What Did DJI Do in 2024 When the FAA Decided to Create Restricted Areas for UAVs? A Post by Brendan Schulman

For a decade, it was hard to fly a DJI drones over restricted areas of the United States. DJI’s software would automatically stop you from flying over runways, power plants, public emergencies like wildfires, and the White House.

The changes that were successfully implemented in the E.U last year have been the subject of an update for some time. However, last year’s changes reportedly kept mandatory no-fly zones around UK airports.

Since then, drones in the U.S. have to show an equivalent of a license plate for their flights. This requirement went into effect in early 2024, providing authorities with the tools needed to enforce existing rules.

The built-in feature that interfered with the crash of the White House drone almost a decade ago has been removed by DJI, with warnings that the user can ignore.

A sub 250-gram model of thedrone that damaged a Super Scooper airplane fighting the Los Angeles fires was not required to have a remote id to use, so the FBI expects it will have to “work backwards” to figure out who flew it there.

But former DJI head of global policy, Brendan Schulman, doesn’t seem to think this is a move for the better. Here are a few phrases he has posted to another person.

This is a huge change in how drones are operated with a potentially enormous impact among pilots who aren’t aware of airspace restrictions and high-risk areas.

It’s been rumored that there is no limit to the number of drones that can fly into any place in the US, including military installations, public emergency areas, and critical government buildings.

The FAA has objectives for remote ID in the U.S. so this update applies to all locations. Prior DJI data have been replaced with official FAA data. Areas previously defined as Restricted Zones (also known as No-Fly Zones) will be displayed as Enhanced Warning Zones, aligning with the FAA’s designated areas.

Did this decision be made by the US government, or any specific government bodies, agencies, or representatives? If so, which? If not, why not?

This GEO update aligns with the principle advanced by aviation regulators around the globe — including the FAA — that the operator is responsible for complying with rules.

Even if this decision has nothing to do with China, the company has very strong reasons to get on the radar of US regulators right now — it’s currently facing a total import ban of its drones and cameras in the United States, until or unless “an appropriate national security agency” publicly declares that its products are not an unacceptable national security risk.

“We had planned to roll this update in the US months ago but delayed the implementation to ensure the update would work properly,” the company’s unsigned blog post reads.

DJI’s author says suggesting that the update is linked to the current political environment in the US is false and dangerous.

If politics didn’t drive that decision, what did? The post is not quite what it says. It continues to generically suggest that DJI has aligned itself with aviation regulators around “the principle of operator responsibility” and that its No Fly Zones created “missed opportunities, delayed operations, or unnecessary.”

“This was especially challenging for commercial operators, drone businesses — and most critically — public safety agencies performing lifesaving work, where delays are simply unacceptable,” DJI writes.