Summary
A firefighting super scooper battling the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles collided with a privately-owned DJI drone, causing significant damage and delaying operations.
The FBI is investigating to identify the drone’s owner, as unauthorized drones near wildfires pose risks to firefighting efforts.
Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are in place, but violations can lead to prosecution, fines, and jail time.
The damaged aircraft, one of only two available, is out of service until Monday.
I thought DJI drones software locked the no fly zones? How did they manage to make it go into the area?
To enforce something like that you would have to force the drone to connect to some online database on a regular basis, and I don’t think that’s a thing. There’s certainly no requirement that drones only fly where there’s cellular or WiFi service.
I also know of at least one company using higher end DJI drones specifically for providing services to police & fire departments, so they’d have to have some way of opting them out of such geo locks.
DJI drones are paired with and controlled by a smartphone app. The app downloads a map database to local storage, and the position of the drone is tracked via onboard GPS and reported back the controller app.
Of course there are exceptions for law enforcement. American police can get full auto rifles and armored vehicles. Getting an authorization for restricted airspace is nothing.
Even hobbyists can operate within certain restricted areas if they get pre-approval from local air traffic control.