Recreational / Hobbyist UAS pilot reported unintentionally flying a UAS in a TFR due to not seeing it on the map resource used.

Date: 2025-10 · Aircraft: DJI Mavic Pro

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-unauthorized-flight-operations-uas|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far

Synopsis

Recreational / Hobbyist UAS pilot reported unintentionally flying a UAS in a TFR due to not seeing it on the map resource used.

Narrative

On Day 0; around XA:15 I inadvertently flew a small unmanned aircraft (drone) into a TFR zone near Location X area.Drone make and model: Mavic ProIt wasn't an intentional violation but rather a chain of events; explained below; that impacted my assessment of the environment leading to an inadvertent flight into TFR area.I was aware of the TFR's; but they were supposed to be in effect later that day; starting at XH pm. I wasn't aware that there was a separate TFR for that location for a separate time frame.It wasn't a planned flight; but rather an on-the-spot decision. Before the flight; I quickly checked current TFR's in Garmin Pilot application on my personal phone. I also confirmed that the phone had cell signal. I didn't see any TFR's for that area which led me to believe that the only applicable TFR's were supposed to start later. Later that day; after the incident; I discovered that TFR layer of my app was turned off.Additional factors that impacted my judgement were related to the environment and the surrounding setup. It was a public area; no checkpoints on my way in; people camping on the side of the road; no fencing or posting; no warning signs; and the territory around the launch pad was surrounded only by the short posts with a simple rope over them. An inflatable Blimp / balloon was floating high a couple of miles north of me. I was rushing to get out of the location as the area was about to close which led me into not performing a more thorough check. Normally; this type of drone would not take off in a TFR area. I believe what happened; as the drone spent in storage an extensive period of time; TFR database was not updated. The specific phone (not my personal phone); the drone was operated on; didn't have internet connection. The drone didn't give me any warnings or notifications.It was not my intention to flight into a restricted zone; but I totally recognize the lack of thoroughness on my part in preparation for the flight. I also realize that the above-mentioned factors cannot be an excuse. The drone was above me at all times with elevation perhaps around 50 ft. It wasn't above any other people or vehicles. There were no movement in any direction; no attempts to approach any objects; and no intentions to do so. I will take corrective actions to my environment assessment procedures so incidents like this will never happen in future. I will also ensure that decisions to fly are always carefully weighed and thoroughly planned regardless of the time constraints and limitations.I will also consider taking specialized courses for drone pilots to comply with all applicable rules and regulations.

NASA callback

Reporter had no additional information to share.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.