How to Fly a Drone

If you're flying as a hobby, you don't need any special training or certification before taking a drone into the air. But that doesn't mean you should take your new quadcopter out of the box and start flying it immediately. Instead, learn how to use it safely and effectively to get the best images and video, without sacrificing the safety of yourself and others.

Learn the Rules

Even though you don't have to take a class to fly a drone for fun in the US, you still have to register with the government. The FAA charges $5 for a two-year hobbyist license. Licensing is done on a per-person basis, so you can pay once and fly as many drones as you own.

There are some very basic rules of the sky to follow—we have a separate article that goes over them in detail. But the basics are simple: Keep your drone at least five miles away from an airport, keep it at or below 400 feet altitude, don't fly over crowds of people, and keep it within visual sight range.

Learn Your Drone

Chances are you did some research before spending a few hundred dollars (or more) on a quadcopter. But if you're not sure about what your drone can do, it's time to figure it out.

The latest top-end models are packed with helpful safety features, but you need to understand what they do, and how they work to take advantage of them. Obstacle avoidance is a big one—a lot of drones have it, but it doesn't always work the same way. Is it always on in your model? Will it automatically navigate around obstacles, or will it simply freeze in place when it detects something blocking its path? Are the sensors on the front only, or on multiple sides of the aircraft?