It was first reported on Monday that Secret Service had recovered a “package” from the White House grounds. We later found out that it was a DJI Phantom drone which had crashed into the grounds of the president’s residence. Not only was the operator against FAA regulations by operating the drone in that area, Secret Service personnel were also told that he was apparently drinking at the time. DJI is taking a strict action and will now restrict its drones from flying over the DC area.
This isn’t a first for DJI. The company has previously said that its drones are programmed to stop flying once they reach a certain distance from airports. Drones have GPS which can track the location and figure out which locations are out of bounds.
This marks the first time that DJI is going to restrict its drones from flying over a metro area. Given the security concerns involved its probably for the best.
In a press release sent out this morning DJI said that its going to release a “mandatory firmware update” for Phantom 2, Phantom 2 Vision and Phantom 2 Vision+ drones to ensure compliance with FAA’s Notice to Airmen 0/8326 which prohibits unmanned flight around the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
It further states that this firmware update will be released in the next few days and will add a No-Fly Zone that’s centered on downtown Washington, DC and will extend for a 25 kilometer radius in all directions.
Simply put Phantom drones will not be able to take off from or fly in this zone.
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