What do you all think about this…

I saw a drone video of SAN… what are your thoughts? This is happening now because geo zones are no longer blocking it.

Geo zones haven’t been removed… it’s just that some people don’t care about the rules and put others at risk. You always had to check if you were allowed to fly. DJI’s geo zones have never been reliable.

@Thorne
Yeah, but a month ago, you couldn’t take this shot because geo zones stopped people from flying here. Now anyone can grab a drone from Costco and start flying the same day without knowing any rules.

Wouldn’t it be better if geo zones were only lifted for pilots with a 107 license or something? Just don’t want to get in trouble because of reckless flyers.

@Ezri
What about custom-built drones? What about non-DJI ones? Did those have geo zones too? In Europe, I could unlock mine by just clicking a button saying I was aware of the risks.

I get what you’re saying… honestly, I think anyone flying above 10m should need a license, but there’s no real way to enforce that. There are hobbyists flying all kinds of drones, planes, and helicopters, and none of them are tied to geo zones.

@Thorne
Custom-built drones take way more skill than DJI drones. Geo zones will never apply to those, and the people who build them put in so much effort that they wouldn’t risk flying recklessly.

Ezri said:
@Thorne
Custom-built drones take way more skill than DJI drones. Geo zones will never apply to those, and the people who build them put in so much effort that they wouldn’t risk flying recklessly.

So what about other ready-to-fly drones that aren’t DJI?

@Thorne
Most of the people flying where they shouldn’t are using DJI drones because they’re everywhere and easy to buy. Asking about custom-built drones doesn’t really make sense—like OP said, people who build their own put in the time and care more about following rules.

Non-DJI camera drones are such a small group that they don’t really matter. Yeah, there are always people who break the rules no matter what, but the majority of those flying illegally are just hobbyists with DJI drones. Sure, you can unlock geo zones yourself, but completely removing them will just make things worse. Now people will say, ‘Well, it didn’t stop me from flying here, so I thought it was fine.’ Instead of preventing problems, it’ll just mean more people getting in trouble later.

@Thorne
I honestly don’t even know of any non-DJI drones that are as capable and easy to buy here in the US. Do you?

Ezri said:
@Thorne
I honestly don’t even know of any non-DJI drones that are as capable and easy to buy here in the US. Do you?

I see tons of posts here where people show off their $50 no-name drone gifts.

What do you mean by ‘capable’? You just need something that can go up in the air to cause a problem with a plane or helicopter.

@Ezri
I’ve never had issues unlocking zones when needed, and there have been non-DJI drones with similar capabilities for a long time. The only places that are really locked down are zero-grid restricted zones.

@Aeron
This was a zero-foot zone.

Feels like watching this alone could get me arrested.