DJI removing geo-fences in USA and other countries

[WoodiE]

What are your thoughts on this?

I like being able to fly anywhere, but I also know there will be people out there flying where they clearly shouldn't be, like flying it into the White House. This ultimately only causes bad press for our hobby.

 

[WickedFog]

A lot of people buying DJI drones can barely fly them as is. They should leave an option in the Tx to turn that on or off if you ask me.

Then you have people up to no good who will now be able to go places they have been wanting to, but were restricted before.

Tinfoil hat time
An army of 1 million drones controlled by one AI computer flies over a government structure and takes it out

 

[CertifiedMike]

A Chinese company wants to lift safety restrictions in foreign countries on a product that could be used for bad if that was the intent... What could go wrong?
I'm all for freedom but it seems like we ALREADY have a BIG drone problem in the US.
Lets work that one out before we make it a trillion times worse!

 

[Doom!]

Ultimately this will cause problems, which in turn will mean more regulations and the banning of said drones.

 

[jojobeans]

Ultimately this will cause problems, which in turn will mean more regulations and the banning of said drones.

Unfortunately the term “drone” has become a blanket statement as well for ANY multirotor. I’ve seen people on Facebook make a big stink about quad copters that don’t even have cameras attached to them.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see an all out ban on “drones” at some point. It sucks because even the folks who just want to fly a helicopter or multirotor will be lumped into it as well.

 

[ZaneC]

So, in short, it's probably not a great idea to buy a drone right now? That's the thing applicable to me right now.

 

[ahr43]

Ultimately this will cause problems, which in turn will mean more regulations and the banning of said drones.

Yeah, saw that on the national news as well as online. Curious where that came from - esp. after all the beltway kerfuffle over DJI's supposed threat to national security.

Very possibly, Doom! Really don't want FCC looking into RC frequencies and this may possibly re-open that box. May be they won't even mess with banning drones and just deny RC the freq's? Talk about wreaking havoc. We as a hobby have very few lobbying for us in DC. Things like this keep me awake at night. -AC

 

[HPIguy]

This seems like a really bad idea. In the past if you monkeyed with your DJI unit (hacked it) to remove the geo-fencing, it immediately voided your warranty and any replacement coverage you may have purchased.

Very few pilots check the maps, alerts, TFRs, etc before flying. And as others have pointed out, many have never flown before buying their first drone, and take zero measures to learn how to fly first. This alone has given the entire hobby a giant black eye, along with the asshats doing things like flying them into rescue aircraft during a wildfire.