DJI, which accounts for an estimated 90% of hobby drone sales in the U.S., announced this week that it will stop geoblocking its drones from flying ov

DJI Stops Automatically Blocking Drone Flights Over Airports and Military Bases

submited by

Style Pass

2025-01-15 15:00:02

DJI, which accounts for an estimated 90% of hobby drone sales in the U.S., announced this week that it will stop geoblocking its drones from flying over airports and military bases. The changes took effect on Monday on both the DJI Fly and DJI Pilot flight apps.

DJI wrote about the changes in a blog, noting that it comes after similar changes were made by the drone company in the European Union last year.

“Areas previously defined as Restricted Zones (also known as No-Fly Zones) will be displayed as Enhanced Warning Zones, aligning with the FAA’s designated areas,” the company’s blog reads. “In these zones, 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.”

The use of drones by civilians in restricted airspace is a big problem, with the most recent high-profile example in the U.S. happening just last week when a firefighting aircraft known as the SuperScooper Quebec 1 had to be grounded after colliding with a DJI drone over the Palisades Fire. The FAA had declared the area restricted and the firefighting craft’s wing was damaged from the collision. The FBI is investigating the incident.