Please clarify 120m height restriction when outside the EU

[Pinyoro]

Hi. I purchased a DJI Mini Pro 4 this week. It is limited to 120m flight height. I am in the UK. If I were to take this drone overseas, not in the EU where these regulations do not apply, would I be able to fly to 500m? Thanks

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Once you are out of the jurisdiction of the CAA and FAA Bob's yer uncle and hacking utilities such as No Limit Drones are your friends. Say no more. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

 

[Meta4]

Hi. I purchased a DJI Mini Pro 4 this week. It is limited to 120m flight height.

Are you sure?
DJI drones have two height limits.
There is a hard-wired 500 metre limit and a user-configurable Max Altitude limit.
That has a default setting of 120 metres, but can be set to anything up to 500 metres.

 

[Pinyoro]

Are you sure?
DJI drones have two height limits.
There is a hard-wired 500 metre limit and a user-configurable Max Altitude limit.
That has a default setting of 120 metres, but can be set to anything up to 500 metres.

When the controller and drone have just started up I can select 500m. I think that once the drone connects to the satellites and determines it's location the maximum that can be set is 120m. That's in the UK. While flying I could not go past this level. Maybe 125m, but that was it.

 

[Pinyoro]

Once you are out of the jurisdiction of the CAA and FAA Bob's yer uncle and hacking utilities such as No Limit Drones are your friends. San no more. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

Thanks. Wink wink

 

[Feek]

Are you sure?
DJI drones have two height limits.
There is a hard-wired 500 metre limit and a user-configurable Max Altitude limit.
That has a default setting of 120 metres, but can be set to anything up to 500 metres.

Yes, it's definitely the case, it's all detailed here. Even though it specifies the EU, I believe this is still enforced in the UK. Basically if you bought a Mini 4 before the end of 2023, the 120m limit can be removed but not if it was bought on or after 1st January 2024

The DJI Mini Series And The 120m Altitude Limit In The EU

The DJI Mini Series And The 120m Altitude Limit In The EU

viewpoints.dji.com

 

[Droning on and on...]

Yes, it's definitely the case, it's all detailed here. Even though it specifies the EU, I believe this is still enforced in the UK. Basically if you bought a Mini 4 before the end of 2023, the 120m limit can be removed but not if it was bought on or after 1st January 2024

The DJI Mini Series And The 120m Altitude Limit In The EU

The DJI Mini Series And The 120m Altitude Limit In The EU

viewpoints.dji.com

Is the EU requirement to connect to the internet before the motors will start active now too?

 

[Feek]

Is the EU requirement to connect to the internet before the motors will start active now too?

No idea but if it had, surely there would be a lot of people complaining about it.

 

[Meta4]

No idea but if it had, surely there would be a lot of people complaining about it.

I'd expect to have heard a lot of complaints from the UK users if they were unable to set their Max Alt limit higher than 400 ft too, but haven't noticed it.
Have you tried changing the setting?
You would have to have the drone and controller connected to do this.

 

[Pinyoro]

I'd expect to have heard a lot of complaints from the UK users if they were unable to set their Max Alt limit higher than 400 ft too, but haven't noticed it.
Have you tried changing the setting?
You would have to have the drone and controller connected to do this.

If I am in my house and the controller/drone have not connected to satellites I can set it to 500m but can't obviously fly. Once I go outside where a satellite signal can be received, I cannot set it to above 120m (400 ft.) using the slider. If I fly to 120m a message appears saying I have hit the limit and I can't go any further... maybe to 125m...

 

[Feek]

This really needs to get sorted so it's aware of ground elevation, that should be available via the mapping tool.

I've not got a Mini 4 yet, I've put my Mini 2 in the Classified section and will probably be ordering a 4 in the next week or so.

 

[Meta4]

This really needs to get sorted so it's aware of ground elevation, that should be available via the mapping tool.

DJI consumer drones have no sensor that can detect the height above ground.
And you're not going to find one that you could carry on a Mini.

 

[Pinyoro]

Is the EU requirement to connect to the internet before the motors will start active now too?

No. They run without the Internet connection. You just get a warning if there is no satellite GPS connection.

 

[Feek]

DJI consumer drones have no sensor that can detect the height above ground.

I wasn't suggesting the drone has its own altimeter but the drone knows where on the map it is, the map should know what the elevation is and by proxy, the drone should know this as well.

 

[mavic3usa]

This really needs to get sorted so it's aware of ground elevation, that should be available via the mapping tool.

I've not got a Mini 4 yet, I've put my Mini 2 in the Classified section and will probably be ordering a 4 in the next week or so.

Only when true AI becomes a thing. Only then will a drone become smart enough to know where it is located in the world *and* figure out how high above the ground it is flying. Even if this is a rough estimate, it should help resolve the issue as long as it doesn't enforce unreasonable limitations on the rest of us. By then, we should be well underway with various forms of shielded operations.

 

[Feek]

The controller has a map, the controller knows which part of the map the drone is above, the map (hopefully) has elevation details. All that needs to happen is that as part of the protocol, the controller tells the drone what the ground altitude is, the drone works out what it's actual altitude is AGL because it can calculate that using its take off point as a reference. Or the controller does the calculation and tells the drone.

This doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

 

[Meta4]

The controller has a map, the controller knows which part of the map the drone is above, the map (hopefully) has elevation details.

The map doesn't have elevation data.
Even if it did, map data won't have elevations for trees and buidings, so that wou'd make this impractical for a lot of drone flying.

All that needs to happen is that as part of the protocol, the controller tells the drone what the ground altitude is, the drone works out what it's actual altitude is AGL because it can calculate that using its take off point as a reference. Or the controller does the calculation and tells the drone.

This doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

Most general aviation aircraft don't have this technology.
It's unrealistic to expect it in a pocket-sized drone any time soon.

 

[Feek]

The map doesn't have elevation data.

It uses google maps on the controller, doesn’t it? That has elevation data.

Even if it did, map data won't have elevations for trees and buidings, so that wou'd make this impractical for a lot of drone flying.

When we’re after elevation above ground, the height of buildings and trees isn’t important for the AGL calculation.

Most general aviation aircraft don't have this technology.
It's unrealistic to expect it in a pocket-sized drone any time soon.

To be fair, they don’t need it. They have an altimeter

 

[mavic3usa]

The controller has a map, the controller knows which part of the map the drone is above, the map (hopefully) has elevation details. All that needs to happen is that as part of the protocol, the controller tells the drone what the ground altitude is, the drone works out what it's actual altitude is AGL because it can calculate that using its take off point as a reference. Or the controller does the calculation and tells the drone.

This doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

I hear you and as I mentioned, AI can accomplish this.

However, this may be a good discussion:

Can the altitude AGL update dynamically?

Posting this in general as it applies to at least both my MA and M2P. So, at the moment if I take off on a hill say and fly straight up to a low altitude - 10m or so and then fly out over the valley Go4 continues to show the altitude as 10m even though it could be much higher. Is there a way...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Meta4]

To be fair, they don’t need it. They have an altimeter

So does your drone ... not much different from what any Cessna has.
The pilots of most general aviation aircraft have no instrument that will tell them their height above the ground.