So I found this morning that the mini 4 pro its now hard limited to 120m and the air 3s to 500m
so I contacted dji and this is how it went complete load of horse Sh*t…
Makes no sense to me completely goes against what the caa state.
“If you fly where the ground falls or rises, such as over hills,
mountains or cliffs, you may need to adjust your flight path
so that your drone or model aircraft is never more than 120m
(400ft) from the closest point of the earth’s surface.”
Is this info stored in the drone firmware? Flysafa data? Controller firmware?
If I have this all wrong I will stand corrected???
So tried my old rc2 that has not had the internet connected for months and this still has the higher limit I am downgrading the firmware now on my rc pro 2 to see if that solves it if it does then it will never get update again.
So it’s not the drone firmware that has the limit it’s either the controller firmware or flysafe database,
If the controller downgrade dosent work then I need to see if that flysafe data can be somehow downgraded.
Flysafe data is the same on both controllers the only thing I can think is it’s then the cotroller firmware which I will downgrade later on the rc pro 2 to test, If that dosent do it then they just have a sly way of downloading something in the background.
I have turned the WiFi off on the rc2 incase it does infact download something in the background
The only thing I need to check is the aircraft static safety data but that could be different between models I will have a look at some point today and let yous know
Exactly 100%, The only problem is if anything was to go wrong will Dji still cover the drone under the care refresh if anything was to go wrong and not on the latest firmware? I am not 100% sure
This isn’t a very new thing… …both my Air 3S and Mini 4 Pro have had these limitations in place since I purchased them. In the case of the Mini, it’s nothing to do with the CAA, but due to EASA requirements, as it has a C0 label. I guess it’s just something we have to suck up and work around when flying in the mountains?
What I haven’t tried though, and would be nervous to try, is discover what would happen if I flew down a mountain. Imagine I’m on the summit of Ben Nevis, and I were to fly my Mini down the north face cliffs; the drone is never more than 100m away from the mountain, so all is above board. I descend 300m down the mountain (assuming I can still see the aircraft) and then attempt a return to home. Will the aircraft actually return, or will it climb up 120m, and then decide it’s reached its altitude limit?
You’ll be able to return just fine (at least the last time I put this to the test a year ago). I flew off a cliff on the south coast and down to a lighthouse around 100m down below me; then back up with no issue at all. The altitude went to a negative number and back.
My wheelchair won’t get me into that position, but we have some massive quarries that I am enjoying flying around, so I have a very similar situation of sorts.
I’d love to fly over/into some of them, but the depth is hard to know. But almost certainly in excess of 120m. So I am giving the overflying a miss.
I do know of one which is less than 120m deep, but am too wary to attempt it.
A couple of years ago, Jen, DJI gave the option to change your C0 classified Mini to C1 if you wanted to fly higher than 120m from your takeoff point. This was a one-off decision you had to make the first time flying your Mini in the EU. I chose to keep the drone C0 classified. However, once back in the UK, the 120m restriction was lifted and automatically reverted back to your chosen setting.
The rules in the UK haven’t changed in this regard, as far as I can ascertain, so maybe DJI has unilaterally decided to make it the same as the EASA.
I’ll have to check my drone’s firmware for the change.
I was definitely able to set the Max Altitude above 120m.
I can partly see why DJI have done this.
C0 markings used to have no meaning in UK legislation but, as of 1 January 2026, now they do as C0 drones are allowed to fly in the A1 subcategory.
In the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945, which is the legislation setting out the requirements for the C markings, the first three requirements for a C0 marking are the following:
Therefore, to comply with the C0 rules, they have clearly limited the height above take-off point.
You would be able to set set a higher Max Altitude with a C1-marked Air 3S, just as you can in EASA countries, as the rules for C1 are slightly different.
It’s not new, people just don’t take any notice. For those of us who were salivating at the C regs a few years ago only to have them yanked from under our feet a month before they were due to be implemented, we’ve probably known about the hard limit of 120m for the whole time it’s been a thing.
This is why everyone in the EU was desperate to reclassify their drone to C1.
I suppose you’re right, I’ve not yested beyond 100m. Though, given that the altitude effectively goes to a negative number, I can’t see it freezing at 120m as you keep decending beyond - only to limit the rise back up.
