Datasets:

referencesource
/

faa-drone-weight-thresholds

pretty_name: FAA drone weight thresholds that trigger a different rule set
license: other
license_name: source-terms-cited
license_link: https://referencesource.org/faa-drone-weight-thresholds/
language:
  - en
tags:
  - reference-data
  - provenance
  - referencesource-org
configs:
  - config_name: default
    data_files:
      - split: train
        path: data/records.jsonl

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

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/