Active Track flight stopped by Unknown Restricted area.

[Bayou7]

I was testing the 'follow' capability in Active Track by trying to follow my brother's jeep in the desert area NW of Phoenix. The Spark followed it for quite a distance. When it stopped, I had assumed that it was because the jeep reached a speed too fast for the Spark. But when I eventually examined the flight record, i saw the notice " Active Track Stopped. Aircraft Entering Restricted Area" . See the screenshot below. AirMap shows no restricted area at this location. FlySafe shows that it's within a very large area associated with Luke Air Force Base. But we had been flying in that area for several hours with no warnings or notices. There is nothing I can find that shows a Restricted Area boundary at the point where the flight stopped. The Spark 'follow ' speed never exceeded 10 mph. Is it possible that a nearby mine---still active---( see picture) could be a restricted area that the Spark would have information about? If so, how would that work? I was using a Crystal Sky monitor, so there was no outside communication during the flight.
Any ideas what's going on?

 

[suprPHREAK]

You say you were inside an area associated with an air force Base. If those are configured the same as airports, then they are actually shaped like an inverse cone. As you get closer to the center, the allowable altitude changes. If you were flying at an ok height, and then got to an area where that height was no longer ok, then maybe this would happen?

Is that possible? Were you travelling towards the base at that time?

 

[Bayou7]

You say you were inside an area associated with an air force Base. If those are configured the same as airports, then they are actually shaped like an inverse cone. As you get closer to the center, the allowable altitude changes. If you were flying at an ok height, and then got to an area where that height was no longer ok, then maybe this would happen?

Is that possible? Were you travelling towards the base at that time?

I was flying at a low altitude----15 -~ 40ft. Although I was flying towards the base, I had been even closer to the base at an earlier location with no problem. Although Luke AFB has a No Fly zone near the base, I was probably about 50-60 miles away from Luke. But on Fly Safe, they show a large area associated with Luke well away from the base. But as I mentioned, I had been flying just prior to that at a location within that area but significantly closer than the area where I had the problem.

 

[NRRTRAINS]

if you are flying around any air force base i would think it would be a restricted area and a N F Z .

 

[Bayou7]

if you are flying around any air force base i would think it would be a restricted area and a N F Z .

There is a NFZ very near Luke, but we were about 50-60 miles from there. According to FLYsafe, there is a another 'Luke area' centered well away from Luke out in the desert that we were within. It's not a No Fly Zone. But, as I mentioned, we had been flying all morning with no notices or restrictions---until I approached that mine area.

 

[NRRTRAINS]

that mine area may be a N F Z , is it fenced off or have restrictions signs posted . when you were flying earlier you could have been on the edge of the restrictions , just a though .

 

[pmshop]

Strike one up for an inaccurate DJI "Fly Safe" internal Spark programming.
According to AirMap, absolutely ZERO restrictions within 5 miles where you were stopped by the bogus message.
Even the DJI Fly Safe map shows nothing.
You might want to bring that up in the official DJI Spark Forum.

 

[suprPHREAK]

Yeah I saw earlier your screenshot said Morristown, which is quite a distance away. Not being familiar with the area I figured you must be closer. I didn't see NFZ of any kind on FlySafe, or UAV forecast. Odd!

I'd try refreshing the firmware, maybe something in the database is stuck?

 

[AirCam]

if you are flying around any air force base i would think it would be a restricted area and a N F Z .

Did I take this picture in a No Fly Zone?


I took the picture from my driveway and according to DJI Fly Safe, AirMap and B4UFLY, my driveway is not in a NFZ, That plane looks a lot closer than it is because I used a LOT of telephoto zoom and enlarged it even more in post processing. If you look closely, you can see that the landing gear is down. It should be about 2,700' above ground level.

DJI Fly Safe, AirMap and B4UFLY give me warnings about a seaplane base 6 miles away, possible helicopter traffic at a hospital across town and a sightseeing helicopter landing area 12 miles from me, but tell me nothing about being on the approach to an Air Force Base. I am just over 7 miles from their nearest runway and 2 miles outside the NFZ. The planes are at least 2,300+ feet above my 400' drone altitude limit when they fly over my house, but I do NOT fly the drone when the Air Force planes are active. I get enough audible warning to get my drone on the ground before they actually get here. Other than a lot of F22 Raptors, the only air traffic I ever have over my house is the occasional helicopter (maybe 1 per year and it is probably 600' up.). There are absolutely no private planes and no commercial airline traffic in my neighborhood.

 

[pmshop]

Yeah I saw earlier your screenshot said Morristown, which is quite a distance away. Not being familiar with the area I figured you must be closer. I didn't see NFZ of any kind on FlySafe, or UAV forecast. Odd!

I'd try refreshing the firmware, maybe something in the database is stuck?

When refreshing the firmware, the database will not be affected.

 

[Bayou7]

Thanks for all the replies. It does sound like a Fly Safe issue.

 

[Christer Johansen]

I've had the exact same thing happened to me. It turned out that my drone had reached the distance limit as set in the Go 4 app. When this happened my drone just stopped and I later found "Active track stopped. Aircraft entering restricted area." in the log.

I was in a boat at the time, I didn't know the cause at first but by some sort of intuition I guess I reset the home point to my controller and my Spark could continue tracking.

I had "Dynamic home point" enabled but the geniuses at DJI have restricted that function so it does not work when tracking a boat. Come on DJI, if you don't need this when tracking a boat then when do you need it?

I think this works when tracking a person only, which makes no sense to me.

 

[Bayou7]

I've had the exact same thing happened to me. It turned out that my drone had reached the distance limit as set in the Go 4 app. When this happened my drone just stopped and I later found "Active track stopped. Aircraft entering restricted area." in the log.

I was in a boat at the time, I didn't know the cause at first but by some sort of intuition I guess I reset the home point to my controller and my Spark could continue tracking.

I had "Dynamic home point" enabled but the geniuses at DJI have restricted that function so it does not work when tracking a boat. Come on DJI, if you don't need this when tracking a boat then when do you need it?

I think this works when tracking a person only, which makes no sense to me.

Thanks for the reply. I've been thinking that this was the reason, so it's good to have it confirmed. Now I'm wondering if following a vehicle would be limited the same way as a boat. To be tested: enable Dynamic Home Point and be in the vehicle with the controller.

 

[pmshop]

Thanks for the reply. I've been thinking that this was the reason, so it's good to have it confirmed. Now I'm wondering if following a vehicle would be limited the same way as a boat. To be tested: enable Dynamic Home Point and be in the vehicle with the controller.

There was some video demonstrating the different types of home points set.
Cannot remember exact title though.