Georgia drone laws

Georgia is one of the more legible states for a commercial drone pilot, because the legislature keeps nearly all of it in one place: Code Section 6-1-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. That section preempts local drone ordinances, lists the exceptions that survive, and since April 2025 makes it a misdemeanor to operate within 400 feet of or above a ticketed entertainment event. A second provision, O.C.G.A. § 42-5-18, covers prisons and jails. Both were rewritten by House Bill 1230, effective 1 July 2026, so any guide written before that date describes a superseded version.

Georgia adds no license, no altitude ceiling and no flight-path rule on top of Part 107. What it does is tell you where you may not launch, what you may not fly above, and what you may not point a camera at. Two of the newest provisions carry express exceptions for operators flying in compliance with federal regulations — real protection for a certificated pilot, but protection you earn by being compliant on the day.

State drone law changes frequently. This page was last checked on 25 August 2026; verify against the current statute before you fly.

What federal law settles before Georgia gets a say

The FAA holds exclusive authority over aviation safety and the efficient use of the navigable airspace. Its 2023 fact sheet on state and local regulation of UAS draws the line. States and cities may not set flight altitudes, dictate flight paths, designate aerial corridors, mandate geofencing, or impose a pilot licensing regime of their own.

Outside those fields, states keep broad police powers. The fact sheet's own list includes land use and zoning, privacy, voyeurism, harassment, trespass, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, delivery of prison contraband, and photography of particular facilities such as prisons and energy infrastructure. States may also decide where an aircraft takes off and lands, and where the operator may stand.

Commercial operators sit in a different position, and this is the point most competitor guides miss: the Airline Deregulation Act preempts state laws related to the prices, routes or services of an operator with economic authority to provide interstate transportation, so a restriction lawful against a hobbyist can be preempted as applied to a paid job. Georgia's own statute reflects that instinct: its local launch-and-landing carve-out expressly excludes commercial operations.

Georgia's drone-specific laws

O.C.G.A. § 6-1-4(b) — preemption. Any ordinance, resolution, regulation or policy of a Georgia county, municipality or other local government entity regulating the testing or operation of unmanned aircraft systems is preempted and is "null, void, and of no force and effect." Three exceptions survive: an ordinance adopted on or before 1 April 2017; an ordinance that enforces FAA restrictions; and an ordinance prohibiting launch or intentional landing from or on the local government's own public property — and that third exception does not reach operation of a UAS for commercial purposes. Subsection (c) lets the state do the same on state public property through agency rules.

O.C.G.A. § 6-1-4(d) — ticketed entertainment events. It is unlawful to operate a UAS within 400 feet of or above a ticketed entertainment event, punished as for a misdemeanor. The term covers any music, sporting or performing arts event held in a location with gated entries or barriers preventing general public access, for which a revocable license from the owner, operator or lessee is required to attend. Subsection (d)(3) lifts the prohibition for five categories: someone with consent from a person holding legal authority over the event; a person authorized by federal regulations to operate a UAS who is operating in a lawful manner and consistent with federal regulations; an employee of the property on official business; a regulated utility employee on official business within the scope of employment; and a private property owner flying an aircraft he or she owns above that property, provided the flight is consistent with federal regulations and is not commercial, not to convey a message, and not to record for commercial broadcast or publication, monitor or otherwise interfere with the event.

Note what subsection (d) does. Unlike the launch-and-landing rules elsewhere in the section, it reaches operation in the air — closer to the field the FAA claims exclusively than a ground-siting rule is. A certificated pilot flying lawfully does not have to test that question, because (d)(3)(B) writes the exception in. House Bill 58 (Act 4, 2025) added the subsection effective 1 April 2025; HB 1230 revised its exceptions.

O.C.G.A. § 42-5-18(f) — places of incarceration. As rewritten by HB 1230, it is unlawful to knowingly and intentionally operate, or allow another to operate from your property, a UAS to violate the section's contraband provisions; to photograph or record a place of incarceration for purposes of committing a criminal offense; above a place of incarceration; or above one from your own property. A "place of incarceration" is any prison, probation detention center, jail or institution — state, federal, local or privately operated — used to incarcerate criminals or detainees. Paragraph (f)(2) matters in practice: prior authorization from the warden or superintendent may serve as evidence of noncriminal intent, and failing to obtain it is expressly not evidence of criminal intent.

Any violation or attempt is a felony. Paragraph (f)(3) sets one to ten years for the contraband subparagraph, and five to ten years for the photography subparagraph and for operating above the facility. Offending aircraft are declared contraband and may be seized or destroyed at the owner's expense. Against an aircraft operating over a place of incarceration for the purpose of committing a criminal offense, law enforcement may take reasonable and necessary mitigation measures — detection and tracking, or intercepting, disabling or disrupting it by jamming, hacking or physical capture — but only on reasonable suspicion that the aircraft is involved in criminal activity, poses an imminent threat to public safety, or is otherwise violating state or federal law. Paragraph (f)(7) exempts an operator in compliance with federal regulations, a peace officer acting for a law enforcement or public safety purpose, and a regulated utility employee within the scope of employment.

O.C.G.A. § 27-3-13(a.1) — feral hogs. Added by House Bill 946 (Act 479, 2026), effective 1 July 2026: unmanned aircraft systems, as defined in Code Section 6-1-4, may be used to locate feral hogs, subject to all applicable laws and regulations governing their use. Subsection (a), now expressly subject to (a.1), still makes it unlawful to hunt any wildlife or feral hog from an aircraft.

Where you can and cannot take off

Georgia's Department of Natural Resources uses the authority in § 6-1-4(c). Its published state park rules state that drone operation is prohibited in Georgia's State Parks and Historic Sites. Waivers are occasionally approved for professional commercial projects with prior approval from the Division Director: you submit a commercial film and photography request naming the project, the specific site and the exact dates and times of drone use, with your FAA drone registration, the pilot's name and proof of Part 107 certification. Blanket requests are not approved. That is DNR's published policy; the codified rule number behind it could not be confirmed for this check, so it is not stated here.

Local governments may still prohibit launch or intentional landing from their own public property, but that power stops at commercial operations. If a city park bans drone launches and you are flying a paid job, § 6-1-4(b)(3) is worth reading before you accept a refusal at face value.

What still applies everywhere

Nothing Georgia does changes the federal baseline. You need a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating and a registered aircraft. You are held to 400 feet above ground level, or within 400 feet of a structure's uppermost limit, and to visual line of sight, three statute miles of flight visibility and the Part 107 cloud clearances. Controlled airspace still requires authorization — see airspace classes explained and LAANC authorization, and check TFRs and special use airspace. That compliance is load-bearing here, because the prison and ticketed-event exceptions both hang on operating consistently with federal regulations.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Georgia city ban me from flying over its parks?

Not from flying over them. Under § 6-1-4(b), local drone ordinances are preempted, except that a local government may prohibit launch or intentional landing from its own public property — and even that exception does not reach commercial operations. Ordinances adopted on or before 1 April 2017, and ordinances enforcing FAA restrictions, also survive.

Does the ticketed-event rule apply to me if I hold a Part 107 certificate?

Subsection (d)(3)(B) excepts a person authorized by federal regulations who is operating in a lawful manner and consistent with those regulations. That condition is the whole exception. If a stadium TFR or any other federal restriction covers the site, the exception falls away with it, so check restrictions before you rely on it.

Can I fly above a Georgia prison if I am doing nothing criminal?

Section 42-5-18(f) makes operating above a place of incarceration unlawful in itself, and paragraph (f)(3) sets five to ten years for that subparagraph. But (f)(7)(A) exempts an operator who is in compliance with federal regulations. Even so, treat overflight of a Georgia jail as work requiring written contact with the warden first.

May I use a drone to find feral hogs in Georgia?

Yes, to locate them. O.C.G.A. § 27-3-13(a.1), effective 1 July 2026, allows unmanned aircraft systems to be used to locate feral hogs, subject to all applicable laws governing drone use. Hunting any wildlife or feral hog from an aircraft remains unlawful under subsection (a): locating is permitted, shooting from the aircraft is not.

Do I need a Georgia drone license or registration?

No. Georgia has not created a state remote pilot certificate or a state drone registry, and § 6-1-4 defines an unmanned aircraft system without reference to any state permit. Carry your FAA remote pilot certificate and FAA aircraft registration. Working toward the certificate? Start with how to get a drone license.

Return to the state drone law index.

Sources

• FAA, State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fact Sheet, 14 July 2023
• House Bill 58 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE), 2025 — amending O.C.G.A. § 6-1-4, Georgia General Assembly
• House Bill 1230 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE), 2026 — amending O.C.G.A. §§ 42-5-18 and 6-1-4, Office of the Governor of Georgia
• House Bill 946 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE), 2026 — amending O.C.G.A. § 27-3-13, Georgia General Assembly
• Office of Legislative Counsel, Summary of General Statutes Enacted at the 2025 Regular Session (Act 4; HB 58, effective 1 April 2025)
• Office of Legislative Counsel, Summary of General Statutes Enacted at the 2026 Regular Session (Act 388; HB 1230 and Act 479; HB 946, both effective 1 July 2026)
• Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites park rules