I had my first experience with an Enhanced Warning Zone today, well 2 of them to be honest. I was standing on a condemned bridge along the Rancocas Creek in south New Jersey. I was unaware that I was within 5 miles of an active local airport. I knew I was about 9 miles from an active joint military installation. When I went to take-off, I got a message that had two check boxes I had to accept and I had to tap an OK box to continue to fly. I’m intentionally being vague, because the messages in this box were buried in layers of imagery from the DJI Go 4 app on my iOS device. I couldn’t read the messages, and it took several attempts at selecting check boxes before I could fly. After a battery, I landed and swapped to the Pro + controller. When I went to launch the message dialog came up again, this time it was on top of the rest of the app. I could clearly read that it was making me accept responsibility for flying in thes two warning zones. Due to my needs at the time, I didn’t try the non + controller and iOS device a second time just to see if it was a one time thing. I was pretty upset with myself for not thinking, and taking a quick screen shot of the issue. I promise, I’m learning and will do so in the future. iOS is one rev behind the 11.2.5 update. The Go 4 app is 4.2.4 (3066). The Pro + is 4.1.15 (19-dpad)

Jeff

Check where you fly before you fly! Especially if you are representing a community!!

eman_vg Posted at 2018-1-27 12:23
Check where you fly before you fly! Especially if you are representing a community!!

Which community? ;-)


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2018-1-27 12:33
Which community? ;-)

I'm not sure actually

eman_vg Posted at 2018-1-27 12:33
I'm not sure actually

You wrote it. Must have had some idea.

RC community, perhaps...


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2018-1-27 12:35
You wrote it. Must have had some idea.

RC community, perhaps...

*sarcasm intended*

No I think it represents another community...

eman_vg Posted at 2018-1-27 12:39
*sarcasm intended*

No I think it represents another community...

Ok, well I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Haha

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Pics, or it didn't happen. Chuckles



RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2018-1-27 13:37
Ok, well I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Haha

[view_image]Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

OPTIMUS AMAZON PRIME

OK jokers. The question wasn't "did I do the wrong thing flying in a warning zone" it was "has anyone else seen warning dialogs on an iOS device that were buried under the text on the Go 4 app, that made them unreadable?"

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-27 17:16
OK jokers. The question wasn't "did I do the wrong thing flying in a warning zone" it was "has anyone else seen warning dialogs on an iOS device that were buried under the text on the Go 4 app, that made them unreadable?"

Jeff

Perfect response!

I regularly fly “near” a local airport, and I get these two messages whenever I forget to authorize my Spark in advance (in the app) for this zone, and I also have an iPhone (iOS 11). It is true that said message can be partially covered by warnings from the app, but these can be clicked away, after that it’s perfectly readable.

When the weather clears up, I need to reproduce this and get some screen shots. It was unreadable on my iPad Air, and maybe I missed that it could be cleared up. Thank you for the response

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-28 04:28
When the weather clears up, I need to reproduce this and get some screen shots. It was unreadable on my iPad Air, and maybe I missed that it could be cleared up. Thank you for the response

Jeff

Otherwise, if you know beforehand that you'll be flying in a restricted zone, you can pre-authorize your Spark from your home, the link is in the app: Me > More > My Unlock NFZ Application. I think you still get a warning message at takeoff, but you don't have to wait for the unlocking code when you're all ready to go...

KurtVD Posted at 2018-1-28 09:59
Otherwise, if you know beforehand that you'll be flying in a restricted zone, you can pre-authorize your Spark from your home, the link is in the app: Me > More > My Unlock NFZ Application. I think you still get a warning message at takeoff, but you don't have to wait for the unlocking code when you're all ready to go...

I like the suggestion, but I do think if there really is a problem with the Warning Dialog being unreadable because of a mixing with the normal display, that should be addressed by DJI.

Jeff

I use flight radar 24 to see if there are planes around, if not, I go for it. Using the flight radar app keeps near misses to an absolute minimum.

I’ve been flying from the exact same for over a year with no problems. I’m in a class D zone which I get a warning for every time I fly. I flew Monday January 22nd thru the 25th with no problems. I tried to fly from the same spot on the 26th and got this message in the middle of my screen saying I had to voluntarily unlock my location before I could fly in the same spot I’ve been flying at for over a year. I had to jump thru a bunch of hoops to put in all the information needed to unlock the zone. I did all this and got to fly til I landed to change the battery and had the same problem again! The fly safe page says there is a setting in the general settings in DJI go app that you can check to,see if your unlock code was downloaded. There is no such setting! What is going on DJI! I sent an email to airmap.com who supply DJI with the fly safe maps. Have not heard back yet. Anyone else run into this problem?

MrrWilly Posted at 2018-1-28 12:08
I’ve been flying from the exact same for over a year with no problems. I’m in a class D zone which I get a warning for every time I fly. I flew Monday January 22nd thru the 25th with no problems. I tried to fly from the same spot on the 26th and got this message in the middle of my screen saying I had to voluntarily unlock my location before I could fly in the same spot I’ve been flying at for over a year. I had to jump thru a bunch of hoops to put in all the information needed to unlock the zone. I did all this and got to fly til I landed to change the battery and had the same problem again! The fly safe page says there is a setting in the general settings in DJI go app that you can check to,see if your unlock code was downloaded. There is no such setting! What is going on DJI! I sent an email to airmap.com who supply DJI with the fly safe maps. Have not heard back yet. Anyone else run into this problem?

If your unlock procedure looks anything like the one I have to do (maybe it's different here in Europe), once I get the unlock code and I enter it, I'm authorised to fly in this area for 24 hours. The warning dialog with the two checkmarks to set will still come up at the beginning of the flight, but that's it.

Once, when I had done the unlocking just a few minutes in advance, I couldn't take off and had to do the procedure again, but later I discovered that there would have been a way to force update the system with the unlocking information, but unfortunately I forgot how. I suspect this is what happened in your case, your unlocking information wasn't updated yes. Question: Did you switch off the remote while you were changing the battery? I would guess that if you had left it on, you shouldn't have had this problem.

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-27 17:16
OK jokers. The question wasn't "did I do the wrong thing flying in a warning zone" it was "has anyone else seen warning dialogs on an iOS device that were buried under the text on the Go 4 app, that made them unreadable?"

Jeff

No, I fly in Class D airspace in two parks near my house I get this box to reply to about 1/3 of the time I fly. it is always before takeoff and is in its own box easy to read.  I would like to see your screen shot when you get it.

KurtVD Posted at 2018-1-28 22:10
If your unlock procedure looks anything like the one I have to do (maybe it's different here in Europe), once I get the unlock code and I enter it, I'm authorised to fly in this area for 24 hours. The warning dialog with the two checkmarks to set will still come up at the beginning of the flight, but that's it.

Once, when I had done the unlocking just a few minutes in advance, I couldn't take off and had to do the procedure again, but later I discovered that there would have been a way to force update the system with the unlocking information, but unfortunately I forgot how. I suspect this is what happened in your case, your unlocking information wasn't updated yes. Question: Did you switch off the remote while you were changing the battery? I would guess that if you had left it on, you shouldn't have had this problem.

The remote was on as changed batteries. I’m flying over the ocean. The nearest airport is 4 miles away. No reason for this BS. I never had to do it for the last year flying from the exact same spot

RMJovo Posted at 2018-1-29 09:51
No, I fly in Class D airspace in two parks near my house I get this box to reply to about 1/3 of the time I fly. it is always before takeoff and is in its own box easy to read.  I would like to see your screen shot when you get it.

I tried to take a screenshot. It came up all white. I have in the past always got the little warning box in the left hand corner. All it was “ Warning You Are in a class D zone. Fly with caution”. I could hit the little x in the corner and fly. This is a whole different thing just all of a sudden.

Phantom Rebel Posted at 2018-1-28 11:28
I use flight radar 24 to see if there are planes around, if not, I go for it. Using the flight radar app keeps near misses to an absolute minimum.

Unfortunately that doesn't show any of the aircraft I am likely to hit, like the local police helicopter or the huge Boeing C-17 practicing take-offs at the local airport, and does show the ones I have no chance of hitting since they are flying overhead at 40,000 ft!

If you get the warning message, make sure you understand why there is a warning message, don't just tick the boxes and ignore the warning.  If it is definitely safe and legal to fly then tick the boxes and fly.

I sometimes get it while flying if I fly into the 5 mile limit around my local airport, even though the actual limit for this airport is a lot less than 5 miles.  However it is a sensible warning that there may be low flying aircraft about, which is absolutely true.

Nigel_ Posted at 2018-1-29 10:47
Unfortunately that doesn't show any of the aircraft I am likely to hit, like the local police helicopter or the huge Boeing C-17 practicing take-offs at the local airport, and does show the ones I have no chance of hitting since they are flying overhead at 40,000 ft!

If you get the warning message, make sure you understand why there is a warning message, don't just tick the boxes and ignore the warning.  If it is definitely safe and legal to fly then tick the boxes and fly.

All night I was waiting for a bite lol!

Phantom Rebel Posted at 2018-1-29 11:08
All night I was waiting for a bite lol![view_image]

I suspect the words "keeps near misses to an absolute minimum." gave the game away!

But it is not good advice for a "Second Officer" to be giving, just in case someone takes it seriously.

Phantom Rebel Posted at 2018-1-29 11:08
All night I was waiting for a bite lol![view_image]

Bring your catch aboard, cap....  ;-)



RedHotPoker

Nigel_ Posted at 2018-1-29 11:38
I suspect the words "keeps near misses to an absolute minimum." gave the game away!

But it is not good advice for a "Second Officer" to be giving, just in case someone takes it seriously.

No room on board my boat for naive shipmates.
Know your circle, make sure everyone is rowing and not making holes when you're not looking!

MrrWilly Posted at 2018-1-29 10:09
The remote was on as changed batteries. I’m flying over the ocean. The nearest airport is 4 miles away. No reason for this BS. I never had to do it for the last year flying from the exact same spot

Ok then, my bad.

You can check in which zone a particular site is (or is supposed to be), there's a map if you follow the unlocking link in my earlier post.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-1-30 07:48
Just tossing this out here, but it seriously bugs me this "5 mile NFZ around an airport" thing.  Generally our quads only fly a few hundred feet high.  Civil aircraft aren't flying at 400' five miles from an airport.  Other than an occasional police helicopter civil aircraft certainly aren't flying down around the buildings in a city environment.  The system used with the old Phantom 2 with the one mile diameter NFZ with a cone of gradually increasing altitude surrounding the NFZ was a much more logical system.  We don't need a 5 mile radius of total non-flight!  JMHO...

Up to now I’ve avoided talking about the fact that I was indeed flying inside a five mile radius of an active manned airport, but I’d like to add my take on that. I was standing on an abandoned bridge across a river that is lined with 50 to 70 foot trees. They’re up on a bank, at least 20’ above the bridge. About 300’ from this bridge there are two major expressway bridges at least halfway up to the height of the trees. 1 mile the other way there’s another major hiway bridge. I never flew higher than the tree tops, and stayed within a hundred yards of where I was standing. Just putting this out there: if I was in any way a threat to a passing manned aircraft, that same manned aircraft was a much larger threat to the guy driving his Mazda Miata down the New Jersey turnpike. I understand the need to be responsible and use caution while piloting an unmanned drone, but the level to which these warning zones are cast is extreme. As a ten year veteran of the USAF in flight simulation, I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp of what would be a danger to nearby aircraft. So I’m OK with selecting the check boxes, assuming responsibility and flying around a protected area inside a five mile circle around an active airfield.

Jeff

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-1-30 07:48
Just tossing this out here, but it seriously bugs me this "5 mile NFZ around an airport" thing.  Generally our quads only fly a few hundred feet high.  Civil aircraft aren't flying at 400' five miles from an airport.  Other than an occasional police helicopter civil aircraft certainly aren't flying down around the buildings in a city environment.  The system used with the old Phantom 2 with the one mile diameter NFZ with a cone of gradually increasing altitude surrounding the NFZ was a much more logical system.  We don't need a 5 mile radius of total non-flight!  JMHO...

My opinion too. Common sense always prevails with me.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-1-30 09:41
When people give me grief I usually say, "If an aircraft is down around the buildings with me they have bigger problems to worry about than my little quad."  I realize there are military bases where they do low level training flights but we don't have those near my normal flight locations.

Fortunately I haven’t had anyone hassle me yet. Most times they’re just interested, so my wife tries to run block. That was happening in Cape May NJ when I tripped and fell. She was talking to a half dozen people who were all watching me as I was running the drone up and down the beach, so I had an audience when I topped over. I’m not looking forward to the first time the local drone police show up.

Jeff

My one interaction with law enforcement was at Punkin’ Chunkin’ in Delaware. We got there before daylight and they had chutes laid out in a field to get the cars off the road before the parking area opened. We were all the way at the back of a row, so I got the P1 out and set it on the back of my truck. I started the GoPro and launched and someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I turned around and it was a guy in black military garb with “Homeland Security” on a patch. Behind him was what looked like an assault vehicle with a big mast sticking up with a camera on it. He’s got this excited look on his face. He wanted to know everything about that Phantom. He was talking to someone on a mic saying “we gotta get these things!” The whole scene made my day.

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-28 10:22
I like the suggestion, but I do think if there really is a problem with the Warning Dialog being unreadable because of a mixing with the normal display, that should be addressed by DJI.

Jeff

Those are the warnings/messages I got today before taking off, in my case they're readable. (iOS 11, DJI GO 4.2.4)

KurtVD Posted at 2018-1-30 14:55
Those are the warnings/messages I got today before taking off, in my case they're readable. (iOS 11, DJI GO 4.2.4)

[view_image]

Yep, that’s how it looked on my Pro+ controller. I’m wondering if my iPad Air needed a restart. I’ll try again this weekend and see if it does it again. Thank you for the screen shots!

Jeff

BigBlueTsunami Posted at 2018-1-30 15:28
Yep, that’s how it looked on my Pro+ controller. I’m wondering if my iPad Air needed a restart. I’ll try again this weekend and see if it does it again. Thank you for the screen shots!

Jeff

Actually, on the last message, under "Please fly with caution.", there seems to be another line of text. Wonder what is says...?

KurtVD Posted at 2018-1-30 17:35
Actually, on the last message, under "Please fly with caution.", there seems to be another line of text. Wonder what is says...?

In your first image there’s a warning dialog “Warning, cannot take off” When I got these unlock messages, there were several of that type of messages popping up. That same one, also the message about cell WiFi, wind speed, etc. they all came in a flood over the top of the unlock message dialog. I tried to tap the x to clear them, but it seems it was underneath the unlock layer. I could also see the camera icons over the unlock layer. I tapped around the unlock dialog and eventually it cleared but still wouldn’t let me take off. I backed out of the app and started it again, and this time when I tapped around, I must have chosen the correct sequence because it let me fly. Not the best scenario IMHO.

Jeff

KurtVD Posted at 2018-1-30 17:35
Actually, on the last message, under "Please fly with caution.", there seems to be another line of text. Wonder what is says...?

I am qualified to fly in this zone.

On my P3 Pro I can go into the settings menu, I think under about, and there is a "warnings" section. Click on it and it shows all the wsrnings from each flight.