Fly As You Are: New Drone From DJI to Launch on October 30

In a matter of days, the wait for a new consumer drone from DJI will be over. The ‘Fly As You Are’ event is set to take place on October 30.

And it’s been a long time coming. The Chinese manufacturer and industry leader hasn’t launched a mass-market drone since the Mavic 2 and Mavic 2 Zoom took off in August 2018.

Rumors, partly fueled by documents published by the FCC, suggest a Mavic Mini is coming, a miniature model that we expect will take over from the Spark as DJI’s entry-level drone.

It’s also expected that the drone will be small enough to fall under the 250-gram registration threshold established by aviation authorities around the world. This means buyers could potentially avoid having to register their aircraft or sit any kind of pilot exam to fly DJI’s new drone.

Should DJI launch a Mavic Mini that weighs under 250 grams that’s available in the new year, it will not come with the addition of AirSense – a feature that works by receiving ADS-B signals from nearby airplanes and helicopters to warns drone pilots of manned aircraft proximity, that DJI has promised will apply to all new models released from 2020 above that weight.

“Wherever you are, fly as you are…”

Just in case there was any doubt that DJI’s upcoming event will introduce the Mavic Mini-style drone hinted at by the FCC documents, the “Wherever you are, fly as you are” tagline suggests a portable drone that’s flown primarily through a mobile device.

It’ll be interesting to see what safety features the new drone has, and whether DJI will choose to upgrade the Spark’s 1080p video camera to something with a higher resolution.

The launch is set to begin at 9am eastern time on Wednesday. We’ll be covering the news on the day so check back for all the specs and information on DJI’s new drone.