New DJI Mini 3 Pro update and DJI fly update

[RogerDH]

That's a US-centric explanation. The EU is requiring remote ID on ALL drones.

Well, the question was about US-centric Part 107, but it appears the EU is following the same basic principle: If it requires registration, it will require RID.

 

[BroomRider]

Sept, 2023 is the current go-live frame for RID. There will be a firmware update around that time to activate it. I would imagine around late July or early September for time to work out bugs.

If that's the case, then we all have a preview as to just how DJI will likely be sneaking in any such activation(s) in the future:

Hiding the butt-pickle inside the carrots...

The moral of the story seems to be, Carefully read the notes PRIOR to allowing any further DJI updates!

1 of, if not the main, reasons that I bought the M3P was to avoid having any "Imperial Entanglements", or at least, the very minimum possible... the same reason that I have not nor do I ever intend to get the FAA Part 107 thing... I fly strictly recreationally, creatively, as a (photography) hobby.

Not that I ever intend to fly recklessly or irresponsibly, but I'm the "The less gov't, the better!" type.

Read into this what you will, BUT...

I give the gov't/law all the respect it's due.

You all make your own choices accordingly.

 

[Rchawks]

As for the FAA to track drones using RID in the future; I have no problem with that. We have to face a future where walmart, amazon, burger king (whomever) want to dominate the skies something they will do no matter what, but for me I'll make sure the bugs are worked out by others ahead of time before signing on a update blindly, as I did have problems with one of their updates.
BTW, allowing anyone to track a PIC in the future by using a RID app will not be a good idea. FAA and Law enforcement, yes, no problem with that, but anyone?
I do take great pride in being a very careful PIC myself and the regs are there for a purpose. I understand that from a RC background. Stupidity by those choose to ignore the rules could ground us all at some point.

 

[Wreckhunter]

But it is confusing.
I am a Part 107 pilot. However, being mostly retired almost all of my flights are recreational, mostly practice flights, many without filiming. So, having a sub 250g drone, based on your response I would not have to register my Mini 3 as I could designate it 100% for recreational flights?... Or having a Part 107 I would be required to register it? In a recreational classification without Part 107 one only has to register one's self, but under Part 107 all my drones supposedly should be registered separately. Can you see the confusion now? Definitely shades of gray.

FWIW I took the Par 107 test because there MAY be times when I would not be flying recreationally. Does merely having a Part 107 cert disqualify me from having a purely recreational drrone that doesn't need to be registered?

Next question: Since DJI implemented RID in the latest update for the Mini 3 which turns RID on and cannnot be turned off, what then? Has DJI imposed RID on those that would not be required to have it?

I would like to know the same thing,even with the smaller battery for the mini 3 pro ,the fact that with the latest update,
to me it sounds like remote ID will be turned on 249 gram weight or not.
I am seriously considering getting the mini 3 pro for the very reason that no need to register,no RID.
How is the fly app gonna know the difference if you have the + battery or regular.I am confused as it seems there is no clear
answer to this yet.

 

[Rchawks]

If you buy with the mini 3 pro without the plus package you'll be compliant with no effort. Registering with the FAA is about 5 dollars for 2 or 3 years.
As to whether the software could tell if the battery is a plus or not, I'm sure that wouldn't be too difficult of thing to incorporate in and something I wondered about as well.

 

[BroomRider]

If you buy with the mini 3 pro without the plus package you'll be compliant with no effort. Registering with the FAA is about 5 dollars for 2 or 3 years.
As to whether the software could tell if the battery is a plus or not, I'm sure that wouldn't be too difficult of thing to incorporate in and something I wondered about as well.

Since the M3P communicates with its currently installed battery, I think that it would be all too easy for the drone to switch on its RID whenever 1 of its Plus batteries were installed.

I can't see this as anything but a detriment to the sales of the M3P (or any other sub-250gm drone for that matter) for DJI, since 1 of its touted attributes is based on its extended flight times with the Plus batteries, & some (like myself) bought the M3P based on its not needing to be registered, along with its extended flight times with the Plus battery.

Setting aside the inevitable point which will be raised by the statists here regarding strict adherence to the FAA Regs, in themselves having been, are & likely will perpetually be, an absolute mishmash of a convoluted mess rife with numerous gray areas if not contradictions, a few grams is realistically no more a danger than the difference between those who fly their drones recreationally vs those who fly them in even the slightest (by FAA definition) interpretation of commercial operation.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together?" FAA says, fine, no problemo.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together, & I'll buy you a beer." FAA has a cow if you haven't jumped through their hoops, paid them a fee, marked your drone exterior, & chain yourself to The System.

It comes down to the concept of "profit"... if a drone pilot were to gain anything, the FAA (i.e., gov't) wants a piece of it, & ofc, control of it.

My impression of DJI is that it's sold-out to the Draconian FAA (gov't) by foisting the most recent RID activation couched within the number of other variably valuable upgrades, & that being evident by not allowing that ability to be switched off or otherwise uninstalled or reverted to a prior version.

Really, though, I shouldn't be at all surprised, with China being the literal epitome of State/gov't Control.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Since the M3P communicates with its currently installed battery, I think that it would be all too easy for the drone to switch on its RID whenever 1 of its Plus batteries were installed.

I can't see this as anything but a detriment to the sales of the M3P (or any other sub-250gm drone for that matter) for DJI, since 1 of its touted attributes is based on its extended flight times with the Plus batteries, & some (like myself) bought the M3P based on its not needing to be registered, along with its extended flight times with the Plus battery.

Setting aside the inevitable point which will be raised by the statists here regarding strict adherence to the FAA Regs, in themselves having been, are & likely will perpetually be, an absolute mishmash of a convoluted mess rife with numerous gray areas if not contradictions, a few grams is realistically no more a danger than the difference between those who fly their drones recreationally vs those who fly them in even the slightest (by FAA definition) interpretation of commercial operation.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together?" FAA says, fine, no problemo.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together, & I'll buy you a beer." FAA has a cow if you haven't jumped through their hoops, paid them a fee, marked your drone exterior, & chain yourself to The System.

It comes down to the concept of "profit"... if a drone pilot were to gain anything, the FAA (i.e., gov't) wants a piece of it, & ofc, control of it.

My impression of DJI is that it's sold-out to the Draconian FAA (gov't) by foisting the most recent RID activation couched within the number of other variably valuable upgrades, & that being evident by not allowing that ability to be switched off or otherwise uninstalled or reverted to a prior version.

Really, though, I shouldn't be at all surprised, with China being the literal epitome of State/gov't Control.

Makes perfect sense on the software being able to detect what battery is installed,and switching on RID
when a + battery is in it.
Seems like that will be how it works out,and not have RID active all the time regardless of which battery is
used.as far as the rest of your post,you so nailed it all right on the head.
Have a great day.

 

[vindibona1]

I would like to know the same thing,even with the smaller battery for the mini 3 pro ,the fact that with the latest update,
to me it sounds like remote ID will be turned on 249 gram weight or not.
I am seriously considering getting the mini 3 pro for the very reason that no need to register,no RID.
How is the fly app gonna know the difference if you have the + battery or regular.I am confused as it seems there is no clear
answer to this yet.

If you didn't know most DJI drones have something called th "payload mode". It senses that you have extra weight onboard, probably by how hard the motors have to work for lift and maintaining position.

There are still some things that are unknown that may be up DJI's sleeve. For instance, with legacy drones like the Mavic 2, still running on Go4 have an update that installs RID? I know that a lot of drones that don't have build in RID will be required to fly with a special module that has similar functions to RID, except, I think, would not be able to transmit controller location. Wiill DJI upate G04 to have RID? Only DJI knows. But if a module is required, then it would appear to be up to the pilot to comply by installing it and turning it on.

I suspect that down the road there will be hacks to turn RID off on some drones, but probably require and SDK to be able to make such firmware modifications. Just speculating. Personally, I think for all the overall "benefiits" of RID, I find the notion overkill and intrusive.... and potentially dangerous for pilots. Would it be out of the realm of reality for govrnment agencies to then require trackers for other types of devices that they want to monitor? RID would provide an infrastructure that would make it both easy and possible. I don't know. I had a "funny" that I'd like to say, but the mods would ding me, so I withold joke.

I lost a dear friend who passed 22 year ago. I am citing her with the following quote: "Coffee leads to donuts. Donuts leads to ants".

 

[MS Coast]

Since the M3P communicates with its currently installed battery, I think that it would be all too easy for the drone to switch on its RID whenever 1 of its Plus batteries were installed.

I can't see this as anything but a detriment to the sales of the M3P (or any other sub-250gm drone for that matter) for DJI, since 1 of its touted attributes is based on its extended flight times with the Plus batteries, & some (like myself) bought the M3P based on its not needing to be registered, along with its extended flight times with the Plus battery.

Setting aside the inevitable point which will be raised by the statists here regarding strict adherence to the FAA Regs, in themselves having been, are & likely will perpetually be, an absolute mishmash of a convoluted mess rife with numerous gray areas if not contradictions, a few grams is realistically no more a danger than the difference between those who fly their drones recreationally vs those who fly them in even the slightest (by FAA definition) interpretation of commercial operation.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together?" FAA says, fine, no problemo.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together, & I'll buy you a beer." FAA has a cow if you haven't jumped through their hoops, paid them a fee, marked your drone exterior, & chain yourself to The System.

It comes down to the concept of "profit"... if a drone pilot were to gain anything, the FAA (i.e., gov't) wants a piece of it, & ofc, control of it.

My impression of DJI is that it's sold-out to the Draconian FAA (gov't) by foisting the most recent RID activation couched within the number of other variably valuable upgrades, & that being evident by not allowing that ability to be switched off or otherwise uninstalled or reverted to a prior version.

Really, though, I shouldn't be at all surprised, with China being the literal epitome of State/gov't Control.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together, & I'll buy you a beer.""FAA has a cow if you haven't jumped through their hoops, paid them a fee, marked your drone exterior, & chain yourself to The System."

A tad hyperbolic, isn't that? Can you cite a single case in which the FAA has prosecuted over such a thing? No.

 

[Torque]

So in September of 2023 when this army of Drone Jackers hit the ground running, endangering me with every flight I make by pin pointing my location, arriving, ripping the controller from my hands and then running away with my drone, possibly leaving me wounded or beaten (I believe that is part of the fear) - won't that same RID enable LE to find and return my drone, and hopefully arrest the Drone Jacker rather quickly?

 

[Allezdada]

So in September of 2023 when this army of Drone Jackers hit the ground running, endangering me with every flight I make by pin pointing my location, arriving, ripping the controller from my hands and then running away with my drone, possibly leaving me wounded or beaten (I believe that is part of the fear) - won't that same RID enable LE to find and return my drone, and hopefully arrest the Drone Jacker rather quickly?

LOL do you think these people who would beat you up and take your drone would do so in order to go fly it themselves? Somehow I think they would be much more likely to destroy it or sell it.

 

[Torque]

LOL do you think these people who would beat you up and take your drone would do so in order to go fly it themselves? Somehow I think they would be much more likely to destroy it or sell it.

Regardless of their intent, it will still have remote ID unless they rip off an add on module.

 

[Skydreamer]

i am sure FAA will do something after few pilots get hurt….unfortunately ……
that said,the “ enhanced transmission” update is related to 4G cellular module for a mini 3 pro so i used “chat”option on dji site to talk to “Mary”,i asked her if she knew if the module will be for sale in usa and if so ,when…..after 12 minutes of waiting i got message that she has no answer and that i should check official website(?) for any new updates…..

 

[Rchawks]

I like Mary, she fixed my update issue that I had recently.

 

[Rich Z]

Will new Mini 3s being sold right now have the update installed needed to enable RID, or is that an update I would have to do after receipt? And what is the update revision number of the version that has this RID enabled?

 

[vindibona1]

The thing is, that with disclosure of the controller’s location one has to divide ones situational awareness beyond just flying the drone which makes good flying more difficult if not dangerous. Perps will figure out that most of us fly with phones or tablets… and if nothing else THOSE WILL BE THE TARGETS! Ask yourself, of all the robberies and muggings that you’ve become aware of, WHAT IS THE #1 thing that the muggers demand? PHONES! Car jackers don’t just take you car but demand your phone too. Ill do anything I can to minimize being a target on a map.

 

[MS Coast]

The thing is, that with disclosure of the controller’s location one has to divide ones situational awareness beyond just flying the drone which makes good flying more difficult if not dangerous. Perps will figure out that most of us fly with phones or tablets… and if nothing else THOSE WILL BE THE TARGETS! Ask yourself, of all the robberies and muggings that you’ve become aware of, WHAT IS THE #1 thing that the muggers demand? PHONES! Car jackers don’t just take you car but demand your phone too. Ill do anything I can to minimize being a target on a map.

Mountains morphing into molehills?

"Perps will figure out that most of us fly with phones or tablets… and if nothing else THOSE WILL BE THE TARGETS!"

It's a reasonable assumption that anyone in a developed country who is wearing shoes has a cellphone in their pocket or purse. A thief doesn't need an electronic tracking system to locate potential targets.

 

[vindibona1]

Mountains morphing into molehills?

"Perps will figure out that most of us fly with phones or tablets… and if nothing else THOSE WILL BE THE TARGETS!"

It's a reasonable assumption that anyone in a developed country who is wearing shoes has a cellphone in their pocket or purse. A thief doesn't need an electronic tracking system to locate potential targets.

A person with both hands and head occupied makes for an easier victim than one who may be 100% situationally aware with both hands free. Have you been to Chicago recently?????

 

[vindibona1]

Since the M3P communicates with its currently installed battery, I think that it would be all too easy for the drone to switch on its RID whenever 1 of its Plus batteries were installed.

I can't see this as anything but a detriment to the sales of the M3P (or any other sub-250gm drone for that matter) for DJI, since 1 of its touted attributes is based on its extended flight times with the Plus batteries, & some (like myself) bought the M3P based on its not needing to be registered, along with its extended flight times with the Plus battery.

Setting aside the inevitable point which will be raised by the statists here regarding strict adherence to the FAA Regs, in themselves having been, are & likely will perpetually be, an absolute mishmash of a convoluted mess rife with numerous gray areas if not contradictions, a few grams is realistically no more a danger than the difference between those who fly their drones recreationally vs those who fly them in even the slightest (by FAA definition) interpretation of commercial operation.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together?" FAA says, fine, no problemo.

"Hey, gal, can you take a pic of me & my friend on the beach together, & I'll buy you a beer." FAA has a cow if you haven't jumped through their hoops, paid them a fee, marked your drone exterior, & chain yourself to The System.

It comes down to the concept of "profit"... if a drone pilot were to gain anything, the FAA (i.e., gov't) wants a piece of it, & ofc, control of it.

My impression of DJI is that it's sold-out to the Draconian FAA (gov't) by foisting the most recent RID activation couched within the number of other variably valuable upgrades, & that being evident by not allowing that ability to be switched off or otherwise uninstalled or reverted to a prior version.

Really, though, I shouldn't be at all surprised, with China being the literal epitome of State/gov't Control.

Good post. But you diidn't cite DJI's geofencing. I doubt RID will be any gentler and as you point out, over-applied.

 

[mobilehomer]

Regardless of their intent, it will still have remote ID unless they rip off an add on module.

The drone needs to be turned on before RID transmits. I doubt very seriously that anyone besides Karens would ever bother tracking flyers.