Michigan Drone Laws: Rules, Where to Fly, and Penalties

Flying a drone in Michigan means following two sets of rules at once: the Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide requirements and Michigan’s own Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act (Act 436 of 2016). The Michigan drone laws themselves are narrower than most people assume, concentrating on privacy, harassment, and interference with emergency responders, while the FAA controls registration, airspace, altitude, and pilot certification. Breaking either can cost you money, your pilot privileges, or, in some cases, jail time.

FAA Rules That Apply in Michigan

Before anything else, your drone almost certainly needs to be registered. Any aircraft weighing between 0.55 and 55 pounds must be registered through the FAA’s DroneZone portal before its first flight. Registration costs $5 and lasts three years. Recreational flyers pay once to cover every drone they own; commercial operators pay $5 per aircraft.¹

From there, the core flight rules are the same in Michigan as everywhere else in the country:

Keep the drone within visual line of sight of you or a visual observer standing next to you.
Stay at or below 400 feet above ground level.
If you fly at night, use anti-collision lighting visible for at least three statute miles.
Get FAA authorization, usually through LAANC, before flying in controlled airspace or near airports.

These are hard requirements, not guidelines.²

Remote ID

Since September 2023, any drone that is registered or required to be registered must broadcast Remote ID throughout the flight. It works like a digital license plate, transmitting identification and location from takeoff to shutdown.³ Most new drones have built-in standard Remote ID. For older aircraft, you can attach a broadcast module. If your drone has neither, you can only fly it inside an FAA-Recognized Identification Area, kept within visual line of sight and within the FRIA boundary.⁴ If Remote ID stops broadcasting mid-flight, land as soon as possible.

Recreational vs. Commercial Pilots

What you need to carry depends on why you’re flying.

If you fly purely for fun, you must pass the Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) before your first flight. It’s free, taken online through an FAA-approved administrator, and every question is correctable, so you can’t fail. Save your completion certificate as soon as you finish. The FAA and the test administrators do not store a copy, and if you lose it you have to take the test again. Carry proof whenever you fly, because law enforcement and FAA personnel can ask to see it.⁵

Any commercial use — real estate photography, inspections, surveying, paid videography, anything you’re compensated for — requires an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate under 14 CFR Part 107. You must be at least 16, able to read, write, speak, and understand English, and physically and mentally fit to operate safely.⁶ You earn the certificate by passing the Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test, a 60-question multiple-choice exam covering airspace, weather, regulations, and flight operations. It costs $175 per attempt at an approved testing center.⁷ Unlike TRUST, this one is timed, scored, and worth studying for. Every 24 months you have to complete recurrent training, which the FAA offers online at no cost.

What Michigan’s Drone Statute Actually Prohibits

Michigan’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act is narrower than people expect. It targets drone misuse against individuals and interference with public-safety work, not the mechanics of flight.

Under MCL 259.322, you cannot knowingly and intentionally use a drone to harass another person in a way that would qualify under Michigan’s stalking and harassment statutes. You also cannot use a drone to capture photos, video, or audio in a way that invades someone’s reasonable expectation of privacy. If a person couldn’t lawfully stand outside a bedroom window with a camera, they can’t do it with a drone either.⁸

Two more restrictions apply to specific people. If you’re subject to a restraining or other judicial order, you cannot use a drone to work around the distance requirements that order imposes. Individuals required to register as sex offenders cannot use drones to follow, contact, or capture images of another person in situations where their sentence would prohibit that contact in person.⁸

Separately, MCL 259.321 makes it illegal to knowingly and intentionally fly a drone in a way that interferes with the duties of law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, search and rescue teams, state correctional officers, or local corrections officers.⁹ The statute doesn’t flatly ban flying over a prison or an accident scene; it prohibits operating in a way that gets in the way of the people working there. In practice, flying near an active emergency scene or over a prison yard during operations will almost always cross that line.

Penalties

A violation of either Section 21 or Section 22 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both.¹⁰ The statute also says the drone charge doesn’t shield you from anything else. If the same conduct is also stalking, voyeurism, or another crime, you can be prosecuted under those laws too, and those penalties tend to be heavier than the drone-specific misdemeanor.

On the federal side, failing to register or comply with Remote ID can lead to FAA civil fines and suspension or revocation of your pilot certificate. These are baseline obligations, and the FAA treats them that way.

Where You Can and Can’t Fly

State Parks and DNR-Managed Land

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources imposes restrictions inside state parks and recreation areas that catch a lot of recreational flyers off guard. On DNR-managed land you may not fly:

Over an occupied beach, campground, or equestrian facility
Over a restroom or open-air changing area
Within 100 yards of a cultural or historical site or structure
Over the viewing platform at Tahquamenon Falls or the platform at Palms Book State Park
In a way that interferes with DNR employees or search and rescue operations
For any commercial purpose, without written permission from the department

These rules apply on top of all FAA requirements and the state drone act.¹¹

Over People and Crowds

The FAA splits flights over people into four categories based on the drone’s weight and safety features. The lightest drones, 0.55 pounds or less with no exposed rotating parts that could cause cuts, can fly over people freely, though sustained flight over an open-air assembly requires Remote ID. Heavier drones meeting specific injury-criteria standards fall into the next category, with the same Remote ID requirement for open-air crowds. The next tier up can’t fly over open-air assemblies at all and over other people only in limited circumstances. The top category covers drones with an FAA airworthiness certificate flown within their approved limitations. Sustained flight means hovering, circling, or passing back and forth so the drone stays overhead; a single pass is treated differently from lingering.¹²

Local Drone Ordinances Usually Don’t Apply

If a Michigan city or township tells you their own ordinance restricts your drone, that’s worth questioning. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act explicitly bars political subdivisions from enacting or enforcing drone ordinances or resolutions unless state law expressly authorizes them.¹⁰

The one narrow exception covers areas where nonemergency motor vehicles are already prohibited, such as certain horse-drawn tourism districts. Local governments can restrict drone flights that would interfere with the safe commercial use of horses in those areas, but even those ordinances must allow drone operations for newsgathering, insurance purposes, public utility maintenance, and law enforcement.¹⁰ On top of state preemption, the FAA has exclusive authority over airspace and flight safety, so any local rule touching altitude, line of sight, or airspace access is federally preempted regardless of what state law allows.¹³

The “Knowingly and Intentionally” Standard

Both state drone offenses require the conduct to be done knowingly and intentionally. That’s a higher bar than negligence. If your drone drifts over a prison during a GPS malfunction or captures a glimpse of a private area because of a sudden wind gust, lack of intent is a real defense.⁹⁸

Courts still look at the whole picture. Flying near a prison yard with a camera pointed at the exercise area and then calling it an accident won’t survive the circumstances. Evidence that you followed FAA rules, kept proper altitude, and took reasonable precautions to avoid restricted areas makes a defense stronger. Hovering 50 feet from a bathroom window does not.

Insurance

Michigan does not require drone insurance, but the exposure is real. If your drone hits a car, injures a bystander, or damages property, you are personally liable. Homeowners’ policies often exclude drone-related claims or cover them only in limited situations. Commercial drone liability policies with $1 million in coverage typically run a few hundred dollars a year, and most clients hiring a commercial pilot will want proof of coverage before signing anything.

1
Federal Aviation Administration. How to Register Your Drone
2
Federal Aviation Administration. Getting Started
3
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 89 – Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft
4
Federal Aviation Administration. Remote Identification of Drones
5
Federal Aviation Administration. The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST)
6
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 107 – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
7
Federal Aviation Administration. Certificated Remote Pilots Including Commercial Operators
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 259.322 – Operation of Unmanned Aircraft System; Prohibited Conduct
9
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 259.321 – Operation of Unmanned Aircraft System; Interference With Official Duties
10
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws – Act 436 of 2016 – Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act
11
Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Land Use Order of the Director – Chapter V State Parks and Recreation Areas
12
Federal Aviation Administration. Operations Over People General Overview
13
Federal Aviation Administration. State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fact Sheet