Drone company's software will no longer stop flights over wildfires, other nofly zones
Jan 27, 2025
As the Palisades wildfire raged on Jan. 9, firefighting aircraft swarmed the area, dropping water onto the flames. That was until a drone smashed into the wing of a Canadian Super Scooper plane.
The plane landed safely, albeit with a 3-by-6-inch hole in its wing. All other aerial firefighting was stopped until officials made sure there weren’t more drones flying illegally.
These image shows the damaged DJI drone (left) that smashed into a firefighting airplane (right).
Now the company that made the drone involved in that crash just made it easier for drone operators to breach no-fly zones, including the airspace over wildfires. In a software update that took effect on Jan. 13, DJI eliminated its geo-fencing system.
Previously, unless operators disabled that feature, drones would run into an invisible wall that would block drones from entering restricted airspace or taking off inside one. Now, drone operators will only get a warning on their apps, which they can choose to ignore.
“It is shocking,” San Diego civil attorney Brett Schreiber told NBC 7. “Everybody knows that a warning is the least-effective option. So, yeah, it is shocking for a company like DJI to make the conscious choice to be less safe.”
DJI isn’t just any drone company, it’s arguably THE drone company, with about 70% of the global market share.
“It’s truly inexcusable,” Schreiber said. “They have the technology to stop this, and they’re choosing not to. ”
Cal Fire wouldn’t comment directly about the change for DJI drone operators but told NBC 7 that the Palisades incident underscores the danger that firefighters face from drones, not to mention the effect drones have on grounding aerial operations. When the Super Scooper was hit, all aerial operations were put on hold for 30 minutes. And the Super Scooper itself was on the sidelines unable to help fight the fires for four days while undergoing repairs.
“Seeing that on the news paints the picture that this is a reality,” Capt. Robert Johnson said. “It’s a huge issue and poses a huge threat.”
Adam Welsh, DJI’s Global Head for Public Policy, defended the decision to stop geo-fencing.
“At the end of the day, the drone operator is responsible for following the rules,” Welsh told NBC 7. “We put this in place about 12 years ago. Regulators have had time to catch up, and none of them have chosen to mandate geo-fencing.”
Welsh said up until now, commercial drone pilots and first responders ran into delays in getting DJI’s permission to fly in restricted areas. This change eliminates that red tape.
DJI’s software displays a warning that a drone is about to enter restricted airspace.
Instead of the global system it used before, the new software uses FAA mapping data. Areas with temporary flight restrictions, like where wildfires are burning, are submitted to the FAA by Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service.
“Overall, we think if you give the right level of safety information and airspace information to end users, to operators, they will fly responsibly,” Welsh said.
It’s not just wildfire areas with temporary flight restrictions that will no longer have any geo-fencing barriers in place, but all no-fly zones, including airports, military bases and even national security buildings.
“What this says is: The manufacturers don’t care,” Schreiber said. “You can fly these things wherever and however you want to.”
Welsh argued that some drone operators found ways around the previous system.
“In effect, geo-fencing wouldn’t stop those bad actors in the first place,” Welsh said. “If you’re a person of bad intent, you would have disabled the geo-fencing anyway.”
To Welsh’s point, geo-fencing didn’t stop drones from interfering with wildfires in the past. Cal Fire told NBC 7 there were 125 reported drone incursions over wildfires from 2018 to 2024. But that’s nothing compared to what happened in Los Angeles earlier this month, when there were 168 in just a few days over the Palisades and Eaton fires, all of which took place before DJI made the change.
“We never claimed it was a silver bullet,” Welsh told NBC 7. “We never claimed that it would prevent all bad actors.”
Flying a civilian drone in the middle of firefighting activity, whether there’s a restriction in place or not, is a federal crime and can land you up to one year in prison and on the receiving end of a $75,000 fine.
NBC 7 Investigates reached out to the FAA, which chose not to comment on DJI’s software change. Instead, it sent this statement:
“The FAA’s role is to ensure drones operate safely within the National Airspace System. Drone operators must comply with FAA regulations including obtaining proper airspace authorization, when required. The FAA does not require geo-fencing from drone manufacturers.
“Generally speaking, it is legal to fly a drone in most locations if you’re operating under 400 feet, but there are rules — including passing pilot safety tests, keeping the drone in sight, avoiding all other aircraft, not causing a hazard to any people or property and avoiding restricted airspace. In addition to those requirements, the FAA is continuously engaged in educating drone pilots through our FAA Safety Team and numerous drone safety outreach efforts. When violations occur, the FAA can take actions ranging from counseling and education to stiff fines and pilot certificate suspensions or revocations.“
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