Can You Fly A Drone From Inside Your Car?

Flying your drone from inside your vehicle certainly seems like something you may have wanted to do. While flying a drone from inside your car is fun, you probably need to consider the drone flying regulations before you consider doing that.

The Public Law in your state states that flying drones in permitted areas is okay if the drone is in your line of sight. But that doesn’t mean you can fly drones from inside your car- regardless of whether or not it’s stationary. The Public Law 112 – 95 Section 336 Part 107 mentioned that flying a drone inside a stationary vehicle is illegal.

That is, until April 21, 2021. when the Operations over People rule came into effect, you could fly over people or stationary or moving vehicles in sparsely populated areas without worrying about being penalized. You can also fly over vehicles in populated areas if you apply for the waiver for Part 107, which can take some time to review.

Flying Drones From A Moving Vehicle – The Why

Flying drones inside a stationary vehicle are pretty cool and understandable. But why would somebody want to do so from inside a moving vehicle?

It turns out that modern drones are very powerful. Apart from recreation, you can employ drones in geospatial mapping techniques, surveying the land cover, taking vegetation data, surveillance, and so on. You can even use drones to plant seeds and spread pesticides and growth supplements – which is cool if you think about it; such innovations will surely help farmers improve their quality of life.

If you want great aerial shots, flying a drone from a moving car could be great.

The main issue here is not that drones aren’t capable- it’s the fact that the FAA doesn’t want you to fly drones out of your line of sight- using binoculars to increase the field of sight is also illegal. This limits how much ground your drone can legally cover. Using a moving vehicle to increase your line of sight would work, but that’s tricky.

What About Flying Drone From A Vehicle That’s Not Still?

That’s where it gets a bit trickier. The FAA Part 107 Factsheet states that you can fly your drone from inside a moving vehicle as long as you fly over an area with a sparse population.

It depends on your state – so you should check with your state regulations first.

If you’re lucky enough to find a way around it and are flying over a sparsely populated area (this seems to be required by the law), you can relax in your car while enjoying the luxuries of flying your drone. You need to know the area around the drone, but aside, you can even fly your drone in the rain after you waterproof your drone.

Listening to the car stereo while flying a quadcopter drone sure seems nice!

You could get in trouble if you break one or more state laws, so I don’t recommend trying. Luckily, drone pilots who come under the jurisdiction of Part 107 can fly over people and move vehicles thanks to the Operations over People rule, which is relatively new.

The short answer is- you can certainly fly from inside a moving vehicle if you are doing so over a sparsely populated area- you can even fly drones over stationary vehicles, but not at night. Previously the laws mentioned that a person in a moving vehicle could get distracted by an uncrewed aircraft- a drone, and get into an accident- so flying a drone from inside a moving vehicle was prohibited.

Getting Waivers To Get Around Part 107

Is there a way around this? You can try a Part 107 waiver, which you might get if your needs are genuine. These are some things that are waivable:

Check out this list if you want to know what is waivable under Part 107 for drones and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Final Thoughts

If you’ve read this far, good luck! You can certainly fly drones from inside moving vehicles, but you need to be careful that you have a good view of the drone and that you are not driving in restricted airspace or over densely populated areas.

Flying drones over cities can be tricky- and when in doubt, it’s always best to check with the authorities to check if it’s permitted. If you want to fly over something against Part 107 legally, I recommend checking the FAA resource on Part 107 waivers.

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