Drone Manufacturer DJI Will No Longer Enforce Electronic No-Fly Zones

What Happened?

As of January 13, 2025 major drone manufacturer DJI is no longer enforcing its geofence protocol for drones being operated in the United States.

The company recently announced:

‘With this update, DJI’s Fly and Pilot flight app operators will see prior DJI geofencing datasets replaced to display official Federal Aviation Administration (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. In these zones, in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility.’

Why it Matters

The change means that drone operators in the United States will now be able to fly their drones into controlled airspace.

Previously the geofence feature by DJI prevented drones from entering those areas. In practical terms, before this change if a drone operator tried to fly over an airport or other restricted airspace, the drone’s geofence feature would physically prevent the device from entering that airspace.

But now drone operators could simply choose to ignore the warnings and fly into restricted airspace anyway. 

According to DJI’s global head of policy Adam Welsh ‘technologies like Remote ID, which publicly broadcasts the location of a drone and their operator during flight, are providing authorities with the tools needed to enforce existing rules.’

The FBI indicated that tracking drones and their operators would only allow them to investigate an incident after it had occurred. For example, if someone flew a drone over an airport and it collided with a plane, law enforcement could track down the owner but the damage would already have been done.

For its part, the FAA issued a statement saying they do not require geofencing features on drones.

According to Statista, there are roughly four hundred thousand commercial drones registered in the United States, and that figure doesn’t include those owned by hobbyists, who are not required to register.

The actual number of commercial drones being operated in the United States as of January 2025 is likely over one million.

That large number of unregistered drones in the United States is almost certainly responsible for the ‘UFO’ sightings over New Jersey and in other states.

How it Affects You

Though most commercial drones are relatively small, many have a total body mass similar to that of medium sized birds, and bird strikes are a serious threat to commercial aircraft.

DJI drones are the best-selling model in the United States, and now that drone operators can fly their drones anywhere without being stopped it is probably just a matter of time before a drone hits a commercial aircraft and causes a tragedy.