Drone Ops Consultants

Flying drones over people

Over people and congested areas

Flying over or near people who are not part of the operation is closely regulated in the United States, the UK and the EU. Each regulator sets its own distances, aircraft standards and site conditions, and each treats crowds as a separate, stricter case.

This guide sets out the rules under FAA Part 107 subpart D, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Open and Specific categories, and the EU rules in Regulation (EU) 2019/947, as checked in October 2026. The UK is part way through a change of class marks, so check the regulator's current text before you plan a job.

Vetted consultants

2 results

Pegasus Vectoring

London, GB

Pegasus Vectoring provides specialist consultancy for organisations developing and operating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the Specific Category. They guide clients from initial operational concept through SORA development, regulatory authorisation, and ongoing compliance assurance, ensuring safe, practical and regulator‑defensible capabilities. Services include operational design, airspace and ground environment assessment, SORA and operational authorisation support, competence development

Pegasus Vectoring Limited is an independent specialist consultancy helping organisations develop safe, practical and regulator-ready unmanned aviation capabilities. We start with the client’s operational need—not a predetermined regulatory solution. Working collaboratively, we define the objective, characterise the operating environment and develop a proportionate operational and regulatory strategy. Our support extends from early feasibility and concept development through risk assessment, OSC and SORA applications, operational documentation, findings resolution and ongoing assurance. Our experience includes BVLOS operations within Atypical Air Environments, critical infrastructure and heavy-lift UAS. Led by a former airline captain with 23 years of aviation experience and UK CAA and UAE GCAA Airline Transport Pilot Licences, Pegasus combines operational judgement with structured regulatory analysis. Our aim is not simply to secure an approval, but to help clients establish a safe, sustainable and scalable operational capability.

CAA

Vaspba Remote Piloted Systems Ltd

Winfrith, GB

CAA Regulatory Consultancy | Agriculture | Heavy Lift | BVLOS | Drone Forensics & Expert Witness Support

Vaspba Remote Piloted Systems Ltd is a UK specialist in uncrewed aircraft systems, regulatory consultancy and operational support. We assist organisations with CAA Operational Authorisations, PDRA and SORA applications, ConOps, Operations Manuals, risk assessments, compliance evidence and BVLOS projects. Our services also include independent drone accident investigation, flight-log analysis, technical reporting and expert-witness support for legal, insurance and commercial disputes. With practical experience in UAS design, integration, testing, servicing and operations, we provide evidence-based advice grounded in real-world aviation and engineering experience.

CAA

Part 107: the four categories for flying over people

Under Part 107 you may not fly over a person unless they are directly taking part in the operation, are under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that gives reasonable protection from a falling drone, or the flight meets one of the categories in subpart D. The FAA also expects the remote pilot to allow for the drone's course, speed and the chance of a sudden failure when judging whether it could pass over or strike someone who is not involved.

Subpart D took effect on 21 April 2021 and allows routine flight over people without a waiver. The four categories are:

  • Category 1: the aircraft weighs 0.55 pounds or less, including everything on board or attached, and has no exposed rotating parts that would cut skin
  • Category 2: the aircraft will not cause an injury as severe as a transfer of 11 foot-pounds of kinetic energy from a rigid object, has no exposed rotating parts that would cut skin, has no safety defects, and is listed on an FAA-accepted Declaration of Compliance
  • Category 3: the same tests at 25 foot-pounds, with tighter operating limits. There is no flight over open-air assemblies, and flight over people is allowed only within or over a closed or restricted-access site where everyone has been told a drone may fly over them, or with no sustained flight over anyone who is not taking part or protected
  • Category 4: the aircraft holds an airworthiness certificate under Part 21, is flown within the operating limitations in its approved flight manual, and is maintained and recorded to the standards the rule sets

Part 107: declarations, crowds and moving vehicles

Categories 2 and 3 depend on the manufacturer, or whoever designs or modifies the aircraft. They show compliance through an FAA-accepted means of compliance (test, analysis or inspection), then submit a Declaration of Compliance for FAA acceptance. The aircraft must carry a legible English label showing its category, and the remote pilot must replace a damaged or missing label before flying over people. The FAA can rescind a declaration, and no one may fly an aircraft covered by a rescinded declaration.

In Categories 1, 2 and 4, sustained flight over an open-air assembly is allowed only if the aircraft meets the Remote ID rules, either as a standard Remote ID aircraft or with a Remote ID broadcast module. The FAA says sustained flight includes hovering over the crowd, flying back and forth over it, or circling above it. A brief, one-time transit over part of the gathering, as part of an unrelated point-to-point flight, does not count. Category 3 aircraft may not fly over open-air assemblies at all.

Section 107.145 covers people inside moving vehicles. Under Categories 1 to 3, the aircraft must either stay within or over a closed or restricted-access site where everyone in the vehicles has been told a drone may fly over them, or avoid sustained flight over moving vehicles. A Category 4 aircraft may fly over them if its operating limitations do not prohibit it. If your aircraft or operation fits none of the categories, the option is to apply for a waiver of 107.39.

Open category limits in the UK and EU

The UK and the EU both split the Open category into A1, A2 and A3, but the details now differ. The EU defines uninvolved persons as people who are not taking part in the operation or who are not aware of the operator's instructions and safety precautions. It defines assemblies of people as gatherings where people cannot move away because of how densely they are packed, and no Open category flight may pass over one. The CAA's Drone Code describes a crowd in similar terms and says never to fly over one, whatever the size of the drone.

In the UK, your drone's class mark decides which Open subcategory you can fly in. A drone with no UK or European class mark is a legacy drone, and its weight decides instead. Any new model placed on the market from 1 January 2026 must carry a UK class mark. A drone with a European C class mark can be flown as the matching UK class until 31 December 2027. From 1 January 2028 it counts as a legacy drone. The main limits are:

  • UK A1 (Over People): UK0 or UK1 class (or C0 or C1 until 31 December 2027), or a legacy drone under 250g. You may fly closer than 50m to uninvolved people and over them, but never over crowds
  • UK A2 (Near People): UK2 class (or C2 until 31 December 2027), or a legacy drone under 2kg, and only if you hold the A2 Certificate of Competence. Without it, a UK2 or C2 drone flies in A3. A UK2 or C2 drone must stay at least 30m from uninvolved people (5m in low-speed mode) and never over them. A legacy drone under 2kg must keep 50m away
  • UK A3 (Far from People): UK3 or UK4 class (or C3 or C4 until 31 December 2027), a UK2 or C2 drone flown without the A2 Certificate of Competence, or a legacy drone under 25kg. Keep at least 50m from uninvolved people, never over them, and at least 150m from residential, recreational, commercial or industrial areas. A building at least 50m from any other building is not treated as such an area, but you must still keep 50m from it
  • EU A1: C0 drones and other drones under 250g may fly over uninvolved people but never over assemblies. C1 drones must be flown so that no uninvolved person is expected to be overflown, and any unexpected overflight kept as short as possible
  • EU A2: C2 drones, no flight over uninvolved people, and at least 30m from them. The pilot may reduce this to 5m with low-speed mode active, after weighing up the weather, the aircraft's performance and how well the area is separated
  • EU A3: fly only where no uninvolved person is expected to be put at risk, and at least 150m from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas

Specific category: built-up areas in the UK and EU

When a job does not fit the Open category, for example a 5kg drone with no UK2 or C2 mark flown within 150m of homes or offices, it needs an operational authorization in the Specific category.

In the UK, applications have used UK SORA since 23 April 2025, when it replaced the Operating Safety Case method. UK SORA is based on the JARUS SORA 2.5 methodology, and an authorization lasts 12 months. In the EU, Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947 requires the risk assessment to take account of the population density of the areas flown over. The regulation defines a controlled ground area as one where the operator can ensure only involved people are present, and standard scenario STS-01 covers visual line of sight flight over a controlled ground area in a populated environment with a C5 class drone.

For routine urban work in the UK, the CAA offers PDRA01, a standard authorization for drones from 250g up to 25kg flown in visual line of sight and no more than 500m from the remote pilot. It allows flight within 150m of residential, commercial, industrial and recreational areas, under these limits:

  • At least 50m from uninvolved people, reduced to 30m during take-off and landing
  • Any overflight of uninvolved people kept to a minimum
  • At least 50m horizontally from assemblies of people, and no flight over them
  • A horizontal distance from an assembly at least equal to the drone's height (the 1:1 rule)

What a consultant does, and what to ask before hiring

A consultant can check which category or subcategory your aircraft and job fit, map the site against the distance rules, and, where the work falls outside them, prepare the risk assessment, operations manual and procedures for an authorization or waiver. They cannot grant an approval or promise an outcome: the FAA, the CAA or the relevant national authority decides. Operators can compare vetted consultants on DOC, where regulator experience is shown as verified only where it has been evidenced.

  • Which of these rule sets have you worked under: Part 107 subpart D, PDRA01, UK SORA or EU SORA?
  • How will you confirm our aircraft's category, class mark or Declaration of Compliance?
  • How should we plan for a crowd that forms during a job, such as at an event or a street closure?
  • What site controls would we need to treat the area as closed, restricted-access or a controlled ground area?
  • What records should we keep to show we stayed within the distance limits?

Common mistakes

Errors here often come from carrying one regulator's rules over to another, or from assuming the aircraft alone decides what is allowed. Typical examples include:

  • Treating a sub-250g drone as cleared to fly over crowds. In the UK and EU it may overfly uninvolved people in A1, but never a crowd or assembly
  • Flying a Category 2 or 3 operation with an aircraft that is not on an FAA-accepted Declaration of Compliance, or whose label is missing
  • Hovering or circling over an open-air assembly in Category 1, 2 or 4 without meeting Remote ID, or flying over one at all in Category 3
  • Forgetting that people in moving vehicles have their own rule under 107.145
  • Applying the 30m A2 distance to a legacy drone with no class mark, which must keep 50m
  • Relying on a C class mark after 31 December 2027, when the drone becomes a legacy drone judged by weight
  • Planning PDRA01 work near an event without allowing for the 50m and 1:1 separation from assemblies of people

Common questions

Can I fly a drone over people under Part 107?

Yes, if the aircraft and the operation fit one of the four categories in subpart D, or the people are directly taking part, under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle. Category 1 is for aircraft of 0.55 pounds or less with no exposed rotating parts that would cut skin. Categories 2 and 3 need an FAA-accepted Declaration of Compliance, and Category 4 needs an airworthiness certificate. Otherwise you need a waiver of 107.39.

What counts as sustained flight over an open-air assembly?

The FAA says it includes hovering above the heads of people gathered in an open-air assembly, flying back and forth over it, or circling so the drone stays above part of it. A brief, one-time transit over part of the gathering during an unrelated point-to-point flight does not count. In Categories 1, 2 and 4, sustained flight over an assembly needs Remote ID compliance. Category 3 does not allow flight over assemblies at all.

How close can I fly to people in the UK Open category?

It depends on the subcategory. In A1, with a UK0 or UK1 class drone (C0 or C1 until the end of 2027) or a legacy drone under 250g, you may fly closer than 50m and over uninvolved people, but never over crowds. In A2, with the A2 Certificate of Competence, a UK2 or C2 drone must stay 30m away, or 5m in low-speed mode. In A3 you must keep 50m from uninvolved people and 150m from residential, recreational, commercial or industrial areas.

Do I need permission to fly a drone in a town in the UK?

Often, yes. In A3, the Open category requires 150m from residential, recreational, commercial and industrial areas. If your drone does not qualify for A1 or A2, flying closer usually needs an operational authorization in the Specific category, such as PDRA01. PDRA01 covers drones from 250g up to 25kg in visual line of sight, with 50m from uninvolved people (30m for take-off and landing) and no flight over assemblies of people.

What is a controlled ground area?

Regulation (EU) 2019/947 defines it as the ground area where the drone is operated and within which the operator can ensure that only involved people are present. It matters in the Specific category, where the risk assessment must consider the population density of the area flown over. The EU standard scenario STS-01 is built around flying in visual line of sight over a controlled ground area in a populated environment.