Filming on Oahu, Hilo flight restriction

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The B4UFly app show that you cannot fly a drone anywhere on the island of Oahu and lists a Flight Restriction on the island of Hawaii (Big Island) for Hilo. Has anyone been able to fly a drone legally with a Phantom 4 on Oahu?
 
The B4UFly app show that you cannot fly a drone anywhere on the island of Oahu and lists a Flight Restriction on the island of Hawaii (Big Island) for Hilo. Has anyone been able to fly a drone legally with a Phantom 4 on Oahu?

Volcano National Park is aggressively enforcing the existing No Fly rules. Hilo has passed a restriction citing helicopter tourist flights.

Oahu passed a law prohibiting take offs and landings from public beaches last year. Don't know about the rest of Oahu though. I had no problems on Maui and Kauai a few months ago, but I did not fly from any beaches.
 
Imagine if they said all commercial flights were banned into and out of Hawaii. That would never happen right, they're commercial aircraft. The FAA considers drones as aircraft and cities need to get the message they simply can't blanket outlaw what is permitted under federal law. I think we will soon be seeing these overreaching restrictions on legally sanctioned UAS operations reversed by cities who are increasing facing legal challenges. Either that or the drone industry will die a very rapid death.
 
Imagine if they said all commercial flights were banned into and out of Hawaii. That would never happen right, they're commercial aircraft. The FAA considers drones as aircraft and cities need to get the message they simply can't blanket outlaw what is permitted under federal law. I think we will soon be seeing these overreaching restrictions on legally sanctioned UAS operations reversed by cities who are increasing facing legal challenges. Either that or the drone industry will die a very rapid death.
I thought B4UFLY was a federally controlled map tool. Wouldn't any closed areas in the map mean it's federally approved by FAA?
 
The B4UFly app show that you cannot fly a drone anywhere on the island of Oahu and lists a Flight Restriction on the island of Hawaii (Big Island) for Hilo. Has anyone been able to fly a drone legally with a Phantom 4 on Oahu?

There are quite a few of us Phantom 4 pilots here on Oahu flying under AMA and FAA guidelines for hobbyists. This web page needs to be updated for Part 107, but has the gist of what you need to know about flying UAV around Oahu: http://www.hawaiidroneclub.org/local-drone-regulation.html
 
That's very helpful! Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome! Relatively new to UAS (since April 2016), but glad to be able to contribute to the community here...
 
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You have never had problems with the B4UFly app saying DO NOT LAUNCH YOUR AIRCRAFT? Or DJI Go preventing you from flying?

Happened to me twice with DJI Go when trying to fly the field behind my house a few weeks ago, which is about 5-1/2 miles from a Class D airport. I flew the same area several times without incident a week earlier. I haven't touched the B4UFly app.

On the first occasion, DJI Go prevented me from launching about an hour after President Obama left the island and had I checked that the TFR had expired. I went the SMS verification route via DJI Go to clear the "TFR/No-fly Zone" warning and flew immediately after that without incident.

A couple of days later, I launched after getting the green "Safe to Fly" status indicator on my monitor, but as soon as the UAV reached about 80' of altitude 100' away, I received a "No-fly Zone" (NFZ) warning and the UAV immediately went into auto-landing mode, which I had to cancel quickly to regain control of the UAV to guide it back for landing. While I was flying the UAV back for landing, the NFZ warning and auto-landing mode (and me having to cancel it) happened a few more times before I was able to guide the UAV to a suitable landing spot. Needless to say, I found and turned off the GEO/NFZ feature in DJI Go after that unexpected event and haven't had any incidents for a couple of weeks.

Clearly, my experience with the DJI Go GEO/NFZ feature has not been positive. I use Google Earth (PC) or FltPlan app (iPad) to verify my distance from an airport and use Pilotweb and SkyVector to check NOTAMs and TFRs, respectively, shortly before a flight to determine whether or not it's clear to fly my UAV in a particular area.
 
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That is alot of good info. I really appreciate your response. I'm going to bring my drone anyway and hope for the best
Are you a part 107 pilot? If so, Don't use the B4UFLY app. That's for recreational pilots / those operating under a Section 333 exemption. The 5-mile radius and those notifications do not matter. Only uncontrolled vs. controlled airspace. Check out a sectional chart for the area, I see lots of places you can fly there - assuming there are no local ordinances against it.

In my opinion, controlled airspace out to 5 miles from an airport from the surface (class c) is too strict - if it's an approach pattern, ok, 5 miles it is but if it's not then make it 2 miles. Maybe that will be addressed down the road. If you stay at 400 feet max then you should be fine.
 
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Yes I have my Part 107 license. I just don't want DJI Go to prevent me from launching because of some random flight restriction that doesn't apply. Thanks for your info!
 
Yes I have my Part 107 license. I just don't want DJI Go to prevent me from launching because of some random flight restriction that doesn't apply. Thanks for your info!
Try auto take off and see if that works. When I talked to DJI Tech Service one time they told me what I had been doing was correct - auto take off would bypass the no flight restriction manual takeoff. I'm in an area where only 1,400-4,200 feet is controlled Class C airspace. So as a part 107 pilot I can fly to 400 feet with the yield to all other traffic in mind. 5 miles within a class C airport the surface to 4,000 is controlled so I cannot fly unless I get a waiver - that's the only option. I'm hearing part 107 waivers get processed in Oct - right now the FAA is processing backlogged section 333 waivers. Hopefully the process will not take 90 days to get them for part 107 pilots. Happy flying out there in Hawaii - it must be beautiful scenery.
 
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Happened to me twice with DJI Go when trying to fly the field behind my house a few weeks ago, which is about 5-1/2 miles from a Class D airport. I flew the same area several times without incident a week earlier. I haven't touched the B4UFly app.

On the first occasion, DJI Go prevented me from launching about an hour after President Obama left the island and had I checked that the TFR had expired. I went the SMS verification route via DJI Go to clear the "TFR/No-fly Zone" warning and flew immediately after that without incident.

A couple of days later, I launched after getting the green "Safe to Fly" status indicator on my monitor, but as soon as the UAV reached about 80' of altitude 100' away, I received a "No-fly Zone" (NFZ) warning and the UAV immediately went into auto-landing mode, which I had to cancel quickly to regain control of the UAV to guide it back for landing. While I was flying the UAV back for landing, the NFZ warning and auto-landing mode (and me having to cancel it) happened a few more times before I was able to guide the UAV to a suitable landing spot. Needless to say, I found and turned off the GEO/NFZ feature in DJI Go after that unexpected event and haven't had any incidents for a couple of weeks.

Clearly, my experience with the DJI Go GEO/NFZ feature has not been positive. I use Google Earth (PC) or FltPlan app (iPad) to verify my distance from an airport and use Pilotweb and SkyVector to check NOTAMs and TFRs, respectively, shortly before a flight to determine whether or not it's clear to fly my UAV in a particular area.
You can only turn off GEO. And by doing so you default to the older more restrictive NFZ system. But maybe there is a problem with GEO in your area.
 

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