How high can you fly without FAA?

In general, you can only fly your drone in uncontrolled airspace below 400 feet above the ground ( AGL ). Commercial drone operators are required to get permission from the FAA before flying in controlled airspace.



In the United States, you cannot fly "completely" without falling under FAA jurisdiction, but there are strict altitude ceilings for unlicensed recreational activities. For unmanned drones (UAS), the legal limit is 400 feet above ground level (AGL) in uncontrolled airspace; flying higher requires a Part 107 professional license and specific waivers. For manned ultralight aircraft (which do not require a pilot's license under Part 103), the FAA requires you to remain "below the floor of controlled airspace," which in many areas is 700 or 1,200 feet AGL, though you must still yield to all other aircraft and avoid congested areas. It is a common misconception that you can fly as high as you want if you own the land; the FAA owns the "navigable airspace" starting from the ground up. If you exceed these limits without proper authorization (like LAANC for drones), you risk significant fines. Essentially, if you are an unlicensed hobbyist, you should generally consider 400 feet your hard "safety ceiling" to stay out of the path of commercial and general aviation traffic.

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There is no existing mechanism for the FAA to monitor if there are drone pilots, licensed or otherwise, who will fly above this altitude limit. That is well and fine until you get into a close encounter with a manned aircraft, for which you could be facing heavy penalties if the FAA can identify you as the drone pilot.

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Ultimately, the 400-foot altitude limit was put in place for the sake of airspace safety. The airspace beyond 400 feet is large and the chances of running into another aircraft are astronomically low, but the potential consequence of a drone crashing into a manned aircraft can be disastrous.

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In the 1900s, Hungarian physicist Theodore von Kármán determined the boundary to be around 50 miles up, or roughly 80 kilometers above sea level. Today, though, the Kármán line is set at what NOAA calls “an imaginary boundary” that's 62 miles up, or roughly a hundred kilometers above sea level.

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