cfr_citation stringclasses 5
values | derived_fields listlengths 3 3 | id stringclasses 5
values | source stringclasses 4
values | source_quote stringclasses 5
values | threshold_name stringclasses 5
values | url stringclasses 5
values | verified_fields listlengths 1 1 | weight_limit stringclasses 3
values | what_it_triggers stringclasses 5
values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 CFR 48.15(b) | [
"cfr_citation",
"threshold_name",
"what_it_triggers"
] | aircraft-registration | https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-48 | § 48.15 Requirement to register. No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft that is eligible for registration under 49 U.S.C. 44101-44103 unless one of the following criteria has been satisfied: (a) The owner has registered and marked the aircraft in accordance with this part; (b) The aircraft is operated exclusiv... | Aircraft registration | https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/aircraft-registration/ | [
"weight_limit"
] | 0.55 pounds or less | A drone flown exclusively under the recreational exception in 49 U.S.C. 44809 and weighing 0.55 pounds or less on takeoff does not have to be registered; otherwise the owner must have registered and marked it before anyone may operate it. |
14 CFR 107.110(a)(1) | [
"cfr_citation",
"threshold_name",
"what_it_triggers"
] | category-1-operations-over-human-beings | https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-107 | § 107.105 Limitations on operations over human beings. Except as provided in §§ 107.39(a) and (b) and 107.145 , a remote pilot in command may conduct operations over human beings only in accordance with the following, as applicable: § 107.110 for Category 1 operations; §§ 107.115 and 107.120 for Category 2 operations; ... | Category 1 operations over human beings | https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/category-1-operations-over-human-beings/ | [
"weight_limit"
] | 0.55 pounds or less | To conduct Category 1 operations the remote pilot in command must use a small unmanned aircraft weighing 0.55 pounds or less on takeoff and throughout the operation, with no exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin on impact. |
14 CFR 107.3 | [
"cfr_citation",
"threshold_name",
"what_it_triggers"
] | part-107-eligibility-small-unmanned-aircraft | https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-107 | § 107.1 Applicability. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this part applies to the registration, airman certification, and operation of civil small unmanned aircraft systems within the United States. This part also applies to the eligibility of civil small unmanned aircraft systems to operate over... | Part 107 eligibility (small unmanned aircraft) | https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/part-107-eligibility-small-unmanned-aircraft/ | [
"weight_limit"
] | less than 55 pounds | Part 107 applies to the registration, airman certification and operation of civil small unmanned aircraft systems, and this part defines a small unmanned aircraft as weighing less than 55 pounds on takeoff including everything on board or attached -- a definition that controls over the one in § 1.1 of the chapter. |
49 U.S.C. 44809(c)(3) | [
"cfr_citation",
"threshold_name",
"what_it_triggers"
] | recreational-operation-at-55-pounds-or-greater | https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title49-section44809&num=0&edition=prelim | §44809. Exception for limited recreational operations of unmanned aircraft (a) In General .-Except as provided in subsection (e), and notwithstanding chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code, a person may operate a small unmanned aircraft without specific certification or operating authority from the Federal Aviatio... | Recreational operation at 55 pounds or greater | https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/recreational-operation-at-55-pounds-or-greater/ | [
"weight_limit"
] | 55 pounds or greater | A person may operate an unmanned aircraft weighing 55 pounds or greater only if it complies with standards and limitations developed by a community-based organization and approved by the Administrator, and it is operated from an approved fixed site. |
14 CFR 89.501(c)(3) | [
"cfr_citation",
"threshold_name",
"what_it_triggers"
] | remote-id-design-and-production | https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-89 | Subpart F— Remote Identification Design and Production § 89.501 Applicability. (a) This subpart prescribes— (1) Requirements for the design and production of unmanned aircraft with remote identification produced for operation in the airspace of the United States. (2) Requirements for the design and production of remote... | Remote ID design and production | https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/remote-id-design-and-production/ | [
"weight_limit"
] | 0.55 pounds or less | The remote identification design and production requirements do not apply to unmanned aircraft weighing 0.55 pounds or less on takeoff, unless the aircraft was designed and produced to be a standard remote identification unmanned aircraft. |
FAA drone weight thresholds that trigger a different rule set
Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/ Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy.
- Last verified: 2026-08-26
- Stale after: 2027-08-26 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy — it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not)
- Records: 5
A drone's takeoff weight alone decides which federal rules apply to it, and the thresholds are scattered across three parts of 14 CFR plus the recreational-flying statute, with no single page stating all of them together. Two independent rules exempt anything weighing 0.55 pounds or less: a drone flown under the recreational exception in 49 U.S.C. 44809 does not have to be registered (14 CFR 48.15(b)), and the remote identification design and production requirements do not apply to it (14 CFR 89.501(c)(3)) -- separate exemptions that happen to share the same figure. The same 0.55 pounds is also the ceiling for flying over people as a Category 1 operation (14 CFR 107.110(a)(1)). At the other end, 'small unmanned aircraft' -- the category Part 107 governs at all -- is defined as weighing less than 55 pounds on takeoff (14 CFR 107.3), and a recreational flyer may fly something 55 pounds or heavier only under community-based-organization standards at an approved fixed site (49 U.S.C. 44809(c)(3)). Each record is one threshold: the weight figure verbatim, what crossing it means, and the section that states it, quoted in full. Answers 'do I need to register my drone', 'does my drone need remote ID', 'how heavy can a drone be under Part 107', 'can I fly my drone over people'.
Provenance — what every record carries
Every record carries source (the URL the value was read from) and
source_quote (a verbatim quote from that page stating it). A value you
cannot check against its page is indistinguishable from an invented one;
these can all be checked. Each record is also individually addressable on
the canonical site at its url.
Licence position
Federal regulatory and statutory text (14 CFR, 49 U.S.C.), a US government work, not copyrightable
Facts are not copyrightable; what this dataset takes from each source is a fact plus a short attributed quote linking back to the page that states it.
Sources
- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-48
- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-107
- https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title49-section44809&num=0&edition=prelim
- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-89
Fields
See any record in data/records.jsonl — field names are self-describing,
and the canonical page for each record renders them with labels:
https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/
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