DJI has lifted its geofence that prevents users in the US from flying over restricted areas like nuclear power plants, airports and wildfires, the company wrote in a blog post on Monday. As of January 13th, areas previously called "restricted zones" or no-fly zones will be shown as "enhanced warning zones" that correspond to designated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) areas. DJI's Fly app will display a warning about those areas but will no longer stop users from flying inside them, the company said. 

In the article, DJI wrote that the "in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility." It added that technologies like Remote ID [introduced after DJI implemented geofencing] gives authorities "the tools needed to enforce existing rules," DJI's global policy chief Adam Welsh told The Verge. 

Still, the update is an odd one, given that DJI is already on shaky ground in the US and could be banned from selling its products stateside as early as next year. DJI's former head of policy, Brendon Schulman, criticized the move on Twitter in a series of posts. "There was substantial evidence over the years that automatic drone geofencing, implemented using a risk-based approach, contributed significantly to aviation safety," he wrote.  

There's also an issue with drones weighing less than 250 grams. Those models were previously geofenced via GEO in restricted areas to prevent inadvertent flight into restricted locations. However, the update will remove that geofencing, and Remote ID can be flicked off on those lightweight drones.

In fact, that's exactly what happened last week when sub-250-gram DJI model damaged the wing of a Canadair Super Scooper airplane fighting Los Angeles wildfires, putting it temporarily out of commission. That drone may not have been transmitting a remote ID, so FBI said it will need to use "investigative means" instead to find the pilot. 

DJI first implemented the geofence (called GEO) around airports in 2013, and added new zones in 2015 and 2016, after a drone crash-landed on the White House lawn. It did this voluntarily, as the FAA only requires that operators are warned about restricted areas where flying is banned. Now, though, the onus will be 100 percent on the operator to keep out of no-fly zones. 

"DJI reminds pilots to always ensure flights are conducted safely and in accordance with all local laws and regulations. For flights conducted in Enhanced Warning Zones, drone operators must obtain airspace authorization directly from the FAA and consult the FAA’s No Drone Zone resource for further information," it wrote. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/dji-will-no-longer-block-us-users-from-flying-drones-in-restricted-areas-130051778.html?src=rss

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