Why is DJI acting like the drone police???

[L98ster]

Hi everyone,

Im new to DJI (currently flying a Mavic), and was just curious if anyone else feels that DJI is overstepping its boundaries by limiting flight in certain areas. Its great that the Go 4 app informs us what type of zone we are in, but it seems unreasonable to have paid over $1000 for drone, only to have DJI restrict where I can fly.

For example, I was asked to video a shooting event at a local gun club. The drone would be roughly 50 feet above the range, getting a birds eye view of the shooting course. This gun club is relatively close to an airport, and therefore I was not able to take off and video the competition.

If its lawful for a gun club to operate in close proximity to an airport, why does DJI think they have the right to tell me that i cant operate a drone.

I know of no other company that sells you a product, and the company themselves restricts its use at their own discretion.

thoughts??

-George

 

[Mr. Salty]

Hi everyone,

Im new to DJI (currently flying a Mavic), and was just curious if anyone else feels that DJI is overstepping its boundaries by limiting flight in certain areas. Its great that the Go 4 app informs us what type of zone we are in, but it seems unreasonable to have paid over $1000 for drone, only to have DJI restrict where I can fly.

For example, I was asked to video a shooting event at a local gun club. The drone would be roughly 50 feet above the range, getting a birds eye view of the shooting course. This gun club is relatively close to an airport, and therefore I was not able to take off and video the competition.

If its lawful for a gun club to operate in close proximity to an airport, why does DJI think they have the right to tell me that i cant operate a drone.

I know of no other company that sells you a product, and the company themselves restricts its use at their own discretion.

thoughts??

-George

Being that this is a drone forum, naturally this has been discussed to death.

Yes, most people agree with you. But DJI is also aware that some drone enthusiasts have flown where they shouldn't and have caused problems. DJI has a commercial interest in avoiding additional government regulations on the industry, so has been taking matters into its own hands to try to avoid that by trying to keep its customers from flying where they shouldn't. Sometimes their system doesn't always work perfectly.

That said, there is a way to get approval to fly your drone where you were, but you would have had to start the process ahead of time.

If you were shooting video of a gun club event, even if you weren't being paid for it that's considered commercial use of the drone, so you would have needed to have a Part 107 certificate from the FAA. Since you don't know air space regulations, I assume you don't have a Part 107.

It's lawful for a gun club to operate near an airport. Depending on the classification of that specific airport, it is not lawful for a drone to operate within a certain distance of the airport. DJI was enforcing that restriction, which can be bypassed if you go through the proper procedure.

 

[ChipDjipro]

They are only covering their ***. There are too many people out there that just don’t give a **** where they fly. Personally doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s all about safety in the long run.

 

[flockshot]

If anyone doesn't like it, don't buy their products. Pretty simple.

 

[zezrum]

Mr. Salty sums it up perfectly above. I think DJI is playing it smart by implementing their own safeguards to dissuade the government from enacting regulations that would likely be expensive for DJI to implement and cause even more headache for operators. As it stands, DJI's current process for gaining access to enhanced warning zones and authorization zones has been pretty quick in my experience. I haven't had to deal with a DJI restricted zone yet, but can't imagine ever needing to fly in one.

 

[JMF]

Youtube has many video's on how you can tweak the Mavic settings.....

 

[princeofthehouse]

there are steps in place to allow you to bypass those restrictions legally by getting the suitable clearance code.
It is your responsibility to ensure you operate your drone in compliance with the drone rules and regulations.
DJI are doing the sensible thing by keeping the one most important rule in mind... people are idiots, (not saying you), just in general.
They are trying to prevent laws getting put in place because people can not always be trusted to operate within the rules, nor operate safely.

I can assume you didn't take the steps to get flight clearance and thus were prevented from operating in controlled airspace.
If the app had not prevented you operating I imagine you would have discarded the warnings and proceeded to perform your flight?
If so THAT is why those restrictions are there. For anyone doing commercial work (are you certified I wonder) then they as stated can get flight clearance through several methods which will allow them to be held accountable if they do something stupid.
I imagine if you had this then this discussion would likely not be happening in the forum.

Those restrictions on the DJI app are perfectly suitable for the average user, to safeguard against the idiots who will just do what they want, the only big issue with that is where the restrictions zones are incorrect.
It may not be perfect but I suspect sensible restrictions from the people who actually understand drones and their use is far preferable to lawmakers who probably have no understanding what a drone is, how it operates or its capacities.

Congratulations on your drone, please make sure you are familiar and operate within the guidelines for your country.

 

[JimmyHillsChin]

Hi everyone,

If its lawful for a gun club to operate in close proximity to an airport, why does DJI think they have the right to tell me that i cant operate a drone.

The gun club near the airport is of no importance to DJI, someone flying one of their drones there is.
If there is, god forbid, a shooting there that affects any flights, obviously that's on the gun club owners shoulders.
DJI don't want to be in that scenario so are dealing with it beforehand.

If you want to go tweak the settings to bypass DJI's restrictions and something happens, that will be on you.


As for the other company?.... Surely nobody beats Apple for being restrictive with their products.

 

[genesimmons]

i am totally assuming that local organizations and even govt approch dji daily informing them they must tighten up resctrictions on certain areas. kinda like apple and the whole camera thing, i read that the technology is out there that would restrict apple products from being able to film or take photos and all it takes is a signal sent out by the promotor, now of course theres prob ways around that but i would assume its the same for dji, they are prob bound legally to make these strict rules and nfz i am sure they dont do it voluntarily

 

[microlinux]

i would assume its the same for dji, they are prob bound legally to make these strict rules and nfz

They are not.

 

[Doug Lare]

DJI over reacting to criticism from gov't and media on past intrusions, alleged and real, on airports, etc. They're covering their butts, trying to stave off getting into a situation similar to gun control problem, where a few people causing trouble, results in restrictions for all of us. DJI should back off, let any issues be taken care of by law enforcement, and yes, the rest of us law and regulation complying pilots.

 

[JMF]

DJI should not be held liable for anything that may happen because some idiot uses the drone in an illegal way, that's as dumb as holding a gun manufacturer liable for some nutcase killing people with one of their guns.

 

[dirkclod]

To All
No gun control shall be discussed in this.
This is not the place for it or time.
So No More.

 

[Mr. Salty]

This is from today: European flight safety agency issues drone guidelines

It's not about DJI being held liable, it's about them trying to avoid regulations on the industry that would hurt their business.

 

[RayOZ]

It's bad enough that when there's news about drone incidents, most people think of DJI's drones. They don't need anymore publicity, especially if it does turn out it's one of their products. And it'll cost them money and time when government and law enforcement comes knocking at their door asking: "can you track down who owns this drone that caused that crash?". And it cost them money if they need to get their lawyers involved. They are a business, they want to avoid any unexpected, expensive expenses where possible.

 

[tcope]

Hi everyone,

Im new to DJI (currently flying a Mavic), and was just curious if anyone else feels that DJI is overstepping its boundaries by limiting flight in certain areas. Its great that the Go 4 app informs us what type of zone we are in, but it seems unreasonable to have paid over $1000 for drone, only to have DJI restrict where I can fly.

I know of no other company that sells you a product, and the company themselves restricts its use at their own discretion.

Last part first.... it's done _all of the time_! Do you drive a vehicle or ever driven a vehicle in the past 10 years? It has a rev limiter. It's programmed not to exceed a certain speed. This is based on the tires on the vehicle. It will go much faster then that speed. I could go on and on.

Too the first part... DJI has every right to program their software how they want. You don't own the software and you did not buy it. You operate it under a license. DJI is free to do anything that they want with it. You are free not to update. Do I think they should do what they are doing? 100%, yes. Do I think they could do a better job? Yes. They are about 75% of the consumer market. Lacking any controls on their part and the FAA and Congress will step in and create those rules. Would you rather have Congress create limitations or DJI? Really, DJI's limitations are _extremely_ loose.

Is DJI's softeware not allowing you to fly some place that you are allowed to fly?

 

[Huge Bama Fan]

This is from today: European flight safety agency issues drone guidelines

It's not about DJI being held liable, it's about them trying to avoid regulations on the industry that would hurt their business.

Exactly what I was going to type

 

[tcope]

DJI should not be held liable for anything that may happen because some idiot uses the drone in an illegal way,....

I highlighted the important part. In the real world, they could be sued and in the real world, they _can_ be held liable. This is especially true when you tell a jury that no action was taken to even attempt to stop something from happening.

 

[Markl8]

As a Pilot and a new to Drones pilot aviation rules are there for a reason with safety being number one. There will always be people who believe the rules don't apply to them (Not calling out anyone here) and in the aviation world that can be deadly. As stated there are procedures in place for flying most places we need to and some you cant, same as with General aviation traffic.
I applaud DJI for baking in these protections last thing I want to see on short final in a 172 is a Drone! If we crash our Drone and hopefully not hurt an innocent person or damage their property we are out the price of a Drone. When your flying an aircraft the consequences are much more serious as in Fatal.
As an aside I always laugh when I see articles boasting flying cars are in our future Our airspace system only works if all participants abide by the rules and sadly there are too many people who are going to think they are above these rules.
In my years as a private pilot I have seen a few people die because they thought the rules did not apply to them or they could push the limits and even in these cases every conceivable party no matter how remotely involved got sued even though all blame fell on the PIC's of these aircraft and was nobody's fault but their own. To quote one of the Blue Angels pilots "Flying is not really dangerous but it is inherently unforgiving"

 

[RayOZ]

As an aside I always laugh when I see articles boasting flying cars are in our future Our airspace system only works if all participants abide by the rules and sadly there are too many people who are going to think they are above these rules.

Yes. Some people can't even follow rules driving in 2D (flat road), don't expect them to be any better in 3D space. So many accidents on the road due to drivers thinking they have the right of way, cut other drivers off, and then causing accidents.
The only way we'll have flying cars, is when people get used to driverless cars, and they dont actually take the wheel. Then we can have flying cars, that are driverless. Of course, there'll be ppl who'll will bypass the system... That's why we can't have nice things.