Drone laws in Georgia come from two places: the FAA’s federal rules, which every operator in the state must follow, and a short set of Georgia statutes that deal mainly with privacy, prisons, and whether cities can add their own restrictions (they mostly cannot). Fly recreationally and you need to register your drone and pass a free online safety test. Fly for any business purpose and you need a Remote Pilot Certificate. Record the wrong thing or launch from the wrong place and you can face a Georgia misdemeanor, a felony, or FAA civil penalties that now reach $75,000 per violation.
What the FAA Requires Before You Fly
Any drone that weighs 0.55 pounds (250 grams) or more must be registered with the FAA before its first flight. Registration costs $5 and lasts three years.1Federal Aviation Administration. How to Register Your Drone
Recreational flyers also have to pass the Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST), a free online exam covering airspace rules and safe operating practices. Keep your completion certificate somewhere safe. The test administrators don’t store records, so a lost certificate means retaking the test.2Federal Aviation Administration. The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST)
Flying for any business purpose is a different matter. You need a Remote Pilot Certificate under Part 107, which means passing the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test, being at least 16, and being able to read, write, and speak English.3Federal Aviation Administration. Certificated Remote Pilots Including Commercial Operators Once you’re certified, you operate inside a specific envelope:
- Maximum altitude of 400 feet above ground level, unless you stay within 400 feet of a structure.
- Daylight or civil twilight only (30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset), with anti-collision lighting required during twilight.
- Maximum speed of 100 mph.
- At least three miles of visibility from your control station.
- Unaided visual line of sight at all times, kept by you or a co-located observer.
The FAA grants waivers for operations outside these limits, including nighttime flights, flights over people, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight work.4Federal Aviation Administration. Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations (Part 107)
Since March 2024, Remote ID has been in force. Most drones must broadcast identification and location data during flight. New drones generally have standard Remote ID built in; older drones can be brought into compliance with an FAA-approved broadcast module, though a drone using a module must stay within visual line of sight and can’t be used for future beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations.1Federal Aviation Administration. How to Register Your Drone Flying without Remote ID outside an FAA-recognized identification area is itself an enforcement matter.
Flying directly over people is restricted. The lightest drones, Category 1 (0.55 pounds or less with no exposed rotating parts and Remote ID), can fly over people and over open-air gatherings. Heavier drones have to meet stricter manufacturer-certified safety standards before the FAA will clear them for overhead flights. Recreational flyers, whatever the drone, must keep it within visual line of sight and clear of other aircraft.5Federal Aviation Administration. Recreational Flyers and Community-Based Organizations
Georgia’s Own Drone Statute: O.C.G.A. § 6-1-4
Georgia’s main drone law, O.C.G.A. § 6-1-4, came out of House Bill 481 in 2017. It doesn’t create a detailed operating code. Its real job is to sort out who gets to regulate drones at all.
The answer, mostly, is the state and the FAA. Any county or city ordinance that regulates the testing or operation of drones is void, with three narrow exceptions:6Justia Law. Georgia Code 6-1-4 – Unmanned Aircraft System Defined; Preemption for Unmanned Aircraft Systems; Operations
- Drone ordinances adopted on or before April 1, 2017 are grandfathered in.
- Local governments can adopt ordinances that enforce existing FAA restrictions.
- A city can regulate where drones take off and land on its public property, but it can’t shut commercial operators out of that property.
State agencies hold the same kind of authority over launch and landing on state-owned public property.6Justia Law. Georgia Code 6-1-4 – Unmanned Aircraft System Defined; Preemption for Unmanned Aircraft Systems; Operations
The practical effect catches operators off guard. A Georgia city cannot declare a no-fly zone over its downtown, impose its own altitude ceiling, or ban drone flights at night. It can tell you that drones aren’t allowed to take off from a city park, but once your drone is airborne, state and federal law take over.
Privacy and the Georgia Surveillance Statute
Georgia’s strongest privacy rule for drone operators isn’t in the drone statute at all. It’s O.C.G.A. § 16-11-62, the state’s longstanding surveillance law, which predates consumer drones by decades but applies to them cleanly. It is illegal to use any device to photograph, record, or observe a person’s activities in a private place without the consent of everyone being observed. It is also illegal to go onto someone else’s premises to secretly observe their activities.7Justia Law. Georgia Code 16-11-62 – Eavesdropping, Surveillance, or Invasion of Privacy
A drone hovering outside a bedroom window with a camera running falls squarely inside that prohibition. The statutory line is “private place and out of public view.” Filming a backyard cookout visible from the street is a gray area. Recording through a window into a room with the blinds closed is clearly illegal. Distributing those recordings without consent is a separate offense under the same statute.7Justia Law. Georgia Code 16-11-62 – Eavesdropping, Surveillance, or Invasion of Privacy
Consent is a complete defense. If the people being observed, or the property owner, agreed to the recording, the conduct is lawful. For commercial work, document that consent in writing before you fly.
Prisons and Law Enforcement
The heaviest drone-specific penalties in Georgia law involve correctional facilities. Using a drone to deliver prohibited items to a prison is a felony carrying one to ten years. Using a drone to photograph or record a correctional facility for criminal purposes is a heavier felony: five to ten years.8Justia Law. Georgia Code 42-5-18 – Items Prohibited for Possession by Inmates Treat the airspace around any Georgia correctional facility as off-limits.
Georgia also restricts how its own police agencies can use drones. Legislation originating in SB 94 (2015), later expanded, generally requires a warrant before an agency can deploy a drone, with exceptions for emergencies, searches for fugitives, and the usual warrantless-search doctrines.
Penalties at a Glance
The FAA can assess civil penalties of up to $27,500 for failing to register a drone that requires registration.9Federal Aviation Administration. Is There a Penalty for Failing to Register? For broader operational violations (flying in restricted airspace, blowing past altitude limits, running unauthorized commercial flights), the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 raised the cap to $75,000 per violation.10Federal Aviation Administration. FAA Proposed $341,413 in Civil Penalties Against Drone Operators The FAA can also suspend or revoke a Remote Pilot Certificate, which ends a commercial operation.
Operating an unregistered drone that requires registration can also trigger federal criminal charges: fines up to $250,000 and up to three years in prison.9Federal Aviation Administration. Is There a Penalty for Failing to Register? Those charges are generally reserved for egregious or repeated conduct, not a first-time hobbyist who forgot to register.
On the state side, violating Georgia’s surveillance statute with a drone is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.11Justia Law. Georgia Code 17-10-3 – Punishment for Misdemeanors The prison-related felonies described above are the serious outliers.
What Local Governments Can and Cannot Do
Because § 6-1-4 preempts most local regulation, any Georgia city ordinance that goes beyond the three permitted exceptions is likely unenforceable. The FAA has itself said that it holds exclusive authority over aviation safety and airspace efficiency, and that state or local laws creating airspace restrictions or trespass liability below a certain altitude raise serious preemption concerns.12Federal Aviation Administration. State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fact Sheet
Practically, that doesn’t mean you ignore local signage. Picking a legal fight with a municipality is slow and expensive. Check for posted rules at parks and public property, assume a city can tell you where to launch, and assume it cannot tell you where to fly.
Insurance
Georgia does not require drone insurance. For a recreational flyer that may be fine. For commercial operators it rarely is. A drone that falls onto a car, hits a person, or breaks a window creates personal liability, and Georgia holds operators responsible for the harm their drones cause.
A standard drone liability policy covers third-party property damage and bodily injury. What it typically does not cover is privacy-related claims. Coverage for invasion of privacy or reputational harm usually sits under a separate “personal and advertising injury” endorsement that insurers treat as specialty coverage for operations involving filming or data collection. If your work involves aerial photography, surveying, or any recording, confirm that endorsement is on your policy.
Many clients require proof of at least $1 million in liability coverage before signing a contract. Annual premiums at that level generally run a few hundred dollars.
One Bill to Watch: HB 205
HB 205, under consideration during Georgia’s 2025-2026 legislative session, would require the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to publish an approved list of drone systems cleared for government use. After January 1, 2028, state and local agencies would be barred from buying drones that aren’t on it. The bill targets foreign-manufactured drones that may pose data security risks, and it would add a fourth exception to § 6-1-4’s local preemption rule, letting municipalities regulate launch and landing of approved drones on public property. Worth tracking if you work on government contracts or run a public-sector program.