AAARRGGGH! No Fly zones!

[kitefiter]

I tried to fly for a topography survey in Southern New Mexico that is adjacent to a small town. There is now a NO-Fly zone around a small airstrip which is managed by the local city. It is class E airspace (<700'AGL). The airport has no tower and no staff. The only contact is through city hall and they have no idea what is going on. we were right on the edge of the area. The DJI Go app showed that we were not really in the restricted zone but near the edge(+- 250'). The contractor is going to break ground on Monday. I now need a crew there this weekend to do a ground survey so the job can be started.

I got DJI Go to authorize the flight. The problem is that none of my regular apps would work including Map Pilot, Pix4D Capture, Datufly, Drone Deploy and DJI GS Pro. GS Pro would at least fly but would freeze at the same place everytime . The others would refuse to fly. If I started the drone in the air first, the apps would force the drone to land and turn it off. All connection to the drone was lost until the app and drone were completely restarted

This is a huge problem for us. We drove 200 miles, set ground control and spent the rest of the day getting frustrated. I have now checked Air Map for Drones and found 4 warning for the whole area including no fly zones at 100', 200', and 400' levels. I have checked Avare for the FAA maps. They only show a Class E airspace.

AAAARRRGGGH!

 

[Mark The Droner]

Git you a P2 with a good gimbal and GoPro, or a P2V+. Use it as emergency backup. Keep it on hand wherever you go.

 

[John Decker]

Sounds like you're having fun!
I have only installed DroneDeploy, DJIGo and Litchi and I quickly gave up on the first two. (Too many restrictions on the second and not my kind of usage for the first).
Litchi seems to ignore no fly zones, though in New Zealand we tend to get ignored, full stop (or period, if you're not English).
I regularly fly in no fly zones without any problems (legally, before the wowsers jump in).
It's a pain to have to learn a new bit of software but I don't think you'd be disappointed.
What kind of drone do you have?

 

[kitefiter]

I'm using a P3A and an Inspire.

It seems that the FAA now has UAS Facility Maps that are finally getting updated in my remote part of New Mexico. Some of the communities when queried by FAA have chosen a ZERO ceiling height for the community. This was done without any input from the public or professional users. Some major cities have 400' or 700' ft. ceilings even with Class B,C, and D airports and some have no restrictions at all. Several of the small rural communities with Class E airports with no tower and no airport staff have responded with 000' ceilings. There is a path to get approval for a flight with the FAA but there are many delays because of the overload of applications. Then it requires the FAA approval and a letter from the local airport to be submitted to DJI for a waiver for a 24 hour window to fly the project. This would be nice except the waiver will not approve any flight with waypoints! So no automated flights. I cannot get 1100 photos and fly manually to achieve the required accuracy for this project.
I was planning to fly a preconstruction surface mission for volume calculations. The contractor is waiting to start the project. He has time limits to meet to complete the project. My only real option is to hire a Aerial Surveying company out of another state to fly a real plane and create a topo map in a very short time frame so work can begin. I had flown in this community as recently as 45 days ago with no problems.

There went the profit in this project.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Do you have a link?

Obviously the FAA won't approve a flight with waypoints because a waypoint flight, aka as an autonomous flight, is illegal.

 

[BigAl07]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations. The only "light at the end of the tunnel" is it should get better in time. We are still in the infancy of Commercial UAS operations and in the beginning of any great endeavor you go through learning curves and hurdles.

Good luck and safe flights.

 

[John Decker]

Do you have a link?

Obviously the FAA won't approve a flight with waypoints because a waypoint flight, aka as an autonomous flight, is illegal.

Wait, you can't do autonomous flights in the USA!? That can't be right, loads of people are doing waypoint flights - aren't they?
Or am I missing something?

 

[Mark The Droner]

Sorry - I misspoke. Per 107 and 101, Waypoints/Autonomous is okay provided it's within VLOS and the pilot can regain control at anytime. My bad. Thanks for posting.

 

[wa5tef]

I tried to fly for a topography survey in Southern New Mexico that is adjacent to a small town. There is now a NO-Fly zone around a small airstrip which is managed by the local city. It is class E airspace (<700'AGL). The airport has no tower and no staff. The only contact is through city hall and they have no idea what is going on. we were right on the edge of the area. The DJI Go app showed that we were not really in the restricted zone but near the edge(+- 250'). The contractor is going to break ground on Monday. I now need a crew there this weekend to do a ground survey so the job can be started.

I got DJI Go to authorize the flight. The problem is that none of my regular apps would work including Map Pilot, Pix4D Capture, Datufly, Drone Deploy and DJI GS Pro. GS Pro would at least fly but would freeze at the same place everytime . The others would refuse to fly. If I started the drone in the air first, the apps would force the drone to land and turn it off. All connection to the drone was lost until the app and drone were completely restarted

This is a huge problem for us. We drove 200 miles, set ground control and spent the rest of the day getting frustrated. I have now checked Air Map for Drones and found 4 warning for the whole area including no fly zones at 100', 200', and 400' levels. I have checked Avare for the FAA maps. They only show a Class E airspace.

AAAARRRGGGH!

Have you tried Litchi yet? That would be worth looking into.
Jim
WA5TEF.

 

[kitefiter]

I have not tried litchi. I was not aware that it did grid missions. I will look into that.

Here is the link to the FAA UAS Facility Maps
UAS Facility Maps

I am sure that we will work this out eventually. I understand that the FAA sent a one page form to the registered operators of airports. There was a check box for Zero height for drone operations. In my particular case, the form was filled out by front office help at City Hall who had nothing to do with the airport. It is going to take some work to get it changed but we have started the process.

Thanks for listening to my whining.

Rick

 

[kitefiter]

Just found this article about the FAA starting a new approval service for commercial drone operators. It is just starting in 4 cities.

Lincoln Airport Joins FAA Drone Pilot Project | UAV Expert News

Rick

 

[wa5tef]

Rick, that’s certainly not whining when having to deal with DJI. You’ll get to learn them well as they “work” to resolve your issue.

Good luck
Jim
WA5TEF