Part 107 Ace

Maine drone laws

What Maine actually regulates, what federal law settles before the state gets a say, and what that leaves you to check before a commercial flight.

State drone law changes every legislative session. This page cites the statutes as read on the date shown below and is not legal advice — verify against the current statute before you fly.

Maine has exactly one drone-specific statute, and it is not aimed at you. Title 25, Chapter 551 of the Maine Revised Statutes consists of a single section, 25 M.R.S. §4501, and every operative sentence governs what a law enforcement agency may do with an unmanned aerial vehicle. No Maine statute makes it an offense for a private or commercial operator to fly over private land, photograph a person from the air, or launch from a public road.

That makes the real constraints here administrative rather than criminal. The rule most likely to end a paying job is the Bureau of Parks and Lands policy prohibiting commercial drone use in Maine State Parks, Historic Sites and Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry boat launches — a takeoff-and-landing restriction of the kind the FAA's preemption guidance says a state may impose. Read the parks policy before you read the criminal code.

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 Maine gets a say

The FAA holds exclusive authority over aviation safety and the efficient use of the navigable airspace, and it set the boundary out plainly in its State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Fact Sheet of 14 July 2023. Anything a state or town writes that reaches into those fields — an altitude cap, a mandated flight corridor, a geofencing requirement, a municipal drone license layered on your remote pilot certificate — is preempted.

Outside those fields, states retain wide room. The FAA's own list of what state and local government may still regulate includes land use and zoning, privacy, voyeurism, harassment, trespass, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, delivery of contraband to prisons, wildfire suppression, and photography of specific facilities such as water treatment plants and energy infrastructure. It also includes rules about where an aircraft may take off and land and where the operator may stand. A state park can lawfully tell you not to launch from its beach; it cannot tell you how high to fly once airborne from somewhere else. And 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 rule enforceable against a hobbyist can be preempted as applied to a Part 107 job.

Maine's drone-specific laws

25 M.R.S. §4501 — Regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles. Enacted by PL 2015, c. 307, this is the whole of Maine's drone statute. It defines an unmanned aerial vehicle as an aircraft operated without a physical human presence within or on it that, in the manner it is used or equipped, is capable of performing audio or visual surveillance. Everything the section then does is aimed at law enforcement: acquisition must be approved by the overseeing governmental unit's governing body or, for a state agency, its commissioner; operation must fully comply with all FAA requirements and guidelines, including a certificate of authorization or waiver; an agency may not use a UAV before adopting standards meeting minimums the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy is directed to establish; and, absent a recognized constitutional exception, no agency may use one for a criminal investigation without a warrant. Search and rescue, related training, non-investigative uses such as aerial photography of fire scenes and storm damage, and emergency use approved by the chief administrative officer or the Governor are carved out. Two flat prohibitions close it: no state or local law enforcement agency in Maine may use or facilitate a weaponized UAV, and none may use a UAV to surveil private citizens peacefully exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. None of that binds you as a commercial operator — but if a Maine agency hires you, the constraints travel with the mission.

12 M.R.S. §11216 — Hunting with aid of aircraft. A person on the ground or airborne may not use an aircraft to aid or assist in hunting bear, deer or moose. Title 12 defines "aircraft" as a machine or device designed for flight (12 M.R.S. §10001), so an aerial survey flown in support of a hunt is a real exposure for anyone doing wildlife work in Maine. Where no animal is taken the violation is civil, with a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500; where a bear, deer or moose is taken it is a Class E crime for which the court must impose an unsuspendable fine of not less than $500.

Privacy. Maine's violation of privacy offense, 17-A M.R.S. §511, contains no drone-specific language, and neither does the stalking statute at 17-A M.R.S. §210-A. The paragraph of §511 most likely to reach aerial camera work is subsection 1, paragraph C: installing or using, outside a private place and without the consent of those entitled to privacy in it, any device for observing, photographing, recording or broadcasting images or sounds originating in that place that would not ordinarily be visible or audible outside it. Violation of privacy is a Class D crime. Maine came close to writing drones into both statutes — LD 2144 of the 129th Legislature would have amended §210-A and §511 — but it never left committee and died on 16 November 2020.

Where you can and cannot take off

The Bureau of Parks and Lands, within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, publishes a written UAS policy for the properties it manages. General drone use is prohibited in Maine State Parks, Historic Sites and DACF boat launches without the direct oversight and guidance of an approved law enforcement agency or the issue of a Special Activity Permit, and the policy states flatly that commercial use of drones is prohibited.

Special Activity Permits are described as available only under certain rare circumstances. An application goes through the Parks regional office with a full description of the activity and a certificate of liability insurance listing the State of Maine, the Bureau of Parks and Lands and the specific park as co-insured, and is valid only once the Regional Manager has signed. State employees and their representatives, acting in their official duties with prior written permission from the Bureau, are exempt. Outside those properties Maine has no statewide statute restricting where you may launch, though municipal ordinances are a separate question — check with the town.

What still applies everywhere

Nothing on this page changes your Part 107 obligations. You need a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating and an FAA-registered aircraft. You fly at or below 400 feet AGL, or within 400 feet of a structure's uppermost limit when inspecting it, and within visual line of sight. You need at least 3 statute miles of flight visibility from the control station and the required cloud clearances. Controlled airspace still requires authorization — in most of Maine that means LAANC, so know your airspace classes. Anything outside the standard rules needs a waiver. Still working toward the certificate? Start with how to get a drone license, then drill on a practice test.

Frequently asked questions

Does Maine have a drone privacy law?

Not a drone-specific one. Maine's only unmanned aerial vehicle statute, 25 M.R.S. §4501, regulates law enforcement agencies. A claim against a commercial operator in Maine would be built on general law — the violation of privacy offense at 17-A M.R.S. §511, trespass, or harassment — none of which mentions drones by name.

Can I fly a drone in a Maine state park?

Not for commercial work. The Bureau of Parks and Lands policy prohibits general drone use in Maine State Parks, Historic Sites and DACF boat launches absent law enforcement oversight or a Special Activity Permit, and states separately that commercial use of drones is prohibited. A Special Activity Permit is described as rare and requires liability insurance listing the State.

Is there a Maine permit or registration for commercial drone work?

No. Maine does not impose a state drone registration, license or permit on commercial operators. Your FAA remote pilot certificate and aircraft registration are the operative credentials. The permit that does exist — the Special Activity Permit — is a land-use permission for specific state properties, not a statewide operating license.

Can Maine towns pass their own drone ordinances?

We found no Maine statute preempting municipal drone regulation, so a town may act. Whether a given ordinance survives is a federal question: rules about takeoff and landing sites, operator location and privacy generally stand, while altitude limits, flight paths or licensing regimes are preempted by FAA authority over airspace and aviation safety.

Does the hunting-with-aircraft law really cover drones?

Title 12 defines "aircraft" as a machine or device designed for flight, and 12 M.R.S. §11216 bars using an aircraft to aid or assist in hunting bear, deer or moose. On its face that definition is broad enough to reach an unmanned aircraft, so if your work involves scouting game animals in Maine, treat §11216 as live.

Sources

Neighboring states

Massachusetts

Federal rules are the ones tested.

No state changes the 400-foot ceiling, visual line of sight, or the certificate itself. Those are what the Part 107 exam asks about.

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