Photo: Kara Murphy

Just days after news came out regarding a drone collision with a firefighting plane working to control the wildfires in California, DJI announced that it will no longer enforce its No-Fly Zones, as reported by PetaPixel. The company shared the news in a blog post, saying that the update follows a similar change put in place in the European Union last year.

For over a decade, DJI drone pilots have been somewhat limited in where they could fly drones, as the company's software would automatically stop users from flying over areas such as active runways, power plants, the White House and wildfires. These areas were defined as Restricted Zones, though they were commonly called No-Fly Zones, and they were a result of DJI geofencing datasets in the company's flight apps.

DJI claims that user awareness has evolved, suggesting that such boundaries are no longer needed.

Now, DJI is removing those geofencing datasets and will instead display Enhanced Warning Zones. DJI says this is "aligning with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) designated areas" and is "placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility." Instead of relying on "ICAO Annex 14 configurations for airspace around airports," which the company says "did not always align with official FAA data," it will now use the boundaries officially provided by the regulator.

DJI says that when it first implemented the GEO system in 2013, it did so because rules and regulations were sparse since consumer drones were novel at the time. It says the system was put in place "as a voluntary built-in safety feature to help foster responsible flight practices and prevent DJI drone operators from unintentionally flying in restricted airspace, such as around government buildings, airports, or prisons."

"The GEO system has always been an educational - not an enforcement - tool"

DJI claims that user awareness has evolved, suggesting that such boundaries are no longer needed. In a follow-up blog post, the company says that the geofencing tool was always meant to educate users about the law rather than enforce it and emphasizes that "warning zones and in-app alerts remain in place."

It also says the change could make things easier for commercial operators and "public safety agencies," as they will no longer need to wait for manual approval from DJI before being able to fly in restricted zones they've been permitted to operate in.

However, drone incidents are still clearly a problem, as the strike last week with the SuperScooper airplane shows. While that drone was a sub-250-gram model – made by DJI, according to photos released by the FBI – and thus not subject to the Remote ID rules that control No-Fly Zones, it highlights significant safety concerns due to poor understanding of flight safety.

This is a remarkable shift in drone safety strategy with a potentially enormous impact, especially among drone pilots who are less aware of airspace restrictions and high-risk areas. https://t.co/YJOpe2gcZe

— Brendan Schulman (@dronelaws) January 14, 2025

Even the former DJI head of global policy, Brendan Schulman, doesn't think this is a wise move, as The Verge shared. Shulman has shared numerous posts on X (formerly Twitter) about how this could be problematic. Another user shared that the DJI Fly app says his drone could take off from Runway 27L at Philidelphia Public Airport, which certainly would not be a good situation.

Image: DJI

Regardless of whether this was a good move, the new process went live on January 13. To see the change, users will need to connect their flight app to the internet and select "Update" on the FlySafe pop-up notification.