Problems Flying in Restricted Airspace after obtaining Proper Authorization (Phantom 4 Pro V2; Galaxy Tab S6 Lite; Android 12, OneUI 4.1)
I am a part 107 license holder and have been hired by a municipality that was recently affected by a wildfire. I was hired to collect post-fire orthoimagery in the watershed that they rely on for their drinking water supply. The area has only recently been deemed safe for entry and they need this imagery collected before any significant rain events in order to document post-fire conditions, because the next significant rain event will cause their reservoirs to become inundated with ash and sediment, not to mention impacts from the debris flow that will most likely take out rural bridges and other important infrastructure. This is very high priority for them, as it will establish baseline conditions post-fire/pre-flood, which will help justify their claims when it comes to applying for post-wildfire recovery funding.
Now on to my dilemma; Today, when I went to the site and attempted to collect the imagery, I ran into nothing but problems, and was only able to map maybe 20% of the area I intended to due to errors I've never encountered and can't seem to explain. I'm hoping to find a quick solution through here, because I'm heading back out tomorrow to try again, and every day after, until I complete this project.
Timeline of events and problems:
1. Meet with USFS heliport team to get authorization for my flight plans. The area I'm working in is still under a flight restriction since the nearby airport is serving as a base for aerial fire operations that are tending to the parts of the fire that is still active. They gave me authorization to operate under 300' in a specific time window. Awesome, this should be easy right? I've done this many times before in other areas and feel like I have a solid understanding of my equipment and the 3rd party software (Dronelink) that I use to operate said equipment.
2. Arrive at the project site, which is in a remote canyon with no cellular service. I anticipated this and had already downloaded my Dronelink missions to my tablet. I also used the DJI self-unlocking feature so that I would be able to fly in the authorization zone beforehand.
3. Set up drone and connect all equipment. Open the DJI fly app and it says "Ready to Fly" with no errors. I then switched over to the Dronelink app and I received the "Aircraft Cannot Takeoff" message, with no explanation. No other errors were present.
4. Calibrate the compass again, hoping maybe that would fix it. Nope
5. Unplug reconnect the usb while dronelink is open. No change.
6. Power cycle the drone. No change.
7. Power cycle the controller. No change.
8. Power cycle the tablet. No change.
9. Power cycle drone, controller, and tablet all at once. No change.
10. At some point when I was losing my mind over this, I was somehow able to switch between the DJI Go app and Dronelink and Dronelink finally acknowledged my authorization to fly in that area. Awesome! An hour wasted, but no big deal, right?
11. No more than three minutes into the mission the mission aborted and I received an error about the camera settings. The drone was hovering in place, so I started the mission again and it made it through one more leg of the misson before I received the same message again. At this point, I'm running low on battery, so I land it, swap batteries, and started the mission where it left off, only to have the same thing happen 2-3 more times. And it only happened at the ends of passes before turning around. The final straw for that mission was when I received an error about "joystick takeover" or something like that. I was not touching the remote whatsoever, so I have no idea what caused it. At this point I was fuming. I wish I would have documented it better, but I was too frustrated to consider it.
12. I'm resilient and determined, so I edited the mission and removed the "follow terrain" feature, thinking maybe that was the problem since the error was only occurring at the ends of passes and I was out of ideas. I also removed the restricted takeoff feature and maybe the dynamic home feature as well. I may have left dynamic home on, not positive. My memory gets foggy there because I was ready to run the drone over with my truck at this point. Either way, I tried that mission one more time and received either the joystick error or the camera error, and finally gave up.
13. Scrap 1st mission which I spent ~2 hours trying to complete. Swallow my pride and be thankful I was by myself with no witnesses to what had just ensued.
14. Move on to next map mission. Disable follow terrain and dynamic home before starting. This is a very steep and narrow canyon, but I figure with an AGL of 285', I should be alright within the boundaries I established. Wrong.
15. On approach, the second mission flew straight into a tree on the opposite side of the canyon, at the top of a steep cliff above a stream. Somehow, which I still don't understand, it was just hovering there with the landing gear stuck in a tree branch. Luckily the props never made contact. By some miracle, I was able to take over manual control and get it to return to home.
16. Arrive at home and download flight logs to hopefully find what was causing the problem. Nothing. There is no indication in the flight logs as to what caused any of the errors or problems I encountered today; Nothing about the restricted airspace, nothing about the camera settings error, or any other errors. The only thing I see that makes any sense is joystick takeover in almost every log, but I only initiated that when the drone flew into the tree.
So, my questions are as follows:
1. What is the most efficient way to get dronelink to recognize DJI's authorization to fly in restricted airspace? I'm still not sure what I did to get it to work.
2. Why did I receive a camera settings error when I used that same settings I've used for every other mission I've ever completed?
3. What causes the joystick takeover error when you're not touching the remote?
4. Do I need to make any additional considerations before flying without a cellular signal or wifi?
5. Do I need to make any additional considerations before flying in restricted airspace.
I've flow many times without having DJI Go app installed and never had issues. It wasn't until we started having temporary airspace restrictions due to wildfires that I've encountered these problems. I hate having that app on any of my devices, but it seems to be the only way I can get past the geofencing.
I'm heading out 12 hours from now to try again, so any advice is appreciated. Otherwise I'm just going to keep trying new things until I either lose my mind or lose the drone.
Thanks
Comments
7 comments
Can you share the original mission plan?
Dale, just a thought on the authorization part - are you importing the license into the drone before you try to take off? I apply & get the license the day before, then I import the license into the drone before each time I take off (in DJI Fly).
David, I did use the pre-authorization method that you mentioned, and it worked occasionally. For some reason, I had better luck with the self-authorization, even when I did the pre-authorization the night before flying. My biggest issue was having to switch between the DJI app and Dronelink. Only one of the apps would recognize the drone was connected, regardless of them both being open, and switching between the two required me to disconnect the controller from the tablet, at a minimum. And sometimes it took multiple tries. Other times I would need to power cycle the drone or controller to get things to work properly.
On a more positive note, I just flew these same missions again over the past few days and had zero issues now that the restricted airspace has been lifted. I didn't even have to open the DJI app for any of the missions this time. I suspect my issues were tied mostly to the temporary airspace restriction. Or maybe the recent app update helped, too? The world may never know. I just hope that I never have to fly in restricted airspace again, not only because of the app issues, but also due to the hassle of coordinating with the USFS heliport team. My last day of flying, while still in restricted airspace, should have taken me only 45 minutes, but I was stuck on standby for over six hours because the USFS heliport team said they had flights near my project area. This was a new team that had recently been cycled in and I had not worked with them before. I know they had recent problems with news helicopters and other idiots violating their airspace, which might have led to them keeping me on the ground for so long. But, I watched the flight radar the entire time and never once saw a flight path anywhere near where I was flying. I also never saw any aircraft fly by in those six hours. But while working with the prior heliport team, who seemed much more experienced, I had helicopters and tanker planes flying directly over me while I had the drone in the air, which was unnerving to say the least. When I contacted them to make sure we were all on the same page, they confirmed that all of the pilots were aware of me, and there was no issue as long as I stayed within the flight plan I provided them.
At the end of the day, the best recommendation I can make is to buy a drone that does not require geofencing or avoid flying is restricted airspace. I will certainly steer away from DJI when I upgrade equipment due to the geofencing alone.
Results from my trial today were not good. Put the MA2 up on a grid map mission in an authorisation area. Had the unlocking license sorted and imported to drone. It was only an 8 min flight time. The MA2 got through 6 mins then went into the device running slowly routine (DRS), effectively a stopper. After trying to restart a few times without any success I did the RTH & restarted everything. The drone took off and ran for about 30 secs, the again DRS. RTH again & restart. This time the drone went to 20m alt vertically & stopped. My conclusion is that the skies are monitored in this area and 'they', probably military, can control the airspace & jam the drone regardless of unlocking. I suspect I can get the drone up initially, then 'they' get on to me & turn up the volume so to say. Unfortunately areas close to home are restricted zones, so I may have to go out to the boonies to test the theory.
Device running too slow is usually a device issue, not a restricted issue. Which one are you using ?
https://support.dronelink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036721233-Why-do-I-see-Device-Running-Too-Slow-during-missions-
I am using Iphone8 with no other apps running. Puzzling thing is that the system works in unrestricted areas and also with Maven.
Ok. That iPhone 8 may be the issue as its getting a bit outdated. I read not long ago that DL may be adding it to their low performance device list. It was released in 2017. If possible try a newer device. Also just because it works most of the time doesn’t mean it will always cooperate. I just don’t believe a restricted zone will report device running too slow error. But I guess anything is possible with technology. DL states their software is a resource intense app and needs a powerful device to run virtual stick. Not sure how Maven compares to DL. Good luck. Hope it gets worked out.
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