Experiencing The DC No Fly Zone With My DJI Spark Drone

A little less than two weeks ago I finally bought a drone! The sport of FPV (first person view) drone racing and the quad-copter hobby has been growing, as has my curiosity.

I went with the new entry level drone by DJI, the Spark. It is so much fun! And I have a few videos in the works which I will upload to the infamous DTube. 

But this post in not about how much I love the little drone. It is about how I couldn't fly it on my recent hike to Scott's Run Nature Preserve (which I made a Steemit post about). 

DJI forced new software updates for their drones on September 1st with updated no fly zone info. 

Well turns out you can't fly a drone within 30 miles of Washington DC.

*Unless you get a license. . . .

haha who would have guessed! 

From the FAA website: 

 The National Capital Region is governed by a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) within a 30-mile radius of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which restricts all flights in the greater DC area.The SFRA is divided into a 15-mile radius inner ring and a 30-mile radius outer ring.

Flying an unmanned aircraft within the 15-mile radius inner ring is prohibited without specific FAA authorization.

Flying a UAS for recreational or non-recreational use between 15 and 30 miles from Washington, D.C. is allowed under these operating conditions

and then they list a bunch of arbitrary conditions. 

I totally understand keeping drones away from airports, as the controllers and drones operate on a very powerful wifi signal. The signal can control some of the DJI drones over 2 miles away. This could be an issue for air traffic controllers etc. But 30 miles is a bit of a stretch for a no drone zone.

Regardless, my attempted drone flight in a remote part of McLean, Virginia was obviously too risky. 😂 Good thing the state is "protecting" us. 

As you can see in the picture there is a large red area on the map (the no fly zone), and the status update at the top reading "cannot take off".

DJI SPARK GROUNDED 😞

Think how much better this shot would be if taken with a drone instead of my phone!

Luckily I don't think there are too many other "no drone zones". Seems like DC is the most intense one. 

Get ready for lots of new drone related content on my Steemit blog & DTube channel! This DJI Spark is super cool.

Hi there, I’m Will.  First and foremost I am an entrepreneur and voluntaryist.  I aspire to help build a more free world, one that we all want to live in.  Some of my biggest passions include cryptocurrencies, marketing, finance, cannabis, traveling, bodybuilding, snowboarding, motorcycles, and Subarus.  All pictures are my own unless otherwise stated.  I release everything under CC0.

My website: williamjohnsonlong.com 

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