Flying Your New Drone Legally
Recreational
When flying as a hobbyist or for practice, all you need to do is register your drone and fly in approved areas. The pig rules are to stay in eyesight, under 400ft and never fly over people.
Federal Aviation Administration faa.gov
Register with FAA for $5 registermyuas.faa.gov
Getting started site knowbeforeyoufly.org
Most consumer quadcopters with GPS will let you know when you're in approved area. You can search for other apps and websites for “no-fly zone” maps when planning ahead for shoots. Here is the FAAs faa.gov/uas/where_to_fly
Flying Professionally
(For Money)
If you are exchanging services, currency or promoting an organization you fall under the new Part 107. Other than the certification it’s mostly the same rules as the recreational. Considering the penalties and the low cost of entry there is no excuse not to obey the laws.
To get your license you must pass a written test at a CATS testing center. It’s $150 catstest.com/drone-knowledge-test.php
There are a lot of free and paid courses and resources out there. Just google/youtube Part 107 test prep. I relied heavily on The Drone U. They have a course and practice tests I had access to for 47$/mo. Their youtube channel and podcast have useful in for free.
I would recommend taking practice tests early to see where you need to spend the most time. There are a ton of apps and websites you can google free and paid. I ended up paying for this ios app($50). I found the official test questions and my score to be very similar.
Insurance
Flying a drone is risky. Never fly without insurance. Here is an affordable pay as you fly solution I use verifly.com
Resources
Here are some PDFs I found helpful
Please link off in the comments anything you found to be useful!
