P3 sends data to FAA?

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

Couple guys at the field are all paranoid about their P3s sending data to the FAA. One went as far as selling his P3 because of that, regretting it a day later, lol. They are all worried about flying over 400ft, or outside the park. My ipad never gets connected to the internet anymore and is only used for my P3, but I don't think I would care anyway.

They said the info about the P3 sending data to the FAA is in the manual, but I cant find it.

Any thoughts?

Meta4 · Jul 21, 2015

Just a conspiracy theory with no evidence.
It'd rate it somewhere lower than extremely unlikely.
There's definitely nothing in the manual about it.

msinger · Jul 21, 2015

On the crazy scale of 1-10, this is a 12

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

I think they are confused about the flight data cloud storage thing... I feel sorry for the guy who sold his, lol. Well, he sold it for $100 less than he paid for it. So he didn't lose much money...

They also said the flight data for the FAA is not on the internal sd card, so you cant just delete the data. lol

Also, the FAA retains the data for 3 months and if there are no reported incidents then they flush it and repeat.

Cacc · Jul 21, 2015

The only problem people have actually had is them posting photos or videos of flights that are outside of the FAA regulations. The same thing happened to people who were testing out the speed of their cars on empty highways with a camera on the road and speedometer pushing 200+; they posted the evidence themselves.

tcope · Jul 21, 2015

Because the FAA has nothing better to do that they planned to monitor P3's for _possible_ future violation? There is no current reg or law against flying higher then 400'. If the people flying RC eq do not know this then they should read up on current regs.

BTW, was this the guy:

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

But that guy who got a letter from the FAA, regarding him posting his videos on youtube with monetization constitutes commercial use, is still posting videos on youtube with monetization/ads... So it appears they backed off... Its not the video that is commercial use or an ad, its the method for delivering the video.

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

No not the guy, lol..

ScottyT · Jul 21, 2015

Unlikely. But seeing as most will now have their flight logs synced in the cloud, it would be tempting for any governing authority to get access to that information. Pretty damning information.

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

Well, its not really damning unless you are actually flying reckless, might be hard to tell from just a flight log. I do some crazy maneuvers (of course limited by not having manual mode) over empty fields once in a while to stretch her out sometimes... <-- sounds weird, lol

ScottyT · Jul 21, 2015

DiluxEdition said:
Well, its not really damning unless you are actually flying reckless, might be hard to tell from just a flight log. I do some crazy maneuvers (of course limited by not having manual mode) over empty fields once in a while to stretch her out sometimes... <-- sounds weird, lol

Of course, why would they care if you weren't flying recklessly. Not sure "crazy maneuvers" would be a concern, more maximum height and distance from home point. Also mapping coordinates to see if you are flying in a restricted area. Would be ridiculously easy to automate such searches.

DiluxEdition · Jul 21, 2015

I would think it would be a sort of invasion of privacy. No reason why my flight logs shouldn't be considered private, they could contain gps data of my property, which can be linked to my name if I registered the P3 under my name, so those 2 pieces of info together should clearly be considered private data.

ScottyT · Jul 21, 2015

Not arguing that, just saying all the flight information is there on a platter for them.

taroh · Jul 21, 2015

Does NSA analyzer support P3 .bin format?

Hovtech · Jul 21, 2015

So I was flying my P3 over the neighborhood recently and then I get a letter from the FAA saying my neighbors are worried about the chemtrails I'm leaving in the sky. Am I raining down chemicals to change their sexual orientation. It is already a known fact (proven on the internet) that Bruce Jenner was in an area this happened in. I understand that between the chemtrails and fluoridation of our water the FAA has its hands full.

Volantis · Jul 21, 2015

The P3 does not have to send data to the FAA to be monitored. It already uses GPS to find its location. Every signal that pings a satellite is logged. Don't get paranoid unless you are planning to do something disruptive to people's lives or society in general, then you should be very paranoid. The FAA has far more serious things to consider than people using their drones under 500 feet and flying outside of airspace traffic routes.

However, you should always be mindful of what your are doing and how it might appear to someone else. We live in a world full of surveillance cameras, GPS, radio waves, cellular networks, credit cards, and other means where we leave behind trails of our activities. If you use tech to commit a crime, you will get caught. If you use reasonable respect for other's rights and properties, you will be invisible to the system.

BenDronePilot · Jul 21, 2015

DiluxEdition said:
Couple guys at the field are all paranoid about their P3s sending data to the FAA. One went as far as selling his P3 because of that, regretting it a day later, lol. They are all worried about flying over 400ft, or outside the park. My ipad never gets connected to the internet anymore and is only used for my P3, but I don't think I would care anyway.

They said the info about the P3 sending data to the FAA is in the manual, but I cant find it.

Any thoughts?

Hi, I have read the manual and no there is no area that makes mention of the FAA and your Phantom 3 flight logs. Your friends are just paranoid and possibly just F'ing with you. And the FAA has no legal authority to tell you what you can and can not do with your quad in the USA as of this time. That doesn't mean they still can't try to harass you causing you both time and money.

It's also worth noting that there would be legal issues with respect to DJI collecting any personal flight logs from your Phantom without your express permission. And if they did so they would still not have the right to disclose that information without a subpena vs just randomly giving the info to any governing body automatically as is claimed.

Legalities aside here are some steps you can take if you are concerned about something dubious taking place.

Flight logs are stored locally within the internal memory of the Phantom 3. You have the ability within the DJI Pilot app to erase those logs from the Phantom 3

Lets say the Pilot app has the ability to automatically transfer Phantom 3 pilot logs to their server. The Pilot app can not do that without being connected to the internet. Delete your logs off your Phantom on a regular basis before you connect your tablet to the internet if you're paranoid they may magically get uploaded to DJIs servers somehow.

If you want to be super extra careful that no undisclosed transferring of flight logs are taking place you can take it a step further by completely deleting the DJI app before connecting your tablet to the internet. Assuming the uninstall process doesn't selectively leave files behind, such as discretely transferred logs from your Phantom to your tablet, then you should be fine. If it does leave files behind there are ways to clean that off too.

In Summary, I wouldn't worry about this whole thing. I think this whole DJI FAA log transfer is a conspiracy, rumor, BS and just that. But if you are concerned it is more and want to be safe then doing the above should sort you.

ScottyT · Jul 21, 2015

Volantis said:
The P3 does not have to send data to the FAA to be monitored. It already uses GPS to find its location. Every signal that pings a satellite is logged.

A GPS receiver doesn't ping the satellites, and use is not logged. That's absurd.