DJI’s latest travel-friendly drone, Mini 3 Pro, has a ton of exciting features packed inside its sub-250-gram frame. The newly-released aircraft is also the first in the Mini drone series to automatically detect obstacles and find a safer path around them during flight. But does the DJI Mini 3 Pro meet Europe’s CE C0 class identification standards?
According to new European regulations, drones bearing a CE class 0 mark and weighing up to 250 g can fly in subcategory A1, which means almost everywhere, except over assemblies of people, or areas that the state has forbidden by imposing a restriction on drone flights.
DJI says it has designed the Mini 3 Pro in line with the current draft C0 standards. These standards are expected to be finalized in the near future, or more specifically, toward the end of 2022.
As such, the drone maker is currently conducting the certification test under the available draft standards. And once it obtains the class identification label, DJI will inform drone operators on how to certify their Mini 3 Pro. DJI explains:
At the present time, any drone under 250g is subject to the same rules and regulations regardless of whether or not it holds a class identification label, which is not yet available. Currently, all DJI drones can be used in the Limited Open Category with certain restrictions until Dec 31, 2023, and beyond.
Interestingly, Snap’s new pocket-sized Pixy selfie drone already has the CE C0 class identification label stamped on its battery compartment. That’s because if there’s any drone expected to pass the requirements for class C0, it would be the 101-gram Pixy.
Nevertheless, DJI is pretty serious about ensuring that the $759 Mini 3 Pro meets the EU C0 class identification standards. And it’s for this reason that the DJI Mini 3 Pro Intelligent Flight Battery Plus, which has a maximum flight time of 47 minutes, is not available in Europe.
As DJI puts it:
The larger battery would add approx. 40 grams to the Maximum Take-Off Mass (MTOM) of the DJI Mini 3 Pro and place it into the draft C1 class identification standard which would pose more restrictions on the use of the drone. DJI would like to avoid this scenario for the Mini series of our portfolio in order to appeal to a wider consumer base.
Read: DJI Mini 3 Pro drone summer-ready with its first major firmware update
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