Regulations
Flying Drones Over People: The Four Categories Explained
The default answer is no. Four routes change it, and which one applies depends on the aircraft rather than the pilot.
Key takeaway
Eligibility to fly over people is a property of the aircraft, not the pilot. Your certificate never qualifies you; the manufacturer's declaration of compliance or a Category 4 airworthiness certificate does.
Start from no.
Section 107.39 prohibits operating a small unmanned aircraft over a human being unless that person is directly participating in the operation, is under a covered structure, or is inside a stationary vehicle that can provide reasonable protection.
Everything else — every route to lawfully flying over someone — comes from subpart D, and it is defined by what the aircraft is, not by how good the pilot is. No amount of experience, no waiver of any other rule, and no client agreement changes that.
The two everyday exceptions
Before the categories, the two exceptions in 107.39 itself:
Directly participating persons. The remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the controls, and any visual observer. Everyone else on the job — a client watching, a photographer's assistant, a groundskeeper — is not directly participating simply by being present. The test is whether they have a role in the operation.
Covered structures and stationary vehicles. A person inside a building, or inside a parked car, may be overflown. Note stationary. A moving vehicle does not qualify, which matters at any site next to live traffic.
The four categories
| Category | What qualifies the aircraft | Sustained flight over open-air assemblies? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weighs 0.55 lb (250 g) or less including everything on board, and has no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate skin | Only with Remote ID |
| 2 | Manufacturer shows it will not cause injury above a defined severe-injury threshold on transfer of kinetic energy, no lacerating parts, no safety defects | Only with Remote ID |
| 3 | A lower bar than Category 2 on the same principle, with operating restrictions instead | No |
| 4 | Holds an airworthiness certificate issued under part 21 | Only with Remote ID |
Category 1 is the only one where you can determine eligibility yourself, by weighing the aircraft. Everything attached counts: camera, guards, strobe, payload. An aircraft at 249 grams bare that reaches 260 with a strobe fitted is not Category 1 during that flight.
Categories 2 and 3 both depend on the manufacturer obtaining an FAA-accepted declaration of compliance and labelling the aircraft accordingly. You cannot self-certify, and you cannot reason your way to a category from the specification sheet. Either the declaration exists or it does not.
Category 3 carries the operating restrictions Category 2 does not. It may not be flown over open-air assemblies at all, and flight over people is limited to a closed or restricted-access site where those present have been notified, or to transiting over people rather than sustaining flight over them.
Category 4 is the aircraft with a full airworthiness certificate. It is rare, expensive, and generally the province of purpose-built platforms rather than anything bought off a shelf.
Open-air assemblies
An open-air assembly is the highest bar in the framework, and the regulation deliberately does not define it with a headcount. The FAA's guidance points at the character of the gathering — a concert, a parade, a sporting event, a protest — rather than a threshold number.
Sustained flight over an open-air assembly requires both:
- The aircraft qualifies under Category 1, 2 or 4 — never 3
- The aircraft meets the Remote ID requirements of part 89
That second condition is easy to miss. Remote ID compliance is a separate rule with its own three routes, and a Category 1 aircraft without it cannot be flown over an assembly. See FAA Remote ID explained.
If you are wondering whether the gathering in front of you is an open-air assembly, treat it as one. The regulation is drafted to make the cautious reading the correct one.
Your label is your problem
The category belongs to the aircraft as configured for this flight, and it is the remote PIC's job to know it.
Three ways operators get this wrong:
- Adding weight to a Category 1 aircraft. Propeller guards, a heavier battery, a payload. Category 1 is a hard number including everything on board.
- Assuming a category transfers between models. A manufacturer's declaration covers specific serial numbers or models, not a product line.
- Modifying a Category 2 or 3 aircraft. The declaration describes a configuration. Third-party propellers or a removed guard can put the aircraft outside what was declared.
Under 107.49(f), confirming the aircraft meets the applicable category requirement is an explicit preflight duty whenever the operation will be conducted over people.
Moving vehicles
A related restriction that sits in the same territory: 14 CFR 107.25 prohibits operating from a moving vehicle or aircraft, unless the operation is over a sparsely populated area.
The section is waivable under 107.205, with one hard limit written into the list itself: no waiver will be issued to allow the carriage of another person's property for compensation or hire from a moving vehicle. That closes the obvious delivery use case at the regulation level rather than the application level.
What a waiver can and cannot do
Section 107.39 is waivable. What a waiver cannot do is change the aircraft.
The FAA is not going to authorize sustained flight over a crowd with an aircraft that has no declaration of compliance and no airworthiness certificate, because the entire subpart D framework rests on the aircraft's demonstrated injury characteristics. A waiver application that proposes procedural mitigations in place of a compliant aircraft is asking the wrong question.
Where waivers do get granted, it is generally for a bounded operation with a defined area, notified participants, and an aircraft that already sits close to the category it needs.
Frequently asked questions
Can you fly a drone over people?
Only under specific conditions. By default 14 CFR 107.39 prohibits it. Flight over people is permitted where they are directly participating in the operation, under a covered structure, or inside a stationary vehicle — or where the aircraft qualifies under one of the four operating categories in Part 107 subpart D.
What are the four categories for flying over people?
Category 1 covers aircraft of 0.55 pounds or less with no lacerating parts. Categories 2 and 3 depend on the manufacturer's FAA-accepted declaration of compliance against injury-severity thresholds, with Category 3 carrying additional operating restrictions. Category 4 covers aircraft holding an airworthiness certificate issued under part 21.
What is the weight limit for Category 1?
0.55 pounds, or 250 grams, including everything on board at the time of flight. Cameras, propeller guards, strobes and payloads all count toward that figure.
Can a Category 3 drone fly over an open-air assembly?
No. Category 3 aircraft may not operate over open-air assemblies under any circumstances. Sustained flight over an open-air assembly requires a Category 1, 2 or 4 aircraft that also meets the Remote ID requirements of part 89.
Does Part 107 define how many people make an open-air assembly?
No. The regulation does not set a headcount. FAA guidance focuses on the character of the gathering — concerts, parades, sporting events and similar — rather than a threshold, which means the cautious interpretation is the correct one.
Can I get a waiver to fly over people?
Section 107.39 is waivable under 14 CFR 107.205, but a waiver does not change the aircraft. Because subpart D is built on the aircraft's demonstrated injury characteristics, applications proposing procedural mitigations in place of a compliant aircraft are unlikely to succeed.
Operations over people is one of the denser corners of Regulations, which is 48 percent of the current exam. Check where you stand with the free readiness assessment.
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