No Fly Zone Flight with apps?

[kitefiter]

Does anyone know if programmed flight apps like Drone Deploy, Pix4D Capture, Map Pilot, Litchi, etc. work with Pre-Authorized Unlock zones?

I just failed to complete an aerial mission. I was in a yellow zone so I called the airport, got clearance, and did the unlock thing on DJI Go when onsite. None of the above apps would work. The forums from two of the apps stated that programmed flight is not possible in locked zones even when unlocked. I need to take 900 photos so a manual work around is not really feasible.

 

[BigAl07]

3rd Party apps do not get the same "Priority" in terms of "Authorizations" as DJI Go Ap does. So it's likely they will not be "allowed" to fly in instant authorizations situations. This was documented and confirmed recently in an email with Litchi Support Center.

 

[kitefiter]

Thanks. I got a pre-flight authorization for tomorrow. We will see if this works. If not, I will need to hire the Aerial Photography firm again! If any more jobs cost me money to perform, then I will need to get out of the drone business. It sure seems like this should have been resolved by now. This seems really silly when the city only has 500 residents and the nearest adjacent town is 55 miles away. The airport operator tells me that he sometimes get 2 planes a week!

But I do understand that DJI has to do everything possible to prevent an air accident. One tragedy could be the end of the company in today's litigious society.

 

[doktorinjh]

I got a pre-flight authorization for tomorrow.

Were you able to get in the air? I struggled with which serial number to enter in the form for a while (there are 3 possibilities) and I was able to get all the way through the authorization process, even with the wrong FC number. It works every time, now, but it was very frustrating at first.

 

[kitefiter]

I was able to lly using the DJIGo app without any problems. As soon as I changed to the F setting for programmed flight, the bird landed and turned off. I tried just going to Map Pilot, Pix4D Capture, Drone Deploy, and DJI GS pro with no success at all.
So I just flew the job manually and took 780 pictures in 4 batteries. It is not really convenient having the camera trigger on the right when I was using the right stick to direct the drone. I was watching the direction, speed, height, and triggering pictures at the same time. I am going to see if I could move the camera trigger to another button but have not found anything yet. I also want to play with the rate and exp of the left stick because the rotation function of the left stick is way to sensitive for using as you are flying a straight line. I also would like to figure out a way to have the bird fly at a constant rate. But at least I got the job done. Even though the flight lines were not as pretty as programmed flight, Pix4D processed the photos with no problem. GCP fit just fine, and more importantly, the engineers were thrilled with an on time project. They ordered two more projects in the same town so I will get more practice at this until we resolve this stupid bottleneck

 

[doktorinjh]

I was watching the direction, speed, height, and triggering pictures at the same time.

That sounds like a nightmare, but glad you got it done!

And, just to be sure, you're going into the DJI Go 4 app and seeing your airport request in the Unlocking List? After reading your first message, it looks like you're within a Restricted Zone (Red), and not just an Authorization Zone (Yellow)? If you're in the Red, you have to send DJI documentation stating that you have been given permission by someone of authority to operate within that zone, otherwise, there's no unlocking.

We had a fun problem where we were flying near an airbase, which only operated during the week. We talked to the tower and they said, "You're welcome to fly during the weekends, we're closed and don't operate except for M-F, 8-6. Beyond those hours, it's Class G." Great, except the app doesn't know that... We asked the airbase for a permission slip to give to DJI using their Custom Unlocking form, but the airbase said that there was no permission to give, because we'd be flying during Class G hours, so there's nothing to approve. Meanwhile, DJI won't grant access because we didn't have "permission" and denied our application. Anyhow, it was a mess and we had to move the flight boundary to be outside of the Restricted Area.

 

[kitefiter]

We were in a yellow zone. I have not been able to fly in a redzone in another town. Had to hire a aerial photogrammetry company to fly a real plane and collect the data. No profit in that job!

 

[kitefiter]

Wow! Just found the UgCS program. Apparently you can disable the No Fly zone in the Pro version. This might be worth it for some of us.

No-Fly zones - airport registry
UgCS software features an in-built no fly zone function, meaning that the drones will be prevented from flying in the airspace of restricted areas such as airports.

Why is it restricted to fly near airports?
Unmanned aerial vehicles can potentially pose a threat to manned aircraft, therefore each major airport has a restricted space around it where other aircraft are not permitted to fly.

Disabling the no fly zone
If for whatever reason the operator of a UAV wants to fly an automated mission near the airport, the no-fly zone can be disabled in UgCS PRO and UgCS ENTERPRISE. An example for the necessity to disable this restriction would be if the operator is hired by the airport to take photos, aerial video of the airfield or has the permission to fly there.