wanted to fly yesterday. The area is rural ranch and farmland outside a small community. Stopped and talked to the owner of a large open property and found he was a DJI Phantom 4 pilot. He said you cannot fly this area due to geofencing of a small dirt airstrip just west of his property. The airstrip is seldom used. Seems a shame if one used caution and was observant of local air traffic. He said go ahead and try to take off so I did, wanting to experience a geofence. I use the DJI Go 4 application and it prevented my Mavic 2 Pro from taking off. I packed up and left, traveling to another area nearby to assuage my thirst to fly. As an experiment, I opened up the AIRMAP app when I got home, using my wifi connection to check what it reported for the geofenced area. It showed nothing but a tiny little black airplane symbol for the dirt airstrip. No warnings whatsoever. Is this typical, or does some other app do a better job of displaying geofenced zones?
 
Is this typical, or does some other app do a better job of displaying geofenced zones?
Kinda irrelevant if any app reports anything when you think about it. There is only one system in play and that is DJI's App and GEO enforcement. If it says you can't fly...you ain't flying. BUT...there has always been a system in play to report what you feel a wrong reported or out dated info NFZ. It is up to us as users to inform DJI that they might want to take a look at and adjust accordingly. If you don't take steps to correct, then who should? The owner of the land with the P4 should have reported it to DJI long ago...that is all on him. ;)

Contact DJI with all available info to include Lat-Long: [email protected]
 
Kinda irrelevant if any app reports anything when you think about it. There is only one system in play and that is DJI's App and GEO enforcement. If it says you can't fly...you ain't flying. BUT...there has always been a system in play to report what you feel a wrong reported or out dated info NFZ. It is up to us as users to inform DJI that they might want to take a look at and adjust accordingly. If you don't take steps to correct, then who should? The owner of the land with the P4 should have reported it to DJI long ago...that is all on him. ;)

Contact DJI with all available info to include Lat-Long: [email protected]
Done. Any idea as to whether DJI does, in fact, change it's mind and lifts a geofence? or modifies it to just a warning?
 
Try going to this website: Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI

You need to set up an account if you don't already have one at DJI. Select the "Self Unlocking" option near the top.
Select the model of your DJI drone.
Click on the yellow "Warning Zones" box.
Then type in the name of your town/State/Province/etc in the Search box.
You can see everywhere that DJI will lock you out from. You can attempt to unlock your drone to fly in the area if it is "unlockable". I can fly in Class D airspace this way (as long as I don't fly higher than they say). The drone will not be allowed to go higher than the airspace allows, but you may be able to fly near this airport you mention this way. Note it is only a temporary exception. But you can do it every day if you like.
 
I have flown near some small airports, that were far better than a dirt one and rarely used. My FlyApp asked me to unlock, so I entered my info and "boom" - ready to fly. While there, I did get several "MANNED AIRCRAFT IN AREA" notifications, which I expected and we both were flying in our rightful airspace - so no biggie.

@jimlips is correct on how to do it. One thing many new people miss is being signed in to your DJI Account, if you have one. If not, then you need to do that and so many more opportunities open up.
 
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Try going to this website: Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI

You need to set up an account if you don't already have one at DJI. Select the "Self Unlocking" option near the top.
Select the model of your DJI drone.
Click on the yellow "Warning Zones" box.
Then type in the name of your town/State/Province/etc in the Search box.
You can see everywhere that DJI will lock you out from. You can attempt to unlock your drone to fly in the area if it is "unlockable". I can fly in Class D airspace this way (as long as I don't fly higher than they say). The drone will not be allowed to go higher than the airspace allows, but you may be able to fly near this airport you mention this way. Note it is only a temporary exception. But you can do it every day if you like.
If you registered your drone, you should have a DJI account, the question I have is you should be able to do an unlock a Geo Zone within the Fly App.

Since I've never having a need to do that yet, does it recognize that you're in a Geo Zone that needs to be unlocked if you're up and running and more or less ready to fly, then apply for the unlock, assuming that it would be granted?
 
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If you registered your drone, you should have a DJI account, the question I have is you should be able to do an unlock a Geo Zone within the Fly App.

Since I've never having a need to do that yet, does it recognize that you're in a Geo Zone that needs to be unlocked if you're up and running and more or less ready to fly, then apply for the unlock, assuming that it would be granted?

There are zones the drone will pick up and you can apply to unlock them. I did that flying outside of Jackson Hole, WY - near the Grand Tetons.

National Parks (boundaries) are a hit and miss. I took off and landed next to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO. I was across the street on the riverside walkway early in the am and just wanted some pics of the Arch without flying into the actual park boundary. The drone took off no problem and as soon as I crossed the street to the walkway on the Arch side - it started blaring I was entering restricted airspace and would not allow me to get any closer to the boundary. I tried it on the opposite side of the Arch Park and while on public sidewalk I was fine. As soon as I tried to cross that imaginary line of the park boundary - the squawking started again and the drone stopped dead - like it hit a glass wall.

I also fly in and around Gatlinburg, TN and according to KittyHawk, I was in the "zone" of the Smoky Mtn Nat Park, but FlyApp had no issues with it. I'd say I was in the "buffer zone" between public and park proper and I wasn't trying to fly into the park. I wanted aerials of Gatlinburg - so flight went as planned with no need to request an unlock.
 
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Okay, here is the story. I attempted to fly an area with lots of open grazing land and found I could not take off due to geofencing. My Ipad Mini screen, using the DJI Go 4 application, said I could not take off. I am not connected to a cell phone or the Internet while flying. So, I packed up and went home. I have a DJI account. I went to the DJI website and found there were 2 nearby small airstrips with overlapping blue circles (no fly zones). I entered the required information to unlock both areas and was told I was successful, that I had 3 days of unlocked access. The same day I went back to the area to fly once more, only to have my screen tell me once again, I could not take off. I am unsure how long it takes for DJI to unlock the zones I requested. I attempted to take off anyway. The application informed me of the no fly zone, and had I been connected to the Internet, I believe I could have applied online, in real time, to unlock and allow me to fly. I could have, should have, tethered my Ipad Mini to my cell phone, but that is another story. Today, thinking that the no fly zone would be lifted, I went back out there only to have the landowner deny me access to the property. Then the rain started and that was it. I do not fly in the rain. I did go check out the closest "airstrip" only to find it was an oversized lawn with a windsock. I am totally surprised that this would warrant a geofence, as a nearby landowner stated "it is seldom used, almost never". The lesson learned is....I will now tether my Ipad Mini to my cell phone when I encounter this scenario in the future. This should enable me to go through the unlock procedure onsite, provided I have cellular connection.
 
Okay, here is the story. I attempted to fly an area with lots of open grazing land and found I could not take off due to geofencing. My Ipad Mini screen, using the DJI Go 4 application, said I could not take off. I am not connected to a cell phone or the Internet while flying. So, I packed up and went home. I have a DJI account. I went to the DJI website and found there were 2 nearby small airstrips with overlapping blue circles (no fly zones). I entered the required information to unlock both areas and was told I was successful, that I had 3 days of unlocked access. The same day I went back to the area to fly once more, only to have my screen tell me once again, I could not take off. I am unsure how long it takes for DJI to unlock the zones I requested. I attempted to take off anyway. The application informed me of the no fly zone, and had I been connected to the Internet, I believe I could have applied online, in real time, to unlock and allow me to fly. I could have, should have, tethered my Ipad Mini to my cell phone, but that is another story. Today, thinking that the no fly zone would be lifted, I went back out there only to have the landowner deny me access to the property. Then the rain started and that was it. I do not fly in the rain. I did go check out the closest "airstrip" only to find it was an oversized lawn with a windsock. I am totally surprised that this would warrant a geofence, as a nearby landowner stated "it is seldom used, almost never". The lesson learned is....I will now tether my Ipad Mini to my cell phone when I encounter this scenario in the future. This should enable me to go through the unlock procedure onsite, provided I have cellular connection.
There is one more step to go though after you get through the unlock procedure at DJI; you need to fire up your drone and RC while connected to the internet, then go to the license unlocking procedure. Sorry, I don't have my drone and RC nearby to guide you through it, perhaps someone else here can do that.
 
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Update: I did receive instructions from DJI on how to unlock the sites beforehand. I can't fault DJI for communication. I did foul up my flight controller number. I have since determined the correct number to use. DJI allows for making application to unlock an area beforehand, when you have no internet connectivity on site. So, when the rain stops, and the sun comes out, I will attempt this again, following DJI's explicit instructions on how to unlock an area. What I have learned here is, there are 2 methods to unlock a GEO zone, in real time when connected to the Internet on site, or by making a request online, submitting to them the precise zone you want to unlock, your flight controller ID, and the date you want to fly. Thus, Internet connectivity is not required if you make application beforehand. Some of you may think this process to be elementary, but I am sure there are those out there for whom this is a formidable process, never having attempted it. When I have had success in this process, I will report it later.
 
There is one more step to go though after you get through the unlock procedure at DJI; you need to fire up your drone and RC while connected to the internet, then go to the license unlocking procedure. Sorry, I don't have my drone and RC nearby to guide you through it, perhaps someone else here can do that.
I was able to complete the process, as you state, and fly. I tethered my Ipad Mini to my cell phone and answered the requisite questions and warnings. There was an update that needed to download and install during the process. Then, it was a green light to fly. Am happy now.
 
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