NFZ Limit - just appeared on controller

AnzacJack · May 21, 2019

TR Ganey said:
Had I done a better job of researching the drone world before purchasing I would likely not have bought DJI for that reason alone.

What would your research have had you buy instead?

PropSpin · May 21, 2019

brettbrandon said:
I got turned into a NFZ at the house here but still fly all the time.....

View attachment 73111

Way too small to register with the FAA or do much of any damage. The size also limits LOS distance.
No GPS, no Altitude hold, all manual and no chance of a flyaway. It only goes where I tell it to.
Onboard DVR recording at 1080p 60fps.
This thing is a blast to fly, no restrictions and after flying this, flying DJI (GPS) drones is childsplay.

Looks like you use it to cut your grass.

TR Ganey · May 21, 2019

anzacjack said:
What would your research have had you buy instead?

I would likely have spent the money to have a custom drone built that is not dependent on the whims of DJI. There are bells and whistles that I could do without in return for not having to deal with someone in another country telling me when and where it is safe to fly.

Fearless Flight · May 21, 2019

crystal-pete said:
No, it's extremely likely that you will be illegally flying your drone in No Fly Zones. Why do you believe that it' OK to do that? Why is it important for you to be able to "fly off your backyard"?

You would have to see out my backyard. I can see for miles. There was no NFZ that came up anywhere near my house when I first received and updated my MP2. If you had to keep 5 miles from every grass airstrip you would never be able to fly rural.

sar104 · May 21, 2019

Fearless Flight said:
You would have to see out my backyard. I can see for miles. There was no NFZ that came up anywhere near my house when I first received and updated my MP2. If you had to keep 5 miles from every grass airstrip you would never be able to fly rural.

You don't have to, and have never had to, keep five miles from grass airstrips.

brettbrandon · May 22, 2019

The big problem I see with DJIs geofencing is whoever they are getting their data from its old and very outdated. I started checking Google Maps to see what the zones around here are about.
You can see me in the red zone in the screenshot and you can see what two of the zones are in map shots. Neither one of those strips are used and one them is even an unlock zone. Two of the three warning zones north of those I couldn't find a strip, hospital, school, just homes and farms. One of them does have occasional activity on a grass strip.
So out of five zones within fifteen miles of each other, four of them don't actually exsist.
If they are going to lock down our birds, they really need to get their zones fixed.....

brettbrandon · May 22, 2019

PropSpin said:
Looks like you use it to cut your grass.

I would need either a very small lawn or a whole lot of time on my hands...?
The props are only about 3/4 of an inch off the ground and I take off in the grass alot.
There is also some trees and plants on there too. I've been working on flying it in some wind and it dosen't take much to push the little guy around, thus the greenery from crashing. Thats one of the things I love about these little whoops, they are just about indestructable and if something was to break the parts are cheap.

sar104 · May 22, 2019

brettbrandon said:
The big problem I see with DJIs geofencing is whoever they are getting their data from its old and very outdated. I started checking Google Maps to see what the zones around here are about.
You can see me in the red zone in the screenshot and you can see what two of the zones are in map shots. Neither one of those strips are used and one them is even an unlock zone. Two of the three warning zones north of those I couldn't find a strip, hospital, school, just homes and farms. One of them does have occasional activity on a grass strip.
So out of five zones within fifteen miles of each other, four of them don't actually exsist.
If they are going to lock down our birds, they really need to get their zones fixed.....

View attachment 73157

None of those zones "lock down your bird, or even require authorization to fly, except for the red restricted zone and grey altitude zones.

brettbrandon · May 22, 2019

sar104 said:
None of those zones "lock down your bird, or even require authorization to fly, except for the red restricted zone and grey altitude zones.

Have things changed?
You can see the pin where I clicked in the Blue zone and got the Authorization popup requiring unlocking. Now if the app dosen't accept the unlock like it sometimes does, lockout.

Lock down the bird is a little stretched but I wish they would get the system right before imposing it on us.

sar104 · May 22, 2019

brettbrandon said:
Have things changed?
You can see the pin where I clicked in the Blue zone and got the Authorization popup requiring unlocking. Now if the app dosen't accept the unlock like it sometimes does, lockout.

Lock down the bird is a little stretched but I wish they would get the system right before imposing it on us.

View attachment 73181

Your pin appears to be in a red restricted zone, but that's associated with a real airport runway (KUGN 14/32). You cannot self-unlock in that zone for obvious reasons.

brettbrandon · May 22, 2019

sar104 said:
Your pin appears to be in a red restricted zone, but that's associated with a real airport runway (KUGN 14/32). You cannot self-unlock in that zone for obvious reasons.

The dot in the red restricted zone is my location. Look in the smaller blue circle for the Blue pin. It is not in a Red or Grey zone.

brettbrandon · May 22, 2019

The point I was trying to make is four out of five of those zones don't actually exsist and shouldn't be there at all and one of them needs unlocking. For what? And that is just in a few square miles....

FormerMember07122019_2 · May 22, 2019

sar104 said:
You don't have to, and have never had to, keep five miles from grass airstrips.

There is a private grass strip about 6 miles from my house that is rarely used but it is shown on the current sectional chart as an active airport. Are you implying I can ignore this as a valid airport?

sar104 · May 22, 2019

Camino Ken said:
There is a private grass strip about 6 miles from my house that is rarely used but it is shown on the current sectional chart as an active airport. Are you implying I can ignore this as a valid airport?

What do you mean by "ignore it"? Under the old rules you were more than 5 miles away so you didn't need to notify. Under the new rules you are not in controlled airspace associated with that airport, because it almost certainly doesn't have any, so why is it an issue?

FormerMember07122019_2 · May 22, 2019

sar104 said:
What do you mean by "ignore it"? Under the old rules you were more than 5 miles away so you didn't need to notify. Under the new rules you are not in controlled airspace associated with that airport, because it almost certainly doesn't have any, so why is it an issue?

I was thinking of flying within the 5 mile limit of that airport and was going to try to notify in advance per the old rules. I guess I don’t understand the new rules yet. Wouldn’t all FAA recognized airports have controlled airspace around them?

sar104 · May 22, 2019

Camino Ken said:
I was thinking of flying within the 5 mile limit of that airport and was going to try to notify in advance per the old rules. I guess I don’t understand the new rules yet. Wouldn’t all FAA recognized airports have controlled airspace around them?

No. Most towered airports are Class D or higher. Some untowered real airports are surface Class E, but many are 700 ft Class E - it mostly depends on whether they have precision approaches. Heliports, landing strips and most private fields are Class G uncontrolled.

FormerMember07122019_2 · May 22, 2019

sar104 said:
No. Most towered airports are Class D or higher. Some untowered real airports are surface Class E, but many are 700 ft Class E - it mostly depends on whether they have precision approaches. Heliports, landing strips and most private fields are Class G uncontrolled.

Thanks for educating me. It has been a long time since I had to decode airspace designations and it seems like they have changed a bit (or more likely my failed recollection). It seems amazing to me now that airports can be in uncontrolled airspace. It’s interesting that the airport I mentioned has class E - 700 designation around it but I believe it is because of a VOR navigation aid nearby and not the airport.

Former Member07122019a · Jun 8, 2019

Same thing just happened to me..Today had the weirdest thing happen.. was flying around.. controller said 'NFZ LIMIT' and then shortly afterward, litchi disconnected and wouldn't reconnect. I put the controller on return to home and brought it back that way without the application. This caused a mild heart palpation. AND.. I was NOWHERE NEAR a NFZ. Ideas?

I am literally about to buy a non-internet connected device, rollback my firmware, and keep DJI out of my business forever if this is what I have to look forward to from now on.