Long-term authorization zone unlock

[Kyle76]

I fly often in an authorization zone near an airport in coastal North Carolina. It's not restricted by the FAA, but it requires DJI authorization, and it's a bit of a hassle to have to unlock this zone for every three-day period I want to fly, so today I tried a new method, which seemed to work. The airspace is not restricted by the FAA, but I put in a request to fly there through Dronezone, and it got cancelled because the airspace is Class G. Interestingly, I got a call from a guy at the FAA prior to the cancellation to tell me the airspace was unrestricted, so I explained to him what I was trying to do and he noted in the cancellation that the airspace is Class G. I took a screenshot of the web page relating this information and uploaded it with a custom unlock request for the area from now until Sept. 30, and the unlock request was approved in just a few minutes. I haven't tried it out yet, but if it works it will be nice to get these authorizations for months at a time rather than days. Has anyone else gone this route?

 

[MarkusAtHome]

I fly often in an authorization zone near an airport in coastal North Carolina. It's not restricted by the FAA, but it requires DJI authorization, and it's a bit of a hassle to have to unlock this zone for every three-day period I want to fly, so today I tried a new method, which seemed to work. The airspace is not restricted by the FAA, but I put in a request to fly there through Dronezone, and it got cancelled because the airspace is Class G. Interestingly, I got a call from a guy at the FAA prior to the cancellation to tell me the airspace was unrestricted, so I explained to him what I was trying to do and he noted in the cancellation that the airspace is Class G. I took a screenshot of the web page relating this information and uploaded it with a custom unlock request for the area from now until Sept. 30, and the unlock request was approved in just a few minutes. I haven't tried it out yet, but if it works it will be nice to get these authorizations for months at a time rather than days. Has anyone else gone this route?

I did this in the past for my Mavic Mini since there are no airspace restrictions for UAV below 250g where I live. This always worked well.

 

[JimWest]

Earlier this year, DJI gave me a custom unlock good for six months for Detroit City Airport's authorization zone after I was having trouble with the regular unlocking route.

 

[ArnieZiffel]

Can I ask what area in North Carolina? We're vacationing on Topsail Island in October, and it's just southwest of Camp Lejuene's restricted flying area (it's an MOA/Alert area, but B4UFLY shows it OK to fly); wondering if DJI will throw a curve there.

 

[Kyle76]

Can I ask what area in North Carolina? We're vacationing on Topsail Island in October, and it's just southwest of Camp Lejuene's restricted flying area (it's an MOA/Alert area, but B4UFLY shows it OK to fly); wondering if DJI will throw a curve there.

Beaufort, near the Michael W. Smith Airport.

 

[Lister]

I live in an Authorization Zone, so I couldn't fly my Mini 2 in my own yard.

DJI gave me a one year Custom Unlock. At the end of year, they unlocked it for a further year.

The process was relatively complex, but once a year isn't too bad.

 

[Jonathan Atkin]

Can I ask what area in North Carolina? We're vacationing on Topsail Island in October, and it's just southwest of Camp Lejuene's restricted flying area (it's an MOA/Alert area, but B4UFLY shows it OK to fly); wondering if DJI will throw a curve there.

If nothing else, TOPSAIL island has some good restaurants while you fiddle with DJI's aggravations.