DJI Puts $145K Bounty on the Drone Pilots Who Were Disrupting Flights

&gt; Let’s not forget that DJI has software which limits the abilities of the drones based on the pilot’s location. For example, DJI has established that airports are no-fly zones. However, there are some ways that drone pilots can bypass this measure and fly without restriction from DJI.<p>DJI is going really far on this. They already have pre-installed software which restricts drones in no-fly zones. Even more, they are putting out a bounty program to that. I heard that there are some special electrical guns which can shoot down drones. It might be useful to deploy these in no-fly zones.

I&#x27;m so glad DJI is doing this. I&#x27;ve started flying drones in September of 2016. I use to be annoyed by them, but now as a pilot and a photographer, really love the unique perspectives drone footage gives me.<p>That said, I hear from many people who dislike drones (I can understand them since I was one, too) and all it takes is one or two people to ruin it for everyone else. So it&#x27;s really good DJI is taking the lead on this.

Am I the only one getting heebie-jeebies over the prospect of drones being used for purposes of terrorism? It sounds like these guys (in the article) are just jack-asses but it doesn&#x27;t seem hard to imagine bad actors doing quite a bit worse. I&#x27;m also scared of the prospect that autonomous drones might be considerably harder to stop and&#x2F;or catch the perpetrators before or afterwards.<p>It also seems likely that this will be something that is relatively cheap and widely available - you might have to be a serious actor lay hands on a SAM, but a lone nutter can probably afford a drone or ten.

The solution is simple: allow low-power ADS-B to be radiated from drones and encourage&#x2F;require its use: see <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uavionix.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;the-case-for-low-power-ads-b&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uavionix.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;the-case-for-low-power-ads-b&#x2F;</a><p>Add a penalty for flying anywhere that could interfere any sort of crewed aircraft operations (including airports and flight paths, of course) without an operational and registered ADS-B transceiver. You fly next to big iron, you broadcast and listen to ADS-B like big iron, so nobody gets hurt.

I think the website is down. Here&#x27;s the cached one: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;webcache.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;search?q=cache:h9-Uy1zmqywJ:www.improdrone.com&#x2F;dji-puts-145000-bounty-drone-pilots-disrupting-flights&#x2F;+&amp;cd=1&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;webcache.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;search?q=cache:h9-Uy1z...</a>

When people start getting jail time for flying in restricted airspace the events will drop. Idiots pointing laser pointers at aircraft used to be pretty common until people started landing in jail because of it. Trying to say drones need transponders and such is non-starter because the same people who will be so ignorant to warrant them wouldn&#x27;t bother to spend the money on one in the first place and follow those regs.<p>Once a few people get the book thrown at them word will spread and people will start using their brains a bit more before they take off.

I&#x27;m glad to see DJI getting involved on both sides of this. They should be fostering responsible use of their products and coming out against the small handful of reckless actors who are going to give everyone else a black eye. On a related note, they recently started an advocacy group too - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nodecampaign.org" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nodecampaign.org</a>

DJI actually has some systems in place to prevent illegal flights. By default it only goes as high as the law permits and can&#x27;t enter no-fly zones (as if there were a force field). Even in smaller airports, the app will alert you to fly with caution (for example, in class C airspace) You can override these limits, but, as far as I know, the event is somehow logged.

Drones are nothing of not noisy, and that noise is unlike almost any other piece of machinery.<p>It shouldn&#x27;t be too hard to set up towers around the airport with sensitive speakers that can triangulate the location of a drone flying within a restricted area. From that point it can sound an alarm and&#x2F;or deploy counter-measures.

There are legitimate uses of airports by drone enthusiasts who rent out whole airfield for weekend gatherings and events. The clubs in my area fly almost exclusively this way. I wonder how the restrictions will fare in this case.

Unfortunately there are thousands of assholes that don&#x27;t know or even don&#x27;t care where they fly those things<p>Same with lasers, same with hot air balloons<p>Maybe after some of them are jailed or fined they&#x27;ll start to behave

Good on DJI, but China should be instilling fear on anyone who even thinks about doing this in the future. I can only imagine the penalty they would impose for causing a crash that took lives.

Link is broken - anyone have a mirror?

Is this a problem just in China or what about airports around the world?

Why not $150k?

Is this appropriate for businesses to be doing?<p>I mean, you don&#x27;t see Ford putting out bounties on drunk hit&#x27;n&#x27;run drivers, and that&#x27;s something that&#x27;s cost thousands of lives.<p>How is this type of McCarthy PR acceptable?<p>DJI customers, what are your thoughts on this?