Drone Rules for Commercial Shoots in Palm Beach County

What counts as a commercial drone flight

Almost any flight for a business counts. The FAA says payment is not the single deciding factor and gives taking photos to help sell a property or service as an example of a non-recreational flight under Part 107. Its guidance is direct: when in doubt assume you are flying under Part 107.

Recreational flying is a narrow exception created by Congress for flights made purely for fun or personal enjoyment. Even unpaid goodwill work, such as volunteering to survey a coastline for a nonprofit, is non-recreational in the FAA's examples. A real estate listing, a builder's progress video and a restaurant's opening reel are all Part 107 flights.

What Part 107 requires of the pilot and the drone

Part 107 requires a certified pilot and a registered aircraft. The FAA says you must obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate to fly under the rule, which means passing an aeronautical knowledge test. The drone must weigh less than 55 pounds and be registered, and registered drones must comply with the Remote ID rule.

• Remote Pilot Certificate: the pilot must be at least 16 and pass the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test
• Recurrent training: certificate holders complete online training every 24 calendar months
• The certificate must be easily accessible to the pilot during every flight
• Registration: Part 107 pilots register each drone individually through FAADroneZone and mark it with its number
• Remote ID: the drone broadcasts identification and location information in flight
• Night flights and flights over people are allowed without a waiver only when the rule's conditions are met

Flying in controlled airspace near the airport

Controlled airspace needs FAA authorization before takeoff, and that includes the controlled airspace around the county's commercial airport. The FAA says pilots planning to fly under 400 feet in controlled airspace around airports must receive an airspace authorization first, through LAANC or through FAADroneZone.

LAANC stands for Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability. Pilots apply through apps from FAA-approved service suppliers, and the FAA says approved requests can come back in near real time. Requests can be submitted up to 90 days ahead. Where the published ceiling for a location is lower than the flight needs, a Part 107 pilot can file a further coordination request.

FAADroneZone is the slower path. The FAA warns that processing there has historically taken up to eight weeks and that you are not authorized to fly without the approval. For a shoot with a fixed date, the airspace check belongs in the first planning call, before a location is promised to anyone.

What Florida law adds on privacy

Florida bars drone surveillance of private property. Section 934.50 says a person may not use a drone with an imaging device to record privately owned real property or the people on it with intent to conduct surveillance, in violation of their reasonable expectation of privacy, without written consent.

The statute presumes a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy on their own property if they cannot be seen by people at ground level in a place where those people have a legal right to be, even if a drone could see them from the air. An owner, tenant or guest may sue for damages and an injunction, and the prevailing party recovers attorney fees.

For a commercial shoot the practical answer is consent and framing. Get written permission from the owner of the property you are filming, plan flight paths that keep neighboring yards and pool decks out of frame and reshoot rather than publish footage of people who did not agree. An attorney should advise on anything close to the line.

Who can regulate drones locally

The state reserves most drone regulation to itself. Section 330.41 says a city or county may not enact or enforce an ordinance on the operation of unmanned aircraft systems, including airspace, altitude, flight paths and pilot qualifications. Local governments keep authority over nuisances, voyeurism, harassment, reckless endangerment and property damage.

The same statute protects critical infrastructure. A person may not knowingly operate a drone over a critical infrastructure facility unless the flight is for a commercial purpose and complies with FAA regulations, and may never let a drone touch one or come close enough to interfere with it. The list includes power plants and substations, water treatment plants, communications towers, seaports, airports, dams and correctional facilities. A violation is a third degree felony.

Preemption does not open every piece of ground. A government still decides what happens on land it owns or manages, which is why parks and permit offices can say where a drone may take off and land.

Where parks and permits limit takeoff

Check the ground rules for every launch point. State parks prohibit aircraft and other aerial apparatus from taking off or landing except in an emergency. County parks require a permit for commercial drone photography and close several parks to drones entirely. The county film commission folds Part 107 into its one-stop permit.