You are in a no-fly zone... today, yesterday you weren't.

Acsmashing · Apr 16, 2015

JimPA said:
One thing I just noticed with the new App (Android) (This could also apply to earlier versions too.) is that it will not show no-fly zones that are not close to you. As in, where the AC's GPS position is. For example. I drove to Pittsburgh last night and turned on the drone inside the hotel room. The Inspire and controller could not get a GPS lock, so it still showed me in Erie, 130 miles away. It was showing the no-fly zone for the Erie airport and several smaller air ports with in 75 or so mules. However, it was not showing a no-fly zone for Pittsburgh International Airport.

Once I took the Inspire and remote outside and it was able to get a GPS lock, it showed me correctly on the map. Funny thing was it was still not showing any no-fly zone. This was because the tablet did not have internet access. Once I returned back to my room where I had my internet access, finally the map updated and showed the no-fly zone around the Pittsburgh Airport. Then when I scrolled back up to Erie, the no-fly zone for that airport was not shown.

We should all contribute to a fund that would go to a person who can hack this for us and remove all the no-fly zones. The problem is that I don't know if the firmware code is proprietary or not...

marcus600 · Apr 16, 2015

I will no longer fly my Inspire 1 or Phantom in the San Diego area again. I have flown my Phantom a few times at Silver Strand State Beach, on the last occasion in Oct. 2014 on my second battery I was about 30 feet out over the water and 125 feet high was about 5 min into the flight I heard a loud noise to my right and looked over and a Coast Guard helicopter was flying very low coming in my direction, I took my Phantom down as fast as I could to about 25 feet over the water as soon as the chopper flew by the alarm on my IPad went off and lost complete control of the Phantom it went into auto land mode and just watched my Phantom land in the ocean lost forever. Not sure what happen but I think it had something to do with no fly zone. On DJI online map there is not a no fly zone in that area and is ok to fly the next time I was there I checked my IPad map on App just about 2 mile away is a no fly zone why its shows on App map but not on the online map not sure why.

Whodatdere · Apr 16, 2015

Probably not the no fly zone. Chopper blades generate static electricity. I have read if one other instance of a low flying chopper making a phantom schiz out due to interference.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sdjackaerial · Apr 16, 2015

marcus600 said:
I will no longer fly my Inspire 1 or Phantom in the San Diego area again. I have flown my Phantom a few times at Silver Strand State Beach, on the last occasion in Oct. 2014 on my second battery I was about 30 feet out over the water and 125 feet high was about 5 min into the flight I heard a loud noise to my right and looked over and a Coast Guard helicopter was flying very low coming in my direction, I took my Phantom down as fast as I could to about 25 feet over the water as soon as the chopper flew by the alarm on my IPad went off and lost complete control of the Phantom it went into auto land mode and just watched my Phantom land in the ocean lost forever. Not sure what happen but I think it had something to do with no fly zone. On DJI online map there is not a no fly zone in that area and is ok to fly the next time I was there I checked my IPad map on App just about 2 mile away is a no fly zone why its shows on App map but not on the online map not sure why.

WOW. Thanks for this information. I guess I've shot my only (and last) LaJolla and other surrounding beach shots...sad. Again--thanks for the heads up.

mdomeny · Apr 16, 2015

edit:

JimPA · Apr 16, 2015

So I decided to fly the Inspire tonight while still down in Pittsburgh. I was trying to find a location away from the airport. Earlier today, the Pilot App was showing the two circles, the inner one being the no-fly and the outer one being a restricted area with height limits.

I did not have my WiFi hotspot and so the tablet had no internet access. So when I fired it up I saw no circles. I knew I was probably just inside the outer circle, but NOTHING showed on the map. Even the inner circle around the airport.

So, I went back to the hotel and grabbed my WiFi hotspot and tried again. This time I saw only the inner circle.

This doesn't seem right. I guess I can see when there is no internet, it not being able to show/enforce the no-fly areas, but it sure doesn't seem consistent from what I have seen.

dreadwing · Apr 16, 2015

I guess if you found a way to trick the GPS location on the map... ;-)

Josh Hanson · Apr 16, 2015

I'm in Downtown San Diego and just updated to the latest firmware and android app. I just flew all over around the convention center and up to the ballpark. I don't understand whats different? Its exactly the same no fly zones as before.

Tuankid · Apr 17, 2015

In my case I live in Seoul, the first pic is the no fly zone according to the government, and the second one is from DJI. Notice that the government does allow us to fly in some part north of the river and all of Southern bank. But DJI said no! I live South of the river and often fly on the Southern bank. But apparently I cannot now according to DJI.

PS. Sorry for the second picture

JimPA · Apr 17, 2015

Tuankid said:
In my case I live in Seoul, the first pic is the no fly zone according to the government, and the second one is from DJI. Notice that the government does allow us to fly in some part north of the river and all of Southern bank. But DJI said no! I live South of the river and often fly on the Southern bank. But apparently I cannot now according to DJI.

PS. Sorry for the second picture

Most likely, DJI is simply using a radius to draw a circle around a center point. Much less memory then actually storing and drawing a boundary like your first picture.

lrwskyfilms · Apr 17, 2015

Shazbot4 said:
latest firmware update and i was the sucker who blindly installed it. now my inspire is a 3000 dollar paper weight over night and i didn't even have to crash it.

all of central san diego has been encompassed by the mother of all no fly zones. i can't fly anywhere near my house without a 20 minute drive in a direction where i wouldn't want to film anything anyway.

can't film boats. parks.. events... the ocean.... can't fly the inspire all the places i have been, like my back yard to lean the features and practice. the places a person would actually want to capture events on video all off limits.

according to DJI it's not their fault, it's the FAA's rules... so looks like im out. along with the worlds largest eletric r/c club which is now also in the no fly zone.

i bought this thing for a race this summer and was questioning to resell it when i was done. now there is no question.... whats the point of this thing if i can't film in the area where i live? there is no point, answer it's useless.. what if i travel some where and a no fly zone is in place, oh well? yeah i'll use something else.

picture shows the monster no fly zone and you can see im almost smack dab of the middle of it.

That's ********* crazy!

Josh Hanson · Apr 17, 2015

lrwskyfilms said:
That's ********* crazy!

It's also incorrect. I have flow in this area (SD bay just behind the convention center over to coranado and into the Gaslamp) since the update. The no fly is almost identical to what was there before the update.

lrwskyfilms · Apr 17, 2015

Agree, but it make it doesn't make it less crazy. Why not just put a 100ml radius around every major airport, sorry, safety first ALWAYS but not at the expense of being lazy. Just my 2p worth.

flydogs · Apr 20, 2015

Josh Hanson said:
It's also incorrect. I have flow in this area (SD bay just behind the convention center over to coranado and into the Gaslamp) since the update. The no fly is almost identical to what was there before the update.

So I am in North Park and have yet to update. Any suggestions? Feels like updating is inevitable but I don't wanna always fly miles away to train on my Inspire.

Josh Hanson · Apr 20, 2015

flydogs said:
So I am in North Park and have yet to update. Any suggestions? Feels like updating is inevitable but I don't wanna always fly miles away to train on my Inspire.

Update the app to the latest version and load up the map. It will show you the no fly boundaries. The update is well worth driving a few miles.

Shazbot4 · Apr 21, 2015

gunna recap on the situation from my original post so others in san diego aren't going WTF.

I think this was a major glitch in the app that just was with my tablet.i havn't read anyone else having the same issue I did. once I re installed the app with all the firmware current the no fly zones appear more of what dji's site shows after the .10 update that came out the next day. that big no fly zone has been replaced by a much more modest NFZ around the airport how ever it's still unrealistically to big in my opinion.

I think it's pretty safe to update for those who were holding out. I've fully updated everything and as long as im far enough from the airport everything works... with the exception of 1 thing. the dji app (for me anyway) has become unstable and crashes during flight where previous versions this never happened. setting the home point for R/C has been taken away as well.

Josh Hanson · Apr 21, 2015

Shazbot4 said:
gunna recap on the situation from my original post so others in san diego aren't going WTF.

I think this was a major glitch in the app that just was with my tablet.i havn't read anyone else having the same issue I did. once I re installed the app with all the firmware current the no fly zones appear more of what dji's site shows after the .10 update that came out the next day. that big no fly zone has been replaced by a much more modest NFZ around the airport how ever it's still unrealistically to big in my opinion.

I think it's pretty safe to update for those who were holding out. I've fully updated everything and as long as im far enough from the airport everything works... with the exception of 1 thing. the dji app (for me anyway) has become unstable and crashes during flight where previous versions this never happened. setting the home point for R/C has been taken away as well.

Sounds like somethings up with your tablet. What tablet are you using? I have the Nvidia Shield and it is rock solid/very quick.

Shazbot4 · Apr 21, 2015

galaxy tab 4 running android 4.4. im not the only one who has the app crashing during flight. there is a whole bunch of people on dji's forums who have it way worse then I do since the last updates.

as I said, before the app never crashed in 2 months of flying, not once! 1 week after the update it's happened 4 times. twice on the ground and twice in the air on the same tablet.

mjrii87 · Oct 28, 2015

Tuankid said:
In my case I live in Seoul, the first pic is the no fly zone according to the government, and the second one is from DJI. Notice that the government does allow us to fly in some part north of the river and all of Southern bank. But DJI said no! I live South of the river and often fly on the Southern bank. But apparently I cannot now according to DJI.

PS. Sorry for the second picture
View attachment 1225 View attachment 1226

I am actually a Phantom 3 pilot but am seriously considering a future release of an Inspire. I too live in Korea and am work for LG down in Daejeon. We have a nuclear research facility here and they blanket a 10 mile radius as "no fly zone" since the late 1960's. It is stupid as with mountains most of Daejeon you can not see the facility without breaking the 150m ceiling imposed on remote aircraft. The App SafeFlight is made by a Korean guy that is big on drones/quads/planes in Korea and he speaks English if you need it. Great app as they update for things like when the military (north and south) assign areas for live fire drills. I have found that the Korean "faa" and the Korean military "비행 금지 구역" (no fly zone) differ a bit. The military one seems extremely dated. I hope the government works out some new rules soon because as it stands a lot of these no fly rules at crazy. 10 mile radius? Our range is 2Km on a good day I think it is a bit overkill. Somehow though the beloved Dokdo is a green light for drones.

SultanGris · Oct 28, 2015

Dji is on the fast track to losing their number one spot in the uav market if they keep this dumb **** up. I know I'll never buy another dji product if they stay on this path. I haven't updated mine since January and I don't plan on ever doing so because I saw this coming a mile away. Their updates have never really contained any significant improvements anyway, only more flight restrictions or major bugs in most cases.