No Fly Zones Jails nearby

[50West]

I went to shoot a timelapse today and a no-fly zone warning came up on my controller. It said due to Correctional Facility. I was a long way from the Facility. in fact, the No Fly Zone is most of our small little mountain town. I produce tourism videos for the county and also real estate. Even some of the hiking and biking trails are in the no fly zone. What does this mean? No-fly Period? I had no intention of nearing the jail. Can I get local permission from the authorities? Can I fly anyway if I am not shooting the jail? I haven't seen this warning until today.

 

[jimlips]

Where does it state the correctional facility is? I checked AIRMAP, and the only no-fly zone I can find in Salida, CO is the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area south of Salida. I even checked the Chaffee County Jail on Crestone Ave between L St & S 3rd St, and that is totally clear. You might consider contacting DJI and challenging their lockout.

 

[brett8883]

I went to shoot a timelapse today and a no-fly zone warning came up on my controller. It said due to Correctional Facility. I was a long way from the Facility. in fact, the No Fly Zone is most of our small little mountain town. I produce tourism videos for the county and also real estate. Even some of the hiking and biking trails are in the no fly zone. What does this mean? No-fly Period? I had no intention of nearing the jail. Can I get local permission from the authorities? Can I fly anyway if I am not shooting the jail? I haven't seen this warning until today.

DJI restricts flight directly over correction facilities. Warnings for NFZs do come up rather early but they are just warnings. You will only be prevented from entering the airspace directly above a correctional facility.

Correctional facilities aren’t necessary illegal to fly over. Now here might be state laws prohibiting it and federal laws pertaining to what you do while over the correctional facility but there are no FAA mandates that specifically address correctional facilities in general. Therefore, these NFZs are from DJI specifically.

DJI doesn’t want to be on the news because their products were used to transport contraband in and out of prisons. While I object to a foreign company telling us what we can and can’t do under any circumstance I do understand why they do it.

You could get written permission from the prison and ask DJI to unlock your drone through a custom unlock request the process is not easy and I bet you won’t get the permission from the prison unless you are doing work for them.

Again, this would only be for flying directly over the prison property. You can fly right up to it just not right over it.

Really the most important think to know about this kind of localized NFZ is that if you are flying around it and the direct path from the drone back to the home point crosses the NFZ, even if you flew around it to get there RTH will be affected because the drone will not fly around the NFZ to get home. Best to keep in mind and make sure the direct path from the drone to the home point doesn’t cross anywhere near the NFZ in case of RC connection loss

 

[iaincaradoc]

Check local ordinances, too. In Arizona, SB 1449 has:

"UAS cannot fly within 500 feet horizontally or 250 feet vertically of any critical facility. These include but are not limited to oil and gas facilities, water treatment facilities, power plants, courthouses, military installations, and hospitals."

Prisons and jails are part of that "critical facility" limitation.

Don't ask me how I found *that* out.

 

[hiflyer201]

Don't ask me how I found *that* out.

Ok ?

 

[BushWacker]

I live down the street from the City jail (very small). I get warning not to fly but am allowed to fly in the app about 1/4 mile away but not any closer. I'm about 1/2 mile away and I have to Acknowledge and Confirm I know what I'm doing in the app before it will launch.

 

[50West]

Where does it state the correctional facility is? I checked AIRMAP, and the only no-fly zone I can find in Salida, CO is the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area south of Salida. I even checked the Chaffee County Jail on Crestone Ave between L St & S 3rd St, and that is totally clear. You might consider contacting DJI and challenging their lockout.

I flew near there couple weeks back and had no warnings. when I went to fly on Wed and the controller was beeping and said "NO Fly Zone" Chaffee County Correctional facility. The County jail was in the center of a yellow circle that stretched out roughly a mile in all directions from center. I was half a mile or more away

 

[50West]

Check local ordinances, too. In Arizona, SB 1449 has:

"UAS cannot fly within 500 feet horizontally or 250 feet vertically of any critical facility. These include but are not limited to oil and gas facilities, water treatment facilities, power plants, courthouses, military installations, and hospitals."

Prisons and jails are part of that "critical facility" limitation.

Don't ask me how I found *that* out.

yes that makes sense, but i was half a mile away or more. I had no intentions of flying anywhere near the jail.

 

[iaincaradoc]

yes that makes sense, but i was half a mile away or more. I had no intentions of flying anywhere near the jail.

Were you getting a "warning" message, or a "prohibited" message?

 

[brett8883]

I flew near there couple weeks back and had no warnings. when I went to fly on Wed and the controller was beeping and said "NO Fly Zone" Chaffee County Correctional facility. The County jail was in the center of a yellow circle that stretched out roughly a mile in all directions from center. I was half a mile or more away

You can see that it is not a circular NFZ it is only directly over the facility

 

[dawgpilot]

I flew near there couple weeks back and had no warnings. when I went to fly on Wed and the controller was beeping and said "NO Fly Zone" Chaffee County Correctional facility. The County jail was in the center of a yellow circle that stretched out roughly a mile in all directions from center. I was half a mile or more away

Yellow circles are generally just warnings, they don't prohibit flight.

 

[50West]

Yellow circles are generally just warnings, they don't prohibit flight.

ok good to know. Thanks

 

[50West]

Were you getting a "warning" message, or a "prohibited" message?

ok thanks for the info.

 

[MavicFlyer]

Really the most important think to know about this kind of localized NFZ is that if you are flying around it and the direct path from the drone back to the home point crosses the NFZ, even if you flew around it to get there RTH will be affected because the drone will not fly around the NFZ to get home. Best to keep in mind and make sure the direct path from the drone to the home point doesn’t cross anywhere near the NFZ in case of RC connection loss

The drone will not fly around the NFZ??? Is this true for all DJI quadcopters?

What would it do at the boundary of the NFZ? Would it just hover until battery level forced a landing? Wouldn't it even try to go around?

 

[brett8883]

The drone will not fly around the NFZ??? Is this true for all DJI quadcopters?

What would it do at the boundary of the NFZ? Would it just hover until battery level forced a landing? Wouldn't it even try to go around?

Some of them will retrace their steps for a short while before heading directly back to the home point but yes for the most part this is with all DJI quadcopters.

Yes it will sit at the edge until low-battery auto-land

 

[iaincaradoc]

Some of them will retrace their steps for a short while before heading directly back to the home point but yes for the most part this is with all DJI quadcopters.

Yes it will sit at the edge until low-battery auto-land

Definitely true for the Mavic line. The Inspire and Matrice are a little smarter about it.

 

[brett8883]

Definitely true for the Mavic line. The Inspire and Matrice are a little smarter about it.

You’re right I forgot the Inspire 2 (and I assume Matrice as you say) can retrace their way back.

 

[brett8883]

Definitely true for the Mavic line. The Inspire and Matrice are a little smarter about it.

Ok wait I know the Inspire will avoid obstacles like that but will it really avoid NFZs?

 

[iaincaradoc]

Ok wait I know the Inspire will avoid obstacles like that but will it really avoid NFZs?

If it’s a building outline, I’d expect it to treat it like any other obstacle.