MA2 1st Flight in Restricted Airspace = Mess

[MORTON]

So, yesterday I went on Kittyhawk and requested permission for the area I wanted to fly in. I got automatic approval. All good.



I get out to location setup my landing pad, boot up the RC, boot up the MA2. Opened the Fly App and did a preflight check. All is good.

I went to auto takeoff and was prompted with a flight restriction (while hovering) that gave me no options to verify. It just said something to the effect of “altitude restrictions in area, flying in airspace may disconnect RC at times during flight” and listed the airport. It gave me no option to verify that I had permission.

So I landed it from the hover and tried to unlock the zone within the settings but nothing showed up.

So I said screw it, I guess it knows. I flew it out over the ocean to get some shots and boom, RC disconnected. Just hovering over the ocean.. I had 50% battery when I started (which is another story) and by the time it decided to RTH on its own it had about 38%. I was terrified.

So, what steps did I miss?

This is what I thought the process was supposed to be:

1. Kittyhawk request LAANC.
2. Get approved.
3. Go to location.
4. *Before takeoff you’re prompted with Flight Restriction warning.
5. Go through the steps of verification.
6. Fly within the guidelines & timelines for the area.
7. Go home, edit, enjoy/share footage.

Am I missing something?

Any help is much appreciated!!

 

[BigAl07]

Keep in mind that Airspace is dynamic and "things can change". This may or may NOT be the case but remember it's a very fluid and dynamic environment and the only absolute is nothing is absolute with airspace.

Also departing with a battery in the 50% range is def asking for problems (it's an estimation at best) and over water.... not the best of situations to be in for a positive outcome.

One thing that could help is set your Loss Signal to RTH instead of hover.....

 

[MORTON]

Keep in mind that Airspace is dynamic and "things can change". This may or may NOT be the case but remember it's a very fluid and dynamic environment and the only absolute is nothing is absolute with airspace.

Also departing with a battery in the 50% range is def asking for problems (it's an estimation at best) and over water.... not the best of situations to be in for a positive outcome.

One thing that could help is set your Loss Signal to RTH instead of hover.....

Thank you for the reply but I think you may have missed my overall question.

What steps did I miss or did I do it right and it was just a malfunction?

I know how to do it via the computer (desktop) but wanted to try the self unlock feature on location.

I am in aviation professionally so I do understand the constant on the fly changes but I don’t see this as one of those events. It’s fixed airspace at the location I was at and I’m not in a fixed wing A/C on approach so not much fluidity in flying a drone in that area in my opinion. Very straight forward place to fly under 100ft.

Yeah the batteries were DOA as I forgot they lost charge after sitting. The point of the trip was to at least get access and some shots. More for learning purposes concerning geozones than for the shoot itself.

 

[MORTON]

My family and I plan on going down to the Keys this year at some point and I want to have this self unlocking thing down because there are a lot of restricted zones down there and I don’t want to have to bring my laptop down there. If I do it is what it is but I don’t normally bring it on vacations.

 

[boblui]

My understand on altitude restriction zone is that the altitude will be limited but you can still fly around. I doubt if the disconnection has anything to do with flying in the zone.

 

[MORTON]

My understand on altitude restriction zone is that the altitude will be limited but you can still fly around. I doubt if the disconnection has anything to do with flying in the zone.

What’s crazy though is the Flight Restriction alert actually stated that it did haha

 

[MORTON]

I’ll have to go back and try again and take a screenshot Incase it could be helpful to someone else

 

[MORTON]

I was able to go on the laptop and get it to work fine but I thought there was a way to do it via Kittyhawk and then unlock/verify on location.

 

[tlswift58]

I was able to go on the laptop and get it to work fine but I thought there was a way to do it via Kittyhawk and then unlock/verify on location.

2 separate and distinct APPS. Doubtful the 2 - DJI Fly and Kittyhawk communicate with each other. I use KH on occasion, so don't know all it's features.

Even when I've flown around airports (small ones) and got a notice in DJI Fly - I had the option of accepting it and flying on. I'm sure around larger airports they severely restrict flights.

Maybe someone sles can chime in on how to get the DJI Fly App to acknowledge getting permission in another App like KH, since I fly so little in those areas to begin with and use KH very little.

 

[Tiger64]

I had an issue with one of my drones trying to increase max altitude. Like you it had no option to accept responsibility and fly. Attached to a friends phone ( he has same model) and it worked fine. Apparently i ciuld have reduced font size on phone to get access.
For limited zones i have tried to fly, have got required permissions, sent copy to DJI and they generate a code to unlock geofence.

 

[MORTON]

Yeah like I said, I can do the desktop method easy but there is a way to verify on location vice through a computer unless all the YouTube videos are now incorrect due to an update.

 

[MORTON]

It’s a very small airport so I’m not understanding why it doesn’t work haha KH is great for requesting LAANC. I know they don’t talk to each other and that’s why there is a way to verify on location through DJI Fly. It doesn’t pull anything from KH but when you verify you’re just telling DJI that you do have permission and your flight data is recorded Incase something happens and you really didn’t when you said you did. All the things you agree to during the verification relieve DJI from responsibilities thereafter.

 

[LA 2020]

So, yesterday I went on Kittyhawk and requested permission for the area I wanted to fly in. I got automatic approval. All good.

View attachment 122002

I get out to location setup my landing pad, boot up the RC, boot up the MA2. Opened the Fly App and did a preflight check. All is good.

I went to auto takeoff and was prompted with a flight restriction (while hovering) that gave me no options to verify. It just said something to the effect of “altitude restrictions in area, flying in airspace may disconnect RC at times during flight” and listed the airport. It gave me no option to verify that I had permission.

So I landed it from the hover and tried to unlock the zone within the settings but nothing showed up.

So I said screw it, I guess it knows. I flew it out over the ocean to get some shots and boom, RC disconnected. Just hovering over the ocean.. I had 50% battery when I started (which is another story) and by the time it decided to RTH on its own it had about 38%. I was terrified.

So, what steps did I miss?

This is what I thought the process was supposed to be:

1. Kittyhawk request LAANC.
2. Get approved.
3. Go to location.
4. *Before takeoff you’re prompted with Flight Restriction warning.
5. Go through the steps of verification.
6. Fly within the guidelines & timelines for the area.
7. Go home, edit, enjoy/share footage.

Am I missing something?

Any help is much appreciated!!

Not sure what you mean when say you unlocked the drone yourself on location but the steps I always follow and have not had a problem (yet) 1. Call the tower and get permission 2. Go to DJI unlocking website Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI enter your information and controller's serial # 3. Check in your controller settings to be sure that airport is listed. Hope this helps

 

[MORTON]

Not sure what you mean when say you unlocked the drone yourself on location but the steps I always follow and have not had a problem (yet) 1. Call the tower and get permission 2. Go to DJI unlocking website Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI enter your information and controller's serial # 3. Check in your controller settings to be sure that airport is listed. Hope this helps

You must read all responses. I never unlocked anything on location. But, there is a way to request LAANC through KH and then go to location and verify via Fly App. It’s been done many times by many YouTube users. Unfortunately, unless something has changed it did not work for me.

I am familiar with doing it the old way via desktop.

Even via the desktop there is no reason to call a tower anymore.

You can request LAANC via KH. Then do the rest via desktop.

Im still trying to figure out why this can no longer be done on location. It’s been done before.

 

[MORTON]

It was done in 2020 with this Mini using KH and then the Fly app on location :

go to 4:28 in the video..

To note, this method either no longer works or I did it incorrectly.

 

[MORTON]

So I finally figured out what happened haha

I got it to work on location easily.

I normally fly in Airplane Mode on my iPhone and I guess that day I did.

I turned Airplane Mode off and it allowed me to unlock geo on location after having used KH to request LAANC.

Super simple.

No need for a laptop or desktop or calling towers anymore.

 

[Thomas B]

... 1. Call the tower and get permission 2. Go to DJI unlocking website Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI enter your information and controller's serial # 3. Check in your controller settings to be sure that airport is listed. Hope this helps

FAA has implemented LAANC and other avenues. The official FAA instructions are that drone pilots should not call control towers for drone clearance.