The FAA's airspace data puts most of New York City under the New York Class B, the airspace of John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia. It reaches the ground over Midtown, the Upper West Side, Harlem, Fordham in the Bronx, and Astoria and Flushing in Queens; over Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn its floor sits at 1,500 feet above sea level. Across the Hudson, Teterboro and Essex County airport in Caldwell, New Jersey, each have a Class D.
The city adds its own step on the ground. Section 10-126(c) of the NYC Administrative Code governs where aircraft may take off and land, and since July 21, 2023 an NYPD rule (Chapter 24 of Title 38 of the Rules of the City of New York) lets the public apply for a permit to take off and land a drone at a site the Department of Transportation designates temporarily. Model aircraft fields designated by NYC Parks are outside that permit process, according to the NYPD.
Applications go through the NYPD Unmanned Aircraft portal at least 30 days before the first takeoff, or 14 days when every proposed operator appeared on a permit issued in the previous 180 days. Each application names an operator holding an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate and comes with liability insurance listing the City of New York as additional insured. When the drone records images, video or audio, the permit holder notifies the affected community boards at least 48 hours ahead and posts notices within 100 feet of the takeoff and landing site.
In controlled airspace (Class B, C or D, or the surface area of Class E around an airport), section 107.41 of the FAA's Part 107 rule requires prior authorization from air traffic control. The FAA grants it through LAANC, in near real time at the altitudes shown on its UAS Facility Maps, or through FAADroneZone.
Summary of the official pages listed below, read on 11/14/2026.
