State drone laws for Part 107 pilots

Your Part 107 certificate is a federal credential that works in every state, and none of the states we cover requires a separate state pilot license. Many do add laws that apply to how and where you use a drone: privacy and surveillance, trespass by repeated low flights, and no-fly rules near critical infrastructure or large events. Each guide covers one state's distinctive rule, quoted from the statute, or, where there is none, what makes flying there different, plus the federal airspace that matters most.

Which states are covered?

Which other states are covered?

Where we found a drone statute with a clear effect on flying, the guide covers it. Where a state has no such statute, the guide covers what makes flying there different: national parks, airspace, military areas, terrain and weather, with links to the FAA and National Park Service sources.

How do federal and state rules fit together?

Think of two layers. The federal layer, Part 107 and FAA airspace rules, decides whether you may fly at all: your certificate, the aircraft, airspace authorization, altitude, people overhead, night and weather. The state layer decides what you may do with the drone where you are flying: whose property you may record, how often you may cross it, and which facilities you must keep away from. Following Part 107 never excuses a state privacy violation, and a state law never authorizes a flight Part 107 does not allow.

What carries over everywhere?

The federal rules the exam tests, which every state guide links back to: controlled airspace and LAANC, operations over people, the 400-foot limit and restricted airspace and TFRs.