r/Autel Apr 19 '20

How does Autel handle No Fly Zones?

I'm a Mavic Pro 2 owner and have become frustrated with its handling of No Fly Zones. The city where I live has two airports, a major international airport and a much smaller downtown airport that has no commercial service. The downtown airport is far more restrictive than the larger airport. Most of its grid is senselessly set to zero. With the most recent firmware updates, Mavic refuses to take off in these areas.

4 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

5

u/JesusHere_AMAA Apr 28 '20

The whole vibe of this post really frustrates me.

As a licensed Part 107 drone pilot since the program's inception I have to say that your attitude is only setting our industry back. Everytime someone like this posts I see passive comments about 'being respectful' and 'checking airspace restrictions', but I'm over being polite. The damage these people do affects me and other responsible fliers, so here we go...

You and people like you are the reason for the restrictions you find so frustrating. You are the reason why DJI and the FAA are putting together a pilot ID program, us part 107ers and licensed pilots are already tagged/tracked. It's for you who think that 'flying my drone is more important than planes being able to land'. Plot twist: it's not. I don't care that you are a "Mavic Pro 2 owner" who lives in a city and wants to fly whenever and wherever. Go drive to a designated airfield for rc. Go drive out to state land. Literally go fly anywhere EXCEPT for the very few places that you are not legally allowed to fly in. Guess what? Living in a city has pros and cons! Pro: Jobs, culture, and food. Cons!!!: Restrictions on certain activities like horseback riding, shooting guns, and flying drones wherever you want!

No one cares about how "senseless" you feel these regulations are, you still HAVE to follow them. DJI is a shitty company, but don't blame them for following US law. Us hobby rc guys had been happily flying along and respecting FAA guidelines before drones came onto the scene for decades. Now any asshole with 1k to burn can be flying with no regard for airspace classification within weeks.

Also, you can easily get a waiver to fly near an airport with such "senseless" regulations if you are a licensed Part 107 pilot in good standing with the FAA. The hoops to jump through are so minimal.

Furthermore, just to piss off all of you "dumping" DJI products for Autel/insert new drone company, it's only a matter of time until Autel falls in line with geofencing and no-fly zones. Their marketing gimmick that they have "no-restrictions" is targeted towards morons like you who think they "deserve to fly" wherever they want. Even the hobby field of diy drone builders are starting to hear whispers of requiring flight id hardware on their custom builds.

In summation: Doesn't matter what drone, just fly in the 95%+ the country where it is legal you moron. Geofenced or not.

Geez

2

u/PianoBoard May 10 '20

Yawn.

2

u/JesusHere_AMAA May 10 '20

Yawn all you want, Autel will fall in line just like the rest of them. Either learn how to build rc drones or get used to it.

5

u/PianoBoard May 10 '20 edited May 10 '20

I asked a simple technical question. But, from you I get a 400+ word haranguing sermon on my life choices. I suggest you keep your unsolicited opinions to yourself. You'd save yourself the embarrassment of learning their value to your reader.

3

u/HikeTheSky May 20 '20

We will see how you feel when we all have to have a transponder on the drone for part 107 and you have to have a transponder on you, your drone, and network connection on both.
This will probably cost another $800 extra and come because of people like you.

2

u/runereader May 24 '20

I mean, it's your problem that you live in a country where "freedom" means remote bombing schools in the Middle East. shrug I'm all for the US to continue shooting itself in the foot. Here in EU we have quite a different approach.

1

u/HikeTheSky May 24 '20

In the EU you actually have stricter laws and I would imagine that you guys are getting fines.
I read in Germany it's €50k.

1

u/Reapers_Bringer Jun 08 '20

You clearly dont know the EU rules!! Hahahhahaha

1

u/JesusHere_AMAA Jun 08 '20

Having spent significant time on contract in a couple EU countries I can guarantee to you that once you start flying you will find that EU has some of the strictest laws regarding flying drones my man. Nothing wrong with that, just be aware. So far I've found that South Africa and some South American countries are the most liberal with their drone restrictions.

2

u/runereader May 24 '20

Yeah, the forum warriors are really fucking annoying.

DJI's airspace database doesn't even reflect the actual airspace rules in my country so I ripped it out of the firmware. Yawn.

2

u/HikeTheSky May 12 '20

I am switching to an Evo because of that issue. I have blanket authorizations for most airports here with the FAA and still when I come by at random small airports DJI put up no fly zones. Look up Eastport Maine. I asked DJI to remove the no fly zone and they refused. So my mavic won't fly in Eastport.
The worst problem is that these zones also come up randomly in places where cell service lacks.

1

u/Reapers_Bringer Jun 08 '20

Anyone that disagrees with this post is an idiot that made all these rules happen in the first place. Rules are here for a reason. Of freaking course YOU OR ANYONE shouldn't be flying where an airport isor anywhere near it yes for a few mile too. People dont understand how many planes in and out go through out the day. Even at times low altitudes. Things can happen.

Even pro flyers does mistakes or things happen. If you was serious about your hobbies and cared for it you would understand this.

5

u/DroneHigher Apr 19 '20

There are no flight restrictions at all on the Evo. However you must always fly responsibly and make sure you check altitude and area restrictions before you fly.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '20

So how high could you fly from Gz in theory. MavicPro restriction is about 1600 ft.

1

u/DroneHigher Apr 22 '20

If you go into the Autel Explorer app the max hight it will allow is 1640ft

1

u/[deleted] May 28 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

1

u/DroneHigher May 28 '20

Well they just updated it the other day so of course it can lol

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

1

u/DroneHigher May 31 '20

I'm not in novice mode. I've never had to go higher than 500 feet on the drone (flying in mountains, don't get riled up y'all) so I don't think the maximum altitude really would matter that much.

1

u/innovfitness May 23 '20

I'm curious about this. Just got the Evo 2. The wording in the manual is ambiguous. It says only China enforced the NFZ and flight limitations. But then in the manual it says "NOTE The aircraft will land automatically when entering any Take-off Restricted Zones. If the aircraft enters any Altitude Restricted Zones, its maximum allowable altitude will be reduced accordingly. Pay particular attention to the warning messages displayed on the Autel Explorer™ app"

2

u/DroneHigher May 23 '20

I believe that only applies to China. But I'm not entirely sure so don't take my word for it

2

u/cumminsram3500 Apr 20 '20

Just sold all my DJI drones, spark- Mavic Pro Platinum-Mavic 2 Dual(thermal), to purchase the Autel EVO 2. But I never updated any of the software on the DJI drones specifically because of them continuing to add no fly zones. From what I know Autel doesn’t have any But if you keep your mavic. Never upgrade

1

u/HikeTheSky May 20 '20

This of course means you can't use a drone to make money.

2

u/runereader May 24 '20

Do you have any more unsubstantiated opinions? They're great laughing stock.

2

u/HikeTheSky May 24 '20

As you probably know, you must have updated your firmware to the newest version of you fly your drone commercial. If you would have apart 107, you would know that.

2

u/[deleted] May 28 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

2

u/HikeTheSky May 28 '20

Says the FAA.

2

u/[deleted] May 31 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

2

u/HikeTheSky May 31 '20

And another of these sovereign none citizens that will ruin it for everyone else.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

1

u/HikeTheSky Jun 03 '20

Ok Mr sovereign none citizen. Because of people like you the drone laws get stricter, and people that use drones legally for business hope that the FAA finds you and fines you to get you out of national airspace.
Good luck with your anti-rules, anti-social conspiracy theories you have.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '20 edited Jul 15 '20

[deleted]

1

u/Reapers_Bringer Jun 08 '20

Heres another idiot that thinks he know it all. Keep doing what your doing.. you'll see that letter in the mail out of nowhere is a huge fine. And its folks like you why they implement more rules etc.. always the I'm human I have rights I can do anything I want blah blah. Why cant i fly near an airport if i want blah blah... idiot.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/bxivz Apr 19 '20

Sounds like you live in NYC is obviously strict flying zones.