Mini series, flying at midnight in the EU between 31/12/2023 & 01/01/2024, a thought.

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It just occurred to me that if your drone is an affected model, in the air and more than 120m above the take off point at midnight it may be forcd to descend at midnight.
That is just speculation but I know that currently if the max height limit is reduced during a flight and the drone is above the new height limit the drone will descend to comply with the new height limit.

 

[Yaros]

I do not understand what you mean. Like, will there be a hard limit applied on that date?

Why is that?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It is my understanding that an EU comes into effect 01/01/2024, I am sure you have seen threads about it. In order to comply DJI have introduced a 120m firmware limit in some of the mini series drones. It maybe that that limit will come into effect at 00:00:01 01/01/2024,if it does it is possible that..........

 

[123taff]

My understanding is that the limit is a firmware limit that will limit the height that you can adjust to when you update to the latest firmware.

There is no physical way that the height will be restricted and in fact if you have firmware predating this, or if you somehow jailbreak the limit, your limit remains as it was.
This does not affect us in the UK, only some EU countries.
If you mean if you are in the air at the time the new limit comes in, I would have thought that the flight would be unaffected, but as soon as you commence a new flight, then the drone will fly to the new limit.

It would be pretty dangerous, at least in terms of the safe flying of the drone, if the parameters suddenly caused a drastic manoeuvre outside the control of the pilot!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

There is no physical way that the height will be restricted and in fact if you have firmware predating this, or if you somehow jailbreak the limit, your limit remains as it was.

But that is part of the problem, what firmware predates this and what firmware has it but is waiting until 01/01/2024 to enforce it?

Incidentally I have asked something along these lines on the DJI forum, it will be interesting to see if a Mod asswers.

This does not affect us in the UK, only some EU countries.

Supposedly but see

Unable to unlock 120m limit within the UK

As the title describes, im unable to unlock the 120m limit block, as a result of EASA sanctions, within the UK. I have bought, activated and owned the device both in the UK and before 1/1/2024, and have no option to declassify my drone, although that shouldn't be nessecary for this scenario...

forum.dji.com

 

[123taff]

From what I have read, any drones purchased in the EU are subject to this firmware, but Drones purchased from other countries stocks including the UK do not. I believe it is based on series of serial numbers.
I purchased a Mini 4 only last week, and registered it and downloaded the latest firmware. In the paperwork it informed me that because it is a UK drone, then the height limit would suffer no restriction and in practice, my RC2 shows the 1600 feet or so that I can set it to.
Is it possible that this person has somehow obtained a serial numbered drone intended for the EU market?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

From what I have read, any drones purchased in the EU are subject to this firmware, but Drones purchased from other countries stocks including the UK do not. I believe it is based on series of serial numbers.
I purchased a Mini 4 only last week, and registered it and downloaded the latest firmware. In the paperwork it informed me that because it is a UK drone, then the height limit would suffer no restriction and in practice, my RC2 shows the 1600 feet or so that I can set it to.
Is it possible that this person has somehow obtained a serial numbered drone intended for the EU market?

Basing the behaviour on a serial number would be an odd way of doing things to my mind.
I think it is more likely that, where appropriate firmware has been installed, the will drone use its location to choose the hard ceiling.
They already use location to select the appropriate CE vs FCC radio broadcast power.

 

[123taff]

You might be correct, but I have read somewhere in the accompanying documentation that I have a UK registered serial number. It stated that the serial numbers are in “batches” and each batch is assigned to a particular geographical location.

Obviously, when you log on, the system recognises the serial number and will update according to the identification of that serial number.
What I have read would be a possible explanation of this person’s problem whereas the alternative of purely geographic position of the log in would not?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Obviously, when you log on, the system recognises the serial number

I am pretty certain it ( being the App ) does recognise a serial number, in the fly app at least. The fly app can separate out the individual drones so it must somehow recognise them.
Additionally it also regonises the flights flown under the active log in and displays only those flights, meaning that I recollect that it will not display logged out flights or logs flown umder another log in.

and will update according to the identification of that serial number.

lets just say I think that might be possible but think using the location data on its own is more likely.

 

[123taff]

So by this logic, what you think happens is that every drone no matter where registered carries the firmware that restricts this height feature and this would be dependant on where in the world the pilot flies from, the height limit becoming restricted geographically.

Thinking about it, this would be the more logical situation, because then every DJI drone would conform to the local laws. Restriction of flights in restricted areas is probably controlled in this way. What would be the acid test would be for a drone registered outside of the EU to attempt a flight within those boundaries and visa versa an EU registered drone to fly outside the EU zone to see if the height restriction appears or disappears.

I am certain that I read “somewhere” (which I am struggling to find at the mo) that there are differing versions of firmware for EU/Non EU registered drones that apply these differences, which might explain why this individual is having the restriction appear in the UK?

It would be interesting to discover the definitive answer in the pursuit of knowledge because as long as it doesn’t happen to me, I have no intention of flying in the EU!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

So by this logic, what you think happens is that every drone no matter where registered carries the firmware that restricts this height feature and this would be dependant on where in the world the pilot flies from, the height limit becoming restricted geographically.

Correct except that the firmware will be in only those drones that have been kept up to date firmware wise.

What would be the acid test would be for a drone

to fly back and forth across the border between N. Ireland and S. Ireland, that could be interesting !

I am certain that I read “somewhere” (which I am struggling to find at the mo) that there are differing versions of firmware f

Might you be thinking of the stuff about changing the "class" ? of the drone and installing 500m firmware?

 

[Daytona500]

Don't regulation's just about everywhere require you to fly no higher then 120 m or 400 ft. so why all the worries about altitude limits?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Don't regulation's just about everywhere require you to fly no higher then 120 m or 400 ft. so why all the worries about altitude limits?

Because the pending height limit is relative to the take off point, it is NOT an AGL limit.
The pending rule means EU pilots will not be able to fly up a slope to a height that is more than 120m above the take off point.
Besides in the EU the rule is NOT AGL it is 120m to the CLOSEST ground.,meaning you could currently fly to 500m above the ground,AGL, if you where within 120m of a 500m+ vertical cliff face.
To put it another way, if El Capitan where in the EU, an EU pilot could legally emulate Spock and fly to any height above the valley floor. Even to above its top, providing they remained withing 120m of firstly any scree slope, then the face and finally the top. The pending rule might prevent them even reaching the top of any scree slope.

DJI's current 500m ceiling would prevent this of course and would limit the flight to 500m above the valley floor..

The pending constraint ignores the current EU legal limit.