GifhornDrone 1 Posted at 4-23 08:53
I think I made a huge mistake buying this Mavic Air. I used my old drone for roof and gutter inspectiond on houses I manage. I thought I would get a really nice drone with a great camera and treat myself.  I didnt realise that most of my managed houses fall into no fly zones.  Its an expensive brick.

Most people misunderstand DJI's geo solution and think it is stopping them from flying.  Unless you are trying to fly in a red area on their map, you can very easily do the self unlock and be able to fly.  

smirnoff9969 Posted at 2018-11-24 13:37
I don`t belive that small object such as drone (amateur like Air,pro,phantom) is more dangerous than a birds...

Not true.  I've been an Aerospace Ground Technician in the Air Force for over 10 years and one of the biggest threats of aircraft damage, is known as FOD (Foreign Object Damage).  While birds can be a constant threat, something as small as a screw can cause thousands or millions of dollars of damage.  The Air Force incorporates a highly detailed QA to ensure assets and lives are not lost, due to negligence and/or FOD.  A drone can do an insane amount of damage to an airborne larger aircraft.  I don't like the 'micro managing' restrictions, though I do understand the risk involved with so many people running out and buying drones, with no clue of potential dangers involved.  Like it or not, if you operate a drone, you technically are viewed as a pilot and should be treated as such.  Order must be kept, but again, I'm not a fan of the over reaching regulations.  I can honestly see in the near future (possibly due to the rising threat of operator negligence), that you will need extensive processes to be cleared to even buy a drone.  I hope everyone can be more responsible, so that this doesn't happen.

Dthawk Posted at 2018-11-25 10:17
I agree.  This will eventually affect Drone Sales in the negative way. When you cant fly any where except in a corn field in the desert.  Why even bother getting a drone.  It will hurt them in the Long Run.  

Wake Up DJI  ! ! !  and get smart!

I won t buy DJI drones anymore. Lets stop bying its products forcing DJI fix it. No fy zones is not DJI business. IT is  local  authorities  business.

Neo Supreme Posted at 4-24 03:56
Not true.  I've been an Aerospace Ground Technician in the Air Force for over 10 years and one of the biggest threats of aircraft damage, is known as FOD (Foreign Object Damage).  While birds can be a constant threat, something as small as a screw can cause thousands or millions of dollars of damage.  The Air Force incorporates a highly detailed QA to ensure assets and lives are not lost, due to negligence and/or FOD.  A drone can do an insane amount of damage to an airborne larger aircraft.  I don't like the 'micro managing' restrictions, though I do understand the risk involved with so many people running out and buying drones, with no clue of potential dangers involved.  Like it or not, if you operate a drone, you technically are viewed as a pilot and should be treated as such.  Order must be kept, but again, I'm not a fan of the over reaching regulations.  I can honestly see in the near future (possibly due to the rising threat of operator negligence), that you will need extensive processes to be cleared to even buy a drone.  I hope everyone can be more responsible, so that this doesn't happen.

of course I  wouldn`t fly in airport areas - ascending and decenting plaines.... but  comercial airliner fly above 5000m,  sport plaines such like  Cessna is aprox. 200m  so how crazy you must be to lift your drone above 200m??

but watch this - last saturday Cessna made panoramic flight over my town Petrinja, Croatia and flew over my house maybe 150m high...my house is in free flying zone, and what if I`ve  lift my Mavic to 150m and collided with this Cessna? whos fault will that be?

smirnoff9969 Posted at 4-27 10:24
of course I  wouldn`t fly in airport areas - ascending and decenting plaines.... but  comercial airliner fly above 5000m,  sport plaines such like  Cessna is aprox. 200m  so how crazy you must be to lift your drone above 200m??

but watch this - last saturday Cessna made panoramic flight over my town Petrinja, Croatia and flew over my house maybe 150m high...my house is in free flying zone, and what if I`ve  lift my Mavic to 150m and collided with this Cessna? whos fault will that be?

I understand all too well.  There are close by heliports in NYC.  Even in 'good' areas to fly, you still have to look out for a very low flying helicopter out of the blue.  They actually fly around the same elevation a drone may very well be in.  NYC seems to increasingly be less and less friendly for a UAS.

Having flown commercial jets for over 40 years and suffered my share of bird strikes, I fully understand the need for restrictions. However, since retirement, I now spend 6 months of the year in the warmth on a small Caribbean island which has an international airport. My house is 4km from the airfield, but not in the take-off or landing zone. I downloaded the upgrade on my Mavic Air just before I left the island for the summer and then discovered that I couldn't even start it. As I have no need to fly my drone above 100 ft and not out of sight, it presents no risk to aircraft. My house is on the beach, which is where I mostly wish to fly it. I am hoping that there is a way around the software preventing me from flying it, otherwise, this upgrade negates the main reason for me buying it.

Sorry if its been mentioned - I could not be bothered reading a wall of text mostly of people trying to explain how important they are to the world.

However, Have you attempted to perform a self-unlock ? Most zones except red i believe (could be wrong)  can be self unlocked via either phone number or credit card (no charge). The idea of the phone and/or credit card is to link the unlock to a pilot - so if something goes wrong they have someone to link.

Only just recently the same happen to me -I am able to unlock with in about 2 Mins, a pain in the butt for sure but its this or your hack your mavic and remove all geofencing  - In Australia it is perfectly legal to remove geofencing from your RPA - for the time being - however i do this this will change soon.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2018-11-25 18:57
This is why nothing before my Mavic 2 Pro will ever be updated.  I have no problem with the envelope & glide paths around airports.  Getting a chuckle out of some of the small NFZs around the city.  A few churches & the old William Donald Schaffer halfway house have been marked as full-time NFZs!  At least the blue areas are unlockable.

Aren't they forcing it after a time period?

I live 7 miles from the Airport and I'm still in Class B Airspace which is now not allowed to fly. Planes coming into Philly when they pass near me are never below 2700-3000 feet...

Could not take off today in a completely absolutely no restriction no overlays or anything suggesting GEO Fencing but according to dji NFZ. Good job I had another drone