Folks - I came across this internet keyboard warrior's very angry video, and thought it was worth sharing. I expect many of the folks that have been on the Forum for a while and are based in the USA will know this, but I think this could be useful information or reminder for the newer folks (including myself). PLEASE jump in if I have mis-understood things in any way.
For those that don't want to listen to his lengthy rant - the main message is that his buddy was flying over a river filming something, and encountered an FAA Temporary Flight Restriction that came into effect towards the end of his flight (at 1700h). Because of the TFR, the drone initiated an auto-land, and despite his efforts to cancel that auto-land, the drone ended up in the water as he was trying to get it back to his location, and was lost. The guy goes on and on ranting about how this is DJI's fault, and what he is going to do if DJI does that to his drone. Everyone is brave behind a keyboard...
I expect that the recent changes to LANCC in the USA have everyone paying better attention to where/when they fly in relation to No Fly Zones, and to Temporary Flight Restrictions. I have to confess when considering TFRs, I only looked at them using the lens of would they be active when I wanted to TAKE OFF - I had not considered the case where one comes into effect DURING my flight. This video, along with some older threads I found on this Forum suggest that the drone will know about the TFR, and will initiate an auto-land REGARDLESS of where the drone is and as SOON as the TFR comes into effect.
Yes, the argument could be made that instead of an auto-land that the system should give you X minutes to land, restricts your altitude to Y feet, and only allows flight in the Return To Home direction. But that is not what DJI have chosen to do. If I understand correctly, if you drone can be manually switched to ATTI mode (my M2P cannot), you MAY be able to get the drone back to you since ATTI does not use GPS. However there is no saying that GPS is not still used for other non-flight functions, like TFR enforcement.
Anyway, I learned something here, and thought I would share. And like I said, please jump in if I have mis-understood anything here...we'll call it my new-guy mulligan...
Angry Guy Video:
For those that don't want to listen to his lengthy rant - the main message is that his buddy was flying over a river filming something, and encountered an FAA Temporary Flight Restriction that came into effect towards the end of his flight (at 1700h). Because of the TFR, the drone initiated an auto-land, and despite his efforts to cancel that auto-land, the drone ended up in the water as he was trying to get it back to his location, and was lost. The guy goes on and on ranting about how this is DJI's fault, and what he is going to do if DJI does that to his drone. Everyone is brave behind a keyboard...
I expect that the recent changes to LANCC in the USA have everyone paying better attention to where/when they fly in relation to No Fly Zones, and to Temporary Flight Restrictions. I have to confess when considering TFRs, I only looked at them using the lens of would they be active when I wanted to TAKE OFF - I had not considered the case where one comes into effect DURING my flight. This video, along with some older threads I found on this Forum suggest that the drone will know about the TFR, and will initiate an auto-land REGARDLESS of where the drone is and as SOON as the TFR comes into effect.
Yes, the argument could be made that instead of an auto-land that the system should give you X minutes to land, restricts your altitude to Y feet, and only allows flight in the Return To Home direction. But that is not what DJI have chosen to do. If I understand correctly, if you drone can be manually switched to ATTI mode (my M2P cannot), you MAY be able to get the drone back to you since ATTI does not use GPS. However there is no saying that GPS is not still used for other non-flight functions, like TFR enforcement.
Anyway, I learned something here, and thought I would share. And like I said, please jump in if I have mis-understood anything here...we'll call it my new-guy mulligan...
Angry Guy Video:
