Chinese company DJI made a pretty significant change to the process of buying and activating its drones over the weekend. Going forward, DJI drones will be severely limited in functionality until buyers register them with the company.
Failure to register with DJI means the drone will have a height limit of 98 feet (30 meters), a radius of 164 feet (50 meters), and the live video feed will be disabled. “This new step, to take effect at the end of next week, ensures you will use the correct set of geospatial information and flight functions for your aircraft, as determined by your geographical location and user profile,” the company writes. The change applies internationally.
The FAA lost the authority to force registration last week
The decision comes days after a US Appeals Court decided that the Federal Aviation Administration no longer has the authority to make people register their consumer drones with the agency. Announced in 2015 and rolled out in 2016, that FAA rule was put in place to author some sort of control over the boom in consumer drones. (Nearly 1 million people have registered for non-commercial flying since then. Pilots flying for commercial purposes still need to obtain a remote pilot certificate from the FAA.)
The Appeals Court decision found the rule to be in violation of the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which explicitly states that the agency “may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.” The FAA is reportedly considering appealing the decision.
Correction, 10:30PM ET: This article has been updated to correctly identify the FAA as the body that issues remote pilot certificates.
KimPeek on May 24th, 2017 at 15:48 UTC »
Sounds like a new opportunity for someone to make money jailbreaking drones.
DarthReeder on May 24th, 2017 at 14:01 UTC »
I used to work with DJI a LOT. I worked at a small company that assembled and custom modified DJI's larger DSLR capable hexa and octo copters. Lets just say they are one of the worst companies on earth. Software update just bricked your $10000 s1000 with HD lightbridge? Must be user error. The unit flew itself into the ground? Send in the data recorder for analysis, but never expect an answer back. Simple hardware issue that would be solved in one email? i hope you're fluent in Mandarin
Edit: spelling. A word
shadowdude777 on May 24th, 2017 at 13:24 UTC »
There's no quicker and surer way to get onto my personal shit-list. This is Razer Synapse all over again.