High Fines for Illegal Drone Operations
It’s expensive to break the government drone rules.
The government has established the drone rules mainly for the purpose of protecting the safety of the general public.
Drone pilot’s who don’t follow the rules, or don’t know the rules are considered a threat to safety by the government and will be fined for violating the rules.
These are an example of some of the Transport Canada penalties for illegal drone flying in Canada.
“Fines for individuals
- up to $1,000 for flying without a drone pilot certificate
- up to $1,000 for flying unregistered or unmarked drones
- up to $1,000 for flying where you are not allowed
- up to $3,000 for putting aircraft and people at risk
Fines for corporations
- up to $5,000 for flying without a drone pilot certificate
- up to $5,000 for flying unregistered or unmarked drones
- up to $5,000 for flying where you are not allowed
- up to $15,000 for putting aircraft and people at risk
If you break more than one rule, you could receive multiple penalties.”
This past summer, a man was charged $10,000 for illegal operations of a drone in Jasper Alberta. The operator did not have a drone pilot certificate, did not have a registered and marked drone, operated illegally in a national park and flew into airspace reserved for emergency aircraft operations directly putting aircraft at risk.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) charges even higher fine rates. The highest fine by the FAA has been $1.9 million (you read that correctly), for a series of illegal drone flights. This is what the FAA said:
For individuals, FAA fines are usually in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. One real estate agent was fined $40,000 for conducting multiple real estate listing flights without the holding a FAA pilot certificate.
These are an example of some of the illegal drone flying under which the pilots and drone owners have been fined (quotes from FAA public documents).
One of the easiest ways to avoid drone flying fines is to obtain your drone pilot’s license. While studying to obtain your license you will have the opportunity to learn the regulations and steps to safely operate your drone. If you follow these regulations and safety procedures when flying, then you don’t have to worry about expensive fines.
If you don’t take the time to learn the regulations, don’t even get a license or fly in a way that is unsafe and could cause risk of injury to the pubic – then expect a fine soon after.