Imagine my surprise when updated my Mavic Air's firmware yesterday only to discover that [after 2 years of Mavic Air ownership in the same location] I suddenly found I could not fly in my own backyard or even indoors because of DJI's outrageously draconian NO-FLY ZONE enforcement which renders the drone unflyable -- all at DJI's discretion and with no obvious way to disable it

At present, only communist China requires enforced geofencing so how can this type of remore product immobilization possibly be legal in the US???

Fortunately DJI appears to be alone in this insanity as more consumer-oriented companies like Autel merely "warn" you and [quite rightfully] leave it up to you as to whether or not you can takeoff. Personally, I will never purchase another DJI product until they respect our rights

Wait till Big Brother adds Geo-Fencing to Cars.  Sorry, you can't drive into restricted area.  Sorry, this area is off limits to general public.

Along with forcing vehicle makers to provide Big-Brother with data collected via Car's GPS Nav system.  Thru either built-in cellular services or owner's Smartphone connected to vehicle with BlueTooth.   Citizen we see you have been excessively speeding.  Citizen you have been running stop signs.   Or currently...  Citizen you violated Stay Home directive of your State.


Anyway, what is your house near that might have caused new entry into your drone's No-Flight Zone database?
Are you near an Airport?   Prison?   Life-flight (medical) Helicopter pad?   ????

Hi Crady, I'm sorry to hear about the No Fly Zone issue with your drone, please send an email to flysafe@dji.com and provide more details about it, our related team will help you check it. Thanks.

DJI Natalia Posted at 4-17 23:45
Hi Crady, I'm sorry to hear about the No Fly Zone issue with your drone, please send an email to  and provide more details about it, our related team will help you check it. Thanks.

??? What "more details" does DJI need?  I upgraded the firmware on my Mavic Air and now I cannot fly in my own backyard or indoors on my property because DJI claims I am in a NFZ.  Here in the US DJI has NO legal authority to disable a privately owned product

I believe a class action lawsuit against DJI for disabling products legally purchased may be the only way to resolve this

Crady Posted at 4-18 11:39
??? What "more details" does DJI need?  I upgraded the firmware on my Mavic Air and now I cannot fly in my own backyard or indoors on my property because DJI claims I am in a NFZ.  Here in the US DJI has NO legal authority to disable a privately owned product

I believe a class action lawsuit against DJI for disabling products legally purchased may be the only way to resolve this

Alternately, it could be a mistake that could be rectified by contacting the suggested email address and providing your location details.

I've done so in the past and have been able to convince DJI to remove NFZ from areas that didn't need it.

Ex Machina Posted at 4-18 12:59
Alternately, it could be a mistake that could be rectified by contacting the suggested email address and providing your location details.

I've done so in the past and have been able to convince DJI to remove NFZ from areas that didn't need it.

My point is DJI lacks the legal authority to ground someone's property (imagine if Apple refused to allow you to make a phone call because of where you were standing).  Currently the only country with a law on the books that authorizes companies like DJI to ground personal drones based upon GPS data is communist China (DJI's country of origin - surprise).  My next drone will be an Autel EVO II simply because Autel (a US company) respects the rights of their customers where DJI absolutely does NOT

I am sincerely hoping someone starts a class action lawsuit against DJI that I can join and am actively seeking one out

DJI's terms of use may be troublesome for you.  You may have wanted to read them, but you agreed to them:

1 - You are not able to have a class action lawsuit.  Most items require arbitration, but you are allowed to bring certain things to small claim court, but class actions are not allowed
2 - The terms of use say you will have to abide by the restrictions posted on fly-safe including altitude no flys, etc...  You agreed to that.

I will admit it sucks at times, and is wrong at times.  I'm not saying it's  great, just saying that the terms of use make it "legal" and you will not be in a class action against them.

Perhaps the NFZ is valid,  are you near an airport or prison?

DAFlys Posted at 4-19 00:41
Perhaps the NFZ is valid,  are you near an airport or prison?

OP does not what to furnish that information.

DAFlys Posted at 4-19 00:41
Perhaps the NFZ is valid,  are you near an airport or prison?

Maybe he is IN prison ....

I'm not sure what your knowledge level is in regards to airspace, so you may already know the below information.  However, I'll pass along just in case you aren't aware.

I would suggest you learn more about the airspace you are trying to fly in.  Have you checked with FAA resources to ensure you are legally allowed to fly in that area?  Is it actually restricted airspace according to the FAA?  Two commonly used apps for learning about your airspace are Kittyhawk and Airmaps.  Each of these will show you on a map whether you are in restricted airspace or not according to the FAA.  

Secondly, I would recommend you learn a bit more about DJI's geo-fencing system to learn how it works, the different zone types and restrictions that go with them and how you can easily unlock different types of zones.

Here are a couple of DJI pages to learn a bit more about them:
- https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map
- https://www.dji.com/flysafe/introduction

If you are trying to fly in one of DJI's red restricted areas, then you likely shouldn't be trying to fly there anyway as there is a high likelihood that it is either unsafe or not legal to fly there.  If you are trying to fly in one of DJI's blue authorization zones, these are extremely easy to get nearly instant authorization to fly in these areas.  You basically just need to try to launch your drone like normal and then follow the prompts.

The below video was made about the Mavic Mini, but about 4 or 5 mins into it, I demonstrate how easy it is to get authorization and fly the Mavic Air in a blue authorization zone.

Best of luck in moving forward.  Cheers!

Wow. Someone else who can't read.  The point of my post is that within the US - DJI lacks the authority to remotely disable your drone.   

zeroing Posted at 4-19 06:32
Maybe he is IN prison ....

Yes. I am in prison.  Let me guess, you had to copy & paste that

Crady Posted at 4-19 08:21
Yes. I am in prison.  Let me guess, you had to copy & paste that

Prisons are usually shown as red NFZ's and cannot be unlocked,  almost all the other zones can be unlocked although sometime you need to prove you have permission to fly.  Ive yet to find a NFZ that was wrong, but I have noticed some of the older drones like the Inspire 1 don't show all the zones that say a M2P will.

Crady Posted at 4-18 13:07
My point is DJI lacks the legal authority to ground someone's property (imagine if Apple refused to allow you to make a phone call because of where you were standing).  Currently the only country with a law on the books that authorizes companies like DJI to ground personal drones based upon GPS data is communist China (DJI's country of origin - surprise).  My next drone will be an Autel EVO II simply because Autel (a US company) respects the rights of their customers where DJI absolutely does NOT

I am sincerely hoping someone starts a class action lawsuit against DJI that I can join and am actively seeking one out

Number of Americans that have threatened DJI with a class action over some whining point or other = 213,885

Number of Americans who have actually tried to bring a class action = 12

Number of Americans that succeeded in said class action = 0.

While you're waiting for your Class Action to begin/join, have you tried to back rev 1 level from where you are right now?
If you are unable to back rev. a level, then the NLD process may be your only hope of getting back to "normal"../pre-NFZ issues...
I knew this was coming down the road long time ago.
That's why I haven't "updated" anything on my Mavic Gen I in almost 3 years...

Geebax Posted at 4-19 23:45
Number of Americans that have threatened DJI with a class action over some whining point or other = 213,885

Number of Americans who have actually tried to bring a class action = 12

Number of Americans that have threatened DJI with a class action over some whining point or other = 213,885

Number of Americans who have actually tried to bring a class action = 12

Number of Americans that succeeded in said class action = 0.


Do you know if the class action you mention was due to the geo fencing or something else?

https://jrupprechtlaw.com/drone-lawsuits-litigation/

answer isn't as simple as a yes or a no unfortunately thanks to complicated loopholes that are always exploited.    on a physical level, no they cant,  hardware purchased in full is your's the customers. however software, thats grey area.     


further explanation and understanding of the problem:

they are exploiting the way law has been established (thanks boomers) utilize things like DCMA acts and relevent things as such and claiming they own the software on the hardware therefore they can control the software, which has the side effect of controlling said hardware as well but indirectly they will argue that the hardware is physically capable of taking off but software denied it.    are they within their rights to control the software? maybe.. again no yes or no here because of the side effects it can be argued both ways.    huge grey area because legally you are buying hardware, software is more or less argued as a service.   but i would argue that if they wish to control the software,  they need offer the ability to sideload our own software on the hardware in which we purchased at full cost or some other provider's software of our choosing..

as for can you take them to court, yea, you can certain breach  contract such as this without much problem, worst DJi could do to u would be to disable your software further, which would only validate your argument further, a EULA and ToS is way below the law.

EDIT: LOL someone downvoted the truth and reality.

Crady Posted at 4-18 11:39
??? What "more details" does DJI need?  I upgraded the firmware on my Mavic Air and now I cannot fly in my own backyard or indoors on my property because DJI claims I am in a NFZ.  Here in the US DJI has NO legal authority to disable a privately owned product

I believe a class action lawsuit against DJI for disabling products legally purchased may be the only way to resolve this

Ok you want the freedom to choose whether you break the law or not, but if the law says you cannot fly in that zone and you are going to fly then you are going to break the law, you want to take dji to court for breaking the law, so you have the freedom to break the law, it’s a bit hypocritical, it’s not really a human right thing as well as that you now have or have had two drones, “so once bitten twice shy” your class action is not for class it’s a selfish issue so you can break the law, sue on your own I’m sure others won’t sue just so they can break the law.

Flycaster Posted at 4-20 11:03
https://jrupprechtlaw.com/drone-lawsuits-litigation/

Impressive, starts like this and doesn’t get much better.


Federal District Court
United States v. Jason Muzzicato. Jason is alleged to have used a DJI Phantom 3 with explosives to terrorize his ex-girlfriends house. Failing to register the drone is one of the count.

hallmark007 Posted at 4-20 11:52
Ok you want the freedom to choose whether you break the law or not, but if the law says you cannot fly in that zone and you are going to fly then you are going to break the law, you want to take dji to court for breaking the law, so you have the freedom to break the law, it’s a bit hypocritical, it’s not really a human right thing as well as that you now have or have had two drones, “so once bitten twice shy” your class action is not for class it’s a selfish issue so you can break the law, sue on your own I’m sure others won’t sue just so they can break the law.

actually that is another thing that was argued about this before, not drones but, with systems like onstar being utilized in someone's car when hey ran from the police.   police knew car has a passive onstar system and pushed to have software used to disable the vehical during a chase, got taken to court, now only time the police can utilize such services is when they have permission from the owner of the vehical.  so as unlikely as you think it maybe, always the possibility...

HereForTheBeer Posted at 4-20 12:21
actually that is another thing that was argued about this before, not drones but, with systems like onstar being utilized in someone's car when hey ran from the police.   police knew car has a passive onstar system and pushed to have software used to disable the vehical during a chase, got taken to court, now only time the police can utilize such services is when they have permission from the owner of the vehical.  so as unlikely as you think it maybe, always the possibility...

I’m not talking about the law, if dji are breaking the law then it’s the responsibility of those who uphold the law to stop them, it’s not like they are trying to hoodwink anyone, all dji drones are sold with NFZ if you claim they are breaking the law then it’s not difficult to prove this, yet as someone above said, millions of drones “not one successful case” to stop drones from being sold.

AutelRocks Posted at 4-20 07:53
Number of people who should fuckthemselves with a chainsaw:  Well you , obviously

OK, we will just report you for bad language and see what happens, most likely you will be banned.

Geebax Posted at 4-20 20:15
OK, we will just report you for bad language and see what happens, most likely you will be banned.

and that will serve what? only proves you cant really deal with critisim.  

sidenote: they dont permaban here as far as i witnessed or hallmark  and his alias accounts would have been long since gone. he's been banned more than anyone here on several accounts.  

HereForTheBeer Posted at 4-21 17:16
and that will serve what? only proves you cant really deal with critisim.  

sidenote: they dont permaban here as far as i witnessed or hallmark  and his alias accounts would have been long since gone. he's been banned more than anyone here on several accounts.

Are you really unable to see the difference between criticism and foul language? I handle criticism very well actually, but bad language is the last resort of a moron. And yes, they do ban permanently here, it has happened many times in the past.

Geebax Posted at 4-21 18:20
Are you really unable to see the difference between criticism and foul language? I handle criticism very well actually, but bad language is the last resort of a moron. And yes, they do ban permanently here, it has happened many times in the past.

he is criticizing you though (not in best way by any measure)  for posting fairly irrelevant statistics.  the legal system is run by the 1% and politicians.   i mean ..., we had a law changed locally for smog emissions testing overnight basically with no vote or study or anything (was a while back) because a politician's car didn't pass that portion so they removed the requirement for a few counties in my state.     im sure if a politician got a DJI drone, paid a premium for it and couldn't fly it in his or her back yard sh*t would get changed mighty quick.     

as a side note though, this entire thread perfectly explains why i left DJi forums for a few months and why several people here have left probably forever.   

HereForTheBeer Posted at 4-21 18:55
he is criticizing you though (not in best way by any measure)  for posting fairly irrelevant statistics.  the legal system is run by the 1% and politicians.   i mean ..., we had a law changed locally for smog emissions testing overnight basically with no vote or study or anything (was a while back) because a politician's car didn't pass that portion so they removed the requirement for a few counties in my state.     im sure if a politician got a DJI drone, paid a premium for it and couldn't fly it in his or her back yard sh*t would get changed mighty quick.     

as a side note though, this entire thread perfectly explains why i left DJi forums for a few months and why several people here have left probably forever.

My post was meant to ridicule those Americans whose first reaction to anything they perceive as unfair is to reach for a lawyer, a practice that the rest of thwe world finds amusing. Oh, and to point out that in the case of DJI, will not get anywhere.

Geebax Posted at 4-21 19:05
My post was meant to ridicule those Americans whose first reaction to anything they perceive as unfair is to reach for a lawyer, a practice that the rest of thwe world finds amusing. Oh, and to point out that in the case of DJI, will not get anywhere.

and my point, no specifically towards you about your numbers but in general is that the issue is the legal system is messed up corrupt landscape.  the issue we are fighting isn't with the hardware so much as it is with the software, but most attacks come at the hardware.    this becomes super trick as its HW/SW legal balance issue as wel do legally own the hardware and thus do have full control over it howveer software is licenses to us and we dono have contorl over it and because way legal system works, small changes in how thing get worded makes masive differance.. it take along time and thus huge amount of money and tons of free time to fight the cause, probably puts a massive majority of even wealthy pilots out of it.. back to the 1%ers and politicans really being the only people make a differance.

i do genuinely hope one day this does land n court and DJI gets overruled , mostly because i do think that DJi's method is far too overbearing personally.  like i fully accept risks of flying and dangers, fi i am n n NFZ sure yell at me but should not in my opinion deny take offs, i dont even care if doing said take off event if a crash occurs that warranty gets denied because i ignored the warnings and accepted complete fault and liability over all mishappenings.  i mean plenty of times where NFZ has grounded people inside a building, which is outside of the FAA's jurisdiction and where NFZs suddenly be realized by the drone and caused glitches where control is los or where very limited window where auto and occurs which my end up causing the drone to land in a water body like a river or ocean or somewhere fairly inaccessible like harsh rugged terrain..

DJI is just protecting themselves, to our detriment, period.
BUT, there is a way around all of this "nannying"...
Go the "No Limit Drones" route.....

https://nolimitdronez.com/

But myself, I chose the easier route.

I've never updated anything in almost 3 years on my Mav Gen I.
Zero issues, and zero nannying etc...

HereForTheBeer Posted at 4-22 10:50
and my point, no specifically towards you about your numbers but in general is that the issue is the legal system is messed up corrupt landscape.  the issue we are fighting isn't with the hardware so much as it is with the software, but most attacks come at the hardware.    this becomes super trick as its HW/SW legal balance issue as wel do legally own the hardware and thus do have full control over it howveer software is licenses to us and we dono have contorl over it and because way legal system works, small changes in how thing get worded makes masive differance.. it take along time and thus huge amount of money and tons of free time to fight the cause, probably puts a massive majority of even wealthy pilots out of it.. back to the 1%ers and politicans really being the only people make a differance.

i do genuinely hope one day this does land n court and DJI gets overruled , mostly because i do think that DJi's method is far too overbearing personally.  like i fully accept risks of flying and dangers, fi i am n n NFZ sure yell at me but should not in my opinion deny take offs, i dont even care if doing said take off event if a crash occurs that warranty gets denied because i ignored the warnings and accepted complete fault and liability over all mishappenings.  i mean plenty of times where NFZ has grounded people inside a building, which is outside of the FAA's jurisdiction and where NFZs suddenly be realized by the drone and caused glitches where control is los or where very limited window where auto and occurs which my end up causing the drone to land in a water body like a river or ocean or somewhere fairly inaccessible like harsh rugged terrain..

You miss the point, DJI is a Chinese owned company. Even if you did start a legal case against them, that case can only proceed inside the US, outside of the US your legal system has no effect. If DJI choose to ignore any decision they can.  China does not abide by, nor respect any legal system outside of their own country and even inside China, it does not work.

Geebax Posted at 4-22 13:31
You miss the point, DJI is a Chinese owned company. Even if you did start a legal case against them, that case can only proceed inside the US, outside of the US your legal system has no effect. If DJI choose to ignore any decision they can.  China does not abide by, nor respect any legal system outside of their own country and even inside China, it does not work.

Good point Geebax and what about the notion that the FAA has requested DJI to implement Geofencing as a way to control UAV's in NFZ's.

MoonDoggie59 Posted at 4-22 14:24
Good point Geebax and what about the notion that the FAA has requested DJI to implement Geofencing as a way to control UAV's in NFZ's.

Yes, that was quite true. Back several years, three drone makers, two of them at the time were US based, got together with the FAA and came up with the NFZ system. However the two US makers went bust leaving only DJI in the picture. THE NFZ system was very specifically designed to placate tthe FAA.

Geebax Posted at 4-22 15:22
Yes, that was quite true. Back several years, three drone makers, two of them at the time were US based, got together with the FAA and came up with the NFZ system. However the two US makers went bust leaving only DJI in the picture. THE NFZ system was very specifically designed to placate tthe FAA.

It seems the system has good intentions and in some cases I'm sure it is helpful.
Looks like it is still a bit cumbersome, like locks, it keeps the honest honest but seems to frustrate some.
I haven't updated the flysafe since they went to bow tie shapes and I don't plan to until it is more refined.
The best we can do is continue to show just cause as to why some areas need to be removed or altered.
Fortunately, I don't fly near any NFZ, but I feel for those who struggle with it.

Crady Posted at 4-18 13:07
My point is DJI lacks the legal authority to ground someone's property (imagine if Apple refused to allow you to make a phone call because of where you were standing).  Currently the only country with a law on the books that authorizes companies like DJI to ground personal drones based upon GPS data is communist China (DJI's country of origin - surprise).  My next drone will be an Autel EVO II simply because Autel (a US company) respects the rights of their customers where DJI absolutely does NOT

I am sincerely hoping someone starts a class action lawsuit against DJI that I can join and am actively seeking one out

Suggest you check Autel's background and make sure it is not owned by a Chinese company. Good luck.

I havent powered my Air up in over a year. I am guessing it would not be wise to update the firmware?  

Mr. Motta Posted at 4-26 00:27
I havent powered my Air up in over a year. I am guessing it would not be wise to update the firmware?

Meh. Firmware is probably fine -- it's the NFZ database updates that I've been ignoring. Read the firmware readme to see if the updates addresses any issues that you want addressed.