DJI, the world’s dominant drone manufacturer, has made a major change to its safety protocol, removing automatic no-fly zone restrictions for drones operating in the United States.

DJI will no longer stop drones from flying over airports, wildfires, and the White House, passing the buck to US law enforcement to prevent some of the worst forms of drone misuse. Some are suggesting the curious timing of that decision is political,

The DJI Flip marks yet another entirely new airframe design from DJI. Sure, there have been size & weight changes, camera improvements, and extra features but – until the recent DJI Neo – the consumer category hasn't seen much other than incremental changes since the folding revolution – and that came in 2016 with the Mavic Pro.

Photo: Kara Murphy Just days after news came out regarding a drone collision with a firefighting plane working to control the wildfires in California, DJI announced that it will no longer enforce its No-Fly Zones,

DJI claims its drone safety decisions are not influenced by politics, following backlash to a geofencing system update.

The drone maker is removing restrictions that prevented its products from being allowed to fly over restricted areas, ceding control to drone pilots.

DJI has lifted its geofence that prevents users from flying over restricted areas like nuclear power plants, airports and wildfires.