How to Safely and Legally Operate Your Drone

If you woke up last week and found a drone under your tree (or, more likely, in a cardboard box wherever you received your packages), you probably can’t wait to try it out. But unlike other new devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) like drones take a little more effort to get off the ground. In particular, you may need to register it with the government and get approval before your first flight.

It’s also important to know that laws governing drones are constantly changing. So, even if you operated one three or four years ago, you will want to familiarize yourself with the current regulations. Here’s what you need to know if you plan to fly a UAV in 2021.

Before registering your drone

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the first thing to do is figure out which category your drone falls into. While you probably consider yourself an amateur aviator, if you also use your drone for educational purposes, you may need further clarification. This tool from the FAA will help you find out for sure.

Assuming you fall into the category of “holiday flyers”, the following categorization will be based on weight. If your drone weighs more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams), it must be registered with the FAA through the FAADroneZone website – otherwise, if you are caught flying, you may be subject to civil and criminal penalties (including fines of up to USD 250,000, etc.). / or imprisonment for up to three years). Drones over 55 pounds go through a separate registration process, which can also be found on the FAADroneZone website.

It also helps you know if you meet the minimum requirements to register your drone. According to the FAA, you must :

• 13 years and older (if the owner is under 13 years old, the drone must register a person 13 years old and older)
• US Citizen or US Permanent Resident.
• For foreign operators, the FAA will treat the issued certificate as a recognition of ownership and not as a certificate of registration of the aircraft in the United States.

How to register your drone

Once you have determined that your drone needs to be registered, follow these steps :

1. Go to the FAADroneZone website.
2. Create an account. You will then be asked to provide basic information such as your name, address, phone number, and the brand of your drone.
3. Please pay a registration fee of $ 5 to complete the process. Your fee gives you three years of registration with the FAA.

After you register your drone

After you complete the online forms and pay $ 5, you will receive your Certificate of Registration by email with the registration number on it. Place this number in a prominent place on your drone or inside the battery compartment if no tool is required to open it. (If you’re unsure how to tag / display a registration number, here are some tips from the FAA .) A registration number helps you determine that your drone is yours if it gets lost or damaged.

Also, keep in mind that you must have your registration certificate (paper or digital) with you while flying. If someone else is flying your drone, they must have your drone registration certificate (paper or digital). Federal law requires drone operators who must register to show their registration certificate to any federal, state or local law enforcement officer if requested to do so, according to the FAA .

Find a place where you can fly legally

To do this, you’ll need to download the FAA’s B4UFLY app, which uses interactive maps to show where drone pilots can and can’t fly. If you first tried this app a few years ago, know that it has been significantly updated and improved, so try again. One thing, however, is still not working, is to allow users to obtain clearances to fly in controlled airspace: they are only available through the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification (LAANC) feature .

But here are some of the key features of the B4UFLY app:

• A clear “status” indicator informing the operator if it is safe to fly. (For example, this indicates that flying in the special flight rules area around Washington DC is prohibited.)
• Informative interactive maps with filtering options.
• Information on controlled airspace, special use airspace, critical infrastructure, airports, national parks, military training routes and flight time restrictions.
• The ability to check if it is safe to fly in different locations by searching for a location or moving the location marker.
• Links to other FAA drone resources and regulatory information.

If all else fails, you can find a local air club to help you understand the specifics of your area. You can search the Model Aeronautics Academy for a local branch. In the meantime, if you are not sure if flights are allowed (or if you think you have flown out of the permitted flying area), be polite and lower your drone if asked to do so. Especially if this request comes from law enforcement or property owners that you can hover over.

Finally, the FAA does not directly regulate drone photography, so for now this is a case of working under other photography laws and your common sense. The photographer’s right is a good source of general information about what is permitted in photography.

How to fly the drone safely

When you take off, make sure you follow a few basic safety rules. Most of them are quite common sense, but you can never be too careful. The FAA website provides basic information about holiday flyers:

• Fly for recreational purposes only.
• In uncontrolled (Class G) airspace, fly below 400 feet.
• Check the B4UFLY FAA app to determine if you are legally allowed to fly a drone in a specific area.
• Keep the drone within line-of-sight or line-of-sight of a visual observer who is nearby (physically close) and in direct communication with you.
• Don’t fly at night unless your drone has lighting that lets you know its location and orientation at all times.
• Do not interfere with manned aircraft.
• Respect the privacy of others.
• Never interfere with emergency response activities such as disaster relief, any accident response, law enforcement, firefighting, or hurricane recovery.
• Do not fly near or over people, events, stadiums, or moving vehicles.
• Do not fly an aircraft that weighs more than 55 pounds (as mentioned above, they are in their own category).
• Never fly under the influence of alcohol or drugs. (Remember that many over-the-counter medications have side effects that can affect your ability to fly the drone safely.)
• Don’t be careless or reckless about your drone – you could be fined for endangering people or other planes.

You should also check with the drone manufacturer on how to safely operate your particular model. DJI, one of the leading drone manufacturers, has an extensive collection of YouTube tutorial videos . Each model is different, so get to know your drone before taking it on your first flight.

This story was originally published in March 2016 and was updated on December 28, 2020 to reflect changes in FAA regulations, as well as provide additional information and align with current Lifehacker style guidelines.

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