In Michigan, drone flights are governed first by the FAA. A commercial pilot needs a Part 107 certificate, and a hobby pilot needs the free TRUST certificate. Both must follow federal airspace rules and Remote ID. Michigan’s main drone statute, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act of 2016, stops most local drone ordinances and makes drone harassment, privacy violations and interference with first responders misdemeanors. Where you can take off is decided by landowners and park agencies, from the DNR to Mackinac Island.
This is general information, not legal advice. Airspace and rules change, so check B4UFLY or a LAANC app, current flight restrictions and the relevant landowner or permit office before every flight.
Federal rules apply everywhere in Michigan
Commercial flights. Any flight that supports a business falls under 14 CFR Part 107. Under §107.12, the person at the controls needs a remote pilot certificate or must fly under the direct supervision of a certificated pilot. The FAA says an applicant must be at least 16, pass the initial knowledge test at an FAA-approved testing center and clear TSA vetting. Under §107.65, the pilot must have passed the test or completed the FAA’s free online recurrent training within the previous 24 calendar months.
Recreational flights. The FAA says recreational flyers are required by law to take TRUST, its free online safety test, and to carry proof. They must register any drone weighing 250 grams (0.55 pounds) or more, fly at or below 400 feet in Class G airspace, and fly in controlled airspace only with prior FAA authorization through LAANC.
Remote ID. Registered drones must broadcast identification in one of three ways, according to the FAA’s Remote ID page: a standard Remote ID drone, an add-on broadcast module, or flight inside an FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA) for drones without Remote ID. The FAA ended its grace period on March 16, 2024.
Controlled airspace. Section 107.41 bars Part 107 flights in Class B, C or D airspace, or in surface Class E airspace designated for an airport, without prior authorization from air traffic control. LAANC, run through FAA-approved apps, is the usual way to get it for flights at or below 400 feet.
Michigan’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act
Public Act 436 of 2016, MCL 259.301 to 259.331, took effect April 4, 2017. MCL 259.311 and 259.313 let commercial and recreational pilots fly in Michigan when the flight is consistent with federal law. Local governments cannot regulate drone flight. Under MCL 259.305(1), a county, city, village, township or other political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance that regulates the ownership or operation of drones, except as a statute expressly allows. A local government can still set rules for its own drones. The main exception, added by 2019 PA 32, lets a community that bans nonemergency motor vehicles prohibit the knowing and intentional operation of a drone that interferes with horses used in commercial activity. That community must still allow FAA-compliant flights for news gathering by FCC licensees, insurance work, utility maintenance and law enforcement when they do not interfere with the horses.
The preemption clause has been tested in court. In Michigan Coalition of Drone Operators v. Ottawa County, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment that county ordinances prohibiting drone operation were preempted by state law. The November 17, 2022 opinion is unpublished, so it does not bind other courts, and the panel noted that the case did not involve criminal trespass. As our Detroit drone rules guide explains, preemption limits local rules about flying; it does not give anyone the right to take off from land they do not control.
Conduct the statute prohibits. MCL 259.321 bars knowingly and intentionally operating a drone in a way that interferes with the official duties of law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, search and rescue crews, and state or local corrections officers. MCL 259.322 bars using a drone to harass someone, to get closer to a person than a restraining order allows, or to capture photos, video or audio in a way that invades a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. Under MCL 259.323, a violation of either section is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.
Other crimes committed by drone. MCL 259.320 makes a person criminally liable for any act done with a drone that would be a crime if done in person. The same section says flying through navigable airspace in compliance with federal law does not, by itself, create criminal liability under state law, apart from the interference, harassment and privacy sections and the facility statute below.
Prisons, key facilities and the Mackinac Bridge
Michigan’s penal code covers drones near sensitive sites. Under MCL 750.45a, a person may not knowingly and intentionally use a drone in a way that interferes with the operations of a key facility, a correctional facility or another law enforcement facility. If the facility is on the FAA’s registry of fixed site facilities, flying or hovering over it is also prohibited. A violation is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, a $2,500 fine, or both. The section does not apply to a commercial operator flying under and in compliance with FAA regulations, authorizations and exemptions.
“Key facility” comes from the state’s trespass statute, MCL 750.552c. The list covers fenced and posted sites such as refineries, chemical plants, power plants, substations, water treatment plants, fuel terminals, ports, rail yards and cell tower sites. It also covers the portions of the Mackinac Bridge not open to the public, a category added by 2026 PA 64, effective July 23, 2026. The commercial exemption is not a reason to fly near these places without the owner’s consent, and we do not.
Hunting and fishing
Two sections of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act control over the drone act where they conflict, according to MCL 259.305(5). MCL 324.40111c bars taking game or fish using a drone. MCL 324.40112 bars using a drone to affect animal or fish behavior in order to hinder a lawful hunt or catch. A first violation of 40112 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail, a fine of $500 to $1,000, or both, with higher penalties for repeat violations. Before fall shoots on rural land, we ask the owner about hunting activity.
State parks and recreation areas
The DNR is a state agency, not a local government, so its park rules still apply. Land Use Order 5.1, last amended in a version posted August 9, 2024, bars launching a drone from state-managed lands in conflict with its drone rules. Under subsection (6), no one may operate a drone in a state park or recreation area:
- In a way that knowingly and intentionally interferes with DNR employees on duty, or with staff conducting search and rescue.
- Within 100 yards of a cultural or historical site or structure.
- Upon or over the viewing platform at Tahquamenon Falls, or the platform at Palms Book State Park.
- Over an occupied beach area, an equestrian facility, a campground, or a restroom or open-air changing court.
- Over an area subject to an aerial right-of-way.
- For a commercial purpose without written permission from an authorized DNR representative.
Recreational flights outside those areas are not banned by the order, which covers every state park and recreation area, Belle Isle included. The order also keeps drones 100 yards from historic sites and structures.
Huron-Clinton Metroparks
The Metroparks publish their own rules and regulations. Rule 28 permits launching, landing and operating drones in the Metroparks in accordance with federal and state law, with these limits:
- No flights over bathhouses at beaches or aquatic facilities.
- No use that violates endangered species laws or harasses protected species such as bald eagles.
- When flying within 5 miles of an airport, the operator gives prior notice to the airport operator and to the control tower, if there is one.
Rule 7 limits commercial activity on Metroparks land to the Metroparks and its hires and licensees. Paid shoots need a commercial filming permit from the office of the park you want to use.
National lakeshores and Isle Royale
Michigan’s two national lakeshores and Isle Royale ban drones. Sleeping Bear Dunes’ laws and policies page says launching, landing or operating drones in the lakeshore is prohibited under 36 CFR 1.5. The Pictured Rocks compendium, last updated July 8, 2026, prohibits launching, landing or operating a drone from or on park lands and waters except as approved in writing by the superintendent.
Isle Royale’s superintendent’s compendium has the same prohibition. For homes and resorts near Glen Arbor or Munising, we launch from private land with the owner’s permission and keep the aircraft off park property.
Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island bans nonemergency motor vehicles, so its city can use the horse-safety exception in state law, and it does. Chapter 38, Article IX of the City of Mackinac Island Code of Ordinances says no person may operate a drone in the airspace about the city without a permit from the city council. Applications come from the city clerk’s office. The council weighs the location, timing, size and noise of the drone against the risk to horses in commercial use, along with the purpose and FAA compliance. The chief of police may revoke a permit immediately if the drone is flown unsafely. A violation is a civil infraction. The article was adopted as Ordinance 535 on July 6, 2016 and repealed and replaced by Ordinance 572 on July 3, 2019, after the state law change, which dropped the original version’s reach one mile over Lake Huron.
The state park adds a second layer. A Mackinac Island State Park Commission policy, recorded in its September 25, 2015 minutes, bans drones from the airspace above the Mackinac State Historic Parks without the commission’s permission. The policy cites horses, falling drones, the historic sites and privacy.
Our Mackinac Island drone page covers the FAA data and the mainland options for bridge and Straits footage.
Universities
Each university sets its own rules for the property it controls.
- University of Michigan. Flights on U-M property need a written waiver from the Ann Arbor campus Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer or a designee, or from the Dearborn or Flint chancellor, according to the Division of Public Safety and Security.
- Michigan State University. Ordinance 9.00 bars landing or departing any aircraft, including a drone, on or from university property without approval from the Chief of Police and Executive Director of Public Safety or a designee.
- Western Michigan University. The drone policy requires an operating plan approved by the university’s UAS board before flying over WMU land. Outside contractors must also sign a written agreement that holds the university harmless.
Stadiums, airports and controlled airspace
The FAA’s stadium restriction bars drones within 3 nautical miles of the venue from one hour before to one hour after MLB, NFL and NCAA Division I football games, and NASCAR and IndyCar races. U-M’s public safety page applies that rule to game days at its stadium, and WMU’s policy names Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo. In Detroit, Tigers and Lions games close the airspace around Comerica Park and Ford Field. Our stadium TFR guide has distances and a planning method for Detroit.
Airport airspace is the other common limit. Our Michigan drone airspace study checked 58 Michigan cities and found 42 are uncontrolled Class G airspace at the center. We checked the FAA’s Class Airspace and UAS Facility Map data in October 2026:
| Airport | Surface airspace | What it means for a drone flight |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit Metro (DTW), Romulus | Class B | LAANC needed; facility map ceiling is 0 feet at the airport and 200 feet in a grid about four miles east |
| Coleman A. Young (DET), Detroit | Class D | LAANC needed in Eastern Market, Midtown’s Cultural Center and New Center |
| Selfridge (MTC), Harrison Township | Class D | Military airfield; authorization needed |
| Gerald R. Ford (GRR), Grand Rapids | Class C plus surface Class E | LAANC needed near the airport |
| Capital Region (LAN), Lansing | Class C | LAANC needed near the airport |
| Bishop (FNT), Flint | Class C plus surface Class E | LAANC needed near the airport |
| Cherry Capital (TVC), Traverse City | Class D plus surface Class E | LAANC needed near the airport |
Over most of Detroit, DTW’s Class B is a shelf thousands of feet up, and much of downtown sits in Class G at the surface. Our Detroit drone rules guide maps that, and the Detroit River drone guide covers the border line with Canada.
Bills pending in Lansing
As of October 10, 2026, no drone bill introduced in the 2025-2026 session had become law, according to the Michigan Legislature’s bill pages. Most of the activity is a House package introduced December 2, 2025. We will update this section when any of them moves.
| Bill | What it would do | Status as of Oct. 10, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| HB 5319 (Rep. William Bruck), with HB 5320 | Extend MCL 750.45a to critical infrastructure and ban flying or hovering over key facilities, prisons and police facilities | Placed on House third reading May 12, 2026 |
| HB 5321 (Rep. Luke Meerman), with HB 5322 | Have MDOT create a public database of restricted zones for drones | Placed on House third reading May 12, 2026 |
| HB 5327 (Rep. Peter Herzberg) | Make it a misdemeanor to knowingly and intentionally fly in a way that prevents the quiet enjoyment of a private home, unless the owner or occupant consents | Placed on House third reading May 12, 2026 |
| HBs 5323 to 5326, 5328, 5330 and 5332 | Geofencing around critical infrastructure and state buildings, an official “no drone zone” sign, downing drones that break FAA or critical infrastructure rules, and purchasing, cybersecurity and data rules for drones used by public agencies | Placed on House third reading May 12, 2026 |
| HB 5329 and HB 5331 | Bar state funds from buying certain drones | Passed the House May 13, 2026; in Senate Appropriations since May 19 |
| SB 525 (Sen. Kevin Hertel) | Expand the exceptions to limits on state agencies using drones at facilities they regulate | Passed the Senate 35-0 March 11, 2026; in House Transportation and Infrastructure |
| SB 210 (Sen. Joseph Bellino) | Prohibit operating drones near critical infrastructure | In Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety since April 16, 2025 |
| SB 1164 and SB 1165 | A counter-drone strategy council, and adoption of federal drone safety regulations | Introduced Sept. 10, 2026; in Senate Transportation and Infrastructure |
Where you can fly for fun
The FAA’s data on FAA-Recognized Identification Areas lists 93 FRIAs in Michigan as of October 2026. Eighty-one are sponsored by the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and most are club flying fields. Metro Detroit examples include the Detroit Aero Modelers field in Rouge Park, the Pontiac Miniature Aircraft Club in White Lake and the Fraser Flying Club in Mount Clemens. Clubs set their own field rules, so contact them first.
The DNR’s land use orders also refer to a remote control aircraft flying field in Holly Recreation Area in Oakland County. Beyond designated fields, recreational flying is allowed in the Metroparks under Rule 28 and in state parks outside the areas Land Use Order 5.1 restricts, as long as the airspace allows it.
How we handle permissions on Michigan shoots
Our FAA Part 107 pilots plan permissions before a job is booked. For every address, we check the airspace class and LAANC grid, stadium schedules and flight restrictions, then the landowner: the DNR for a state park, the park office for a Metropark, the university’s public safety office for a campus, the city council and park commission on Mackinac Island. If a site cannot be flown, we say so before quoting and plan the shot from land where we have permission. Our published starting prices are aerial photo from $450, aerial video from $1,500 and FPV fly-through from $2,500, with travel quoted outside the four-county metro area.
See drone photography across Michigan for every city we cover, our Michigan drone company page for statewide trips, or our Detroit drone photography service. Before hiring anyone, read what to check before hiring a drone pilot in Michigan, or contact us with an address and a date window.