Now I don’t know if I am late coming to the party on this, but I didn’t get the memo (or in this case, press release).
Let me explain. Exactly 12 months ago I was preparing for what I expected to be a nightmare paperwork struggle to apply for geozone unlocking so that I could fly one of my drones – a DJI Flip in this case – whilst on Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean).
As it turned out, it was easier than I thought – you can read about it here and here – and only needed a bit of email documentation from the relevant local authority, that is, the airport controller, and submitting that to DJI. In turn, they send a code for the dates and times you have been allowed, and this is updated in your controller in the DJI Fly software.
Try and fly in a restricted zone outside these times and well, it just won’t. If I recall I was allowed a height of 20 metres and 1 minute before it self-landed with a warning message
I repeated the process successfully a few months later for Cocos Island.
Today, I attempted to replicate the procedure for an upcoming trip to Broome in the Kimberley’s, due to a long planned European trip having to be postponed due to some orange idiot on the other side of the world throwing a bit of a tanty.
But try as I might, it just wouldn’t work with the DJI website, after successfully allowing me to select Broome airspace, stubbornly asking for a date period without any means to enter it.
I know from experience that the online chat DJI support is somewhat excellent, so logged in and spoke to “Oscar” at length.
And this is the bit where I didn’t get the memo.
It seems that the process of unlocking was superseded back in November of last year, and all you need to do now is make sure your DJI FlySafe app is up to date (ver 1:00:01:39).
If you absolutely cannot fly at a location, if you try, you are apparently still locked, but in all other cases, it is advisory only I was told, with the proviso of course that if you do need authorisation from whoever, DJI of course does recommend you do so, just they are no longer the police so to speak.
“… we remind all drone pilots to prioritize flight safety, comply with local laws and regulations, and obtain any required authorizations before flying. DJI’s FlySafe data continues to provide advisory information to enhance situational awareness, but it does not replace the official airspace data published by national aviation authorities …” is the exact quote.
I was also referred to the official press release, and you can read that at https://www.dji.com/au/media-center/announcements/dji-expands-geo-system-update-to-remaining .
One final note: I have not put this to the test yet as I am a fair distance from any restricted airspace where I am right now, so don’t shoot me if you can prove me wrong!
But these words came straight from the top, so I have no reason to believe they are in error.
Image: In the image shown from OK2Fly, I can therefore fly in the vicinity of the port of Broome, but as the 5.5km airport exclusion zone covers most of trhe township and suburbs, just about anywhere else is out of bounds including Cable Beach – planes land smack over the top of that and quite low altitude.
2 Comments
Micro – sub 250g drone may fly in controlled airspace with the following rules
Micro RPA may be flown within 5.5 km of
the measurement point of the runway of a
controlled aerodrome, up to an operating
height of 45 m, provided they are:
› not operated over the movement area
› not operated over or in the departure or
approach path
› not operated inside the boundary of the
aerodrome
› not creating a collision hazard to other
aircraft taking off or landing.
This is a direct quote from the CASA publication – part-101-micro-excluded-rpa-operations-plain-english-guide.pdf, page 16, available on their website.
OK2fly will give you the information as to where the boundaries and approach/departure zones are.
I don’t work in CASA and so this is my interpretation only, not legal advice, but it does seem pretty clear. It led me to buy a mini 4 pro for a job at a Melbourne golf course that fell within controlled airspace – only needed to fly at treetop height and a whole lot cheaper than upgrading my license to a full REOC and paying flight clearance application fees to CASA. Common sense always applies and always give way to general aviation…
Keep up the good work and enjoy the newsletters. Cheers TH
Spot on Terry, common sense is the key. The Rules are there as guidelines in most cases, but of course, any blatant disregard that puts anyone in danger potentially prosecuted IMO.