I think DJI removed geofencing in the US in response to the drone/aircraft collision in California near the fires around LA. Someone could surely argue that they were flying their drone within the limits (geofencing) imposed by DJI at the time the collision occurred. This could make DJI partly culpable. By removing the geofencing, DJI has perhaps removed itself from the equation of liability by imposing sole responsibility for safety on the user/pilot. "Hey, we have a warning in the printed information and we (DJI) require the user to acknowledge the basic safety rules before they can activate their drone, so it's not our fault that he/she didn't follow the rules."
Exactly! People may not realize but it's a power move on the behalf of DJI. Pilots be responsible or pay the consequences. Period! Pre-flight! LAANC! FLY SAFE! New comers must educate themselves.
@@kingisrael1532 Unfortunately, new comers don't HAVE to educate themselves. All they need is a credit card to buy the drone, a couple of hours charging time and 'yeah, whatever, click click on the "I agree" check boxes' and they are in the air. I have been flying RC airplanes for over 20 years... since way back in the days of 72MHz, glow fuel and balsa. When I started in the hobby, you had to spend a good chunk of change, spend time putting everything together and then be taught to fly. Along the way I developed some knowledge of what was OK to do and what was inadvisable to do. A crash or fly away, meant I spent more money and time. I've only just started flying a drone. It is so easy. Automatic take off, automatic landing, automatic return to home, if I get disoriented all I have to do is take my fingers off the sticks and it comes to a quick halt. It requires no training or discipline. FWIW, I've been flying a drone for only a couple of weeks, have flown RC airplanes for years and am retired RCAF aircrew
@martinhyde9663 Well we would hope they would educate themselves, it's up to us that love the craft to try at least to promote education and research. Maybe they read threads like ours and find out there are consequences and rules and guidelines.
I'm of mixed feelings on this. First off "the responsible pilots shouldn't be inconvenienced by actions taken to stop irresponsible pilots" is silly and impractical. As we've just seen, the damage that can be done by irresponsible pilots can be serious and like it or not, there's literally no way to tell responsible pilots from irresponsible ones until they do something wrong. The problem with the current system (well, previous now) was implementation. DJI was acting as gatekeeper and relied on information and access it really didn't have. That's the main reason they've abandoned geofencing, at least in the US. Even without it, in the US, to fly in many areas will require LAANC approval, which is close to immediate in many cases, but can take much longer or even is refused in many cases - and that's if the airport even supports LAANC... and these tends to be the same areas that geofencing blocked. But if we are going to ditch geofencing, then we have to ask what's the likely consequences and how do we avoid them. We fixate on the one Mini 3 Pro that crashed into a water drop plane in California - but what's rarely mentioned is that they actually tracked over 48 drones in the area. Because of this and events like New Jersey, there's growing pressure to limit drone activity entirely. Removing even a flawed system to enforce restrictions will allow even more irresponsible drone pilots to do stupid things - and the public already thinks ALL drone operators are irresponsible. So getting rid of one of the few realistic blocks to that without any alternative solution is just begging drones to be even more restricted - and probably the end of recreational drones or at least extreme restrictions on where they can fly. Meanwhile, most drone operators seem to also be against things like RemoteID (although with that, the fact that operator position is openly reported is a serious issue), so tracking bad actors is ALSO hard to do, especially when I've seen some ops openly say they will refuse to comply. I have to remind everyone, drone ownership is not a right - it's very much is a privilege granted by the aviation agency in your country. If drones become serious enough a problem, that privilege will be removed. Perhaps it's time to stop whining about what you want and start thinking about solutions to the real world problems caused by bad drone operators. Hint: mandatory registration for ALL drones and installation and use of RemoteID for all drones including sub 250g and recreational drones is not off the table.
Wished they would remove all geofence restrictions in canada as well
Thx for the update!
Michael
DroneBiz
I think DJI removed geofencing in the US in response to the drone/aircraft collision in California near the fires around LA.
Someone could surely argue that they were flying their drone within the limits (geofencing) imposed by DJI at the time the collision occurred. This could make DJI partly culpable.
By removing the geofencing, DJI has perhaps removed itself from the equation of liability by imposing sole responsibility for safety on the user/pilot.
"Hey, we have a warning in the printed information and we (DJI) require the user to acknowledge the basic safety rules before they can activate their drone, so it's not our fault that he/she didn't follow the rules."
Exactly! People may not realize but it's a power move on the behalf of DJI. Pilots be responsible or pay the consequences. Period! Pre-flight! LAANC! FLY SAFE! New comers must educate themselves.
@@kingisrael1532 Unfortunately, new comers don't HAVE to educate themselves. All they need is a credit card to buy the drone, a couple of hours charging time and 'yeah, whatever, click click on the "I agree" check boxes' and they are in the air.
I have been flying RC airplanes for over 20 years... since way back in the days of 72MHz, glow fuel and balsa.
When I started in the hobby, you had to spend a good chunk of change, spend time putting everything together and then be taught to fly. Along the way I developed some knowledge of what was OK to do and what was inadvisable to do.
A crash or fly away, meant I spent more money and time.
I've only just started flying a drone. It is so easy. Automatic take off, automatic landing, automatic return to home, if I get disoriented all I have to do is take my fingers off the sticks and it comes to a quick halt. It requires no training or discipline.
FWIW, I've been flying a drone for only a couple of weeks, have flown RC airplanes for years and am retired RCAF aircrew
@martinhyde9663 Well we would hope they would educate themselves, it's up to us that love the craft to try at least to promote education and research. Maybe they read threads like ours and find out there are consequences and rules and guidelines.
Has geofencing been removed in Canada as well ?
Not yet, but here's hoping eventually.
I was hoping that you’re announcing the removal of geofencing in Canada as well as the US😔
Hopefully someday soon.
Canada?
Not yet at this time, red zones are still on the DJI map.
I'm of mixed feelings on this.
First off "the responsible pilots shouldn't be inconvenienced by actions taken to stop irresponsible pilots" is silly and impractical. As we've just seen, the damage that can be done by irresponsible pilots can be serious and like it or not, there's literally no way to tell responsible pilots from irresponsible ones until they do something wrong. The problem with the current system (well, previous now) was implementation. DJI was acting as gatekeeper and relied on information and access it really didn't have. That's the main reason they've abandoned geofencing, at least in the US.
Even without it, in the US, to fly in many areas will require LAANC approval, which is close to immediate in many cases, but can take much longer or even is refused in many cases - and that's if the airport even supports LAANC... and these tends to be the same areas that geofencing blocked.
But if we are going to ditch geofencing, then we have to ask what's the likely consequences and how do we avoid them. We fixate on the one Mini 3 Pro that crashed into a water drop plane in California - but what's rarely mentioned is that they actually tracked over 48 drones in the area. Because of this and events like New Jersey, there's growing pressure to limit drone activity entirely. Removing even a flawed system to enforce restrictions will allow even more irresponsible drone pilots to do stupid things - and the public already thinks ALL drone operators are irresponsible.
So getting rid of one of the few realistic blocks to that without any alternative solution is just begging drones to be even more restricted - and probably the end of recreational drones or at least extreme restrictions on where they can fly.
Meanwhile, most drone operators seem to also be against things like RemoteID (although with that, the fact that operator position is openly reported is a serious issue), so tracking bad actors is ALSO hard to do, especially when I've seen some ops openly say they will refuse to comply.
I have to remind everyone, drone ownership is not a right - it's very much is a privilege granted by the aviation agency in your country. If drones become serious enough a problem, that privilege will be removed. Perhaps it's time to stop whining about what you want and start thinking about solutions to the real world problems caused by bad drone operators.
Hint: mandatory registration for ALL drones and installation and use of RemoteID for all drones including sub 250g and recreational drones is not off the table.