DroneSafety D R ONE SAFETY

Drones can be hazardous if operated incorrectly. Make safety your first priority, and always follow these best 

practices.

Handling

Spinning propellers can cause serious injury. Become familiar with your drone’s arming procedure, and always 

disarm before handling the propellers. On 3DR RTF and other Pixhawk-powered vehicles, the safety button 

provides an additional safety measure by blocking power to the motors while the button is disabled (blinking 

red), allowing you to handle the drone safely.

When flying, always make sure to keep a safe distance between yourself and the drone. Don’t take off with the 

drone facing towards you or fly directly over your head. It is your job to ensure the safety of the people around 

you; make sure that spectators maintain a safe distance from your drone at all times.

Visual Line of Sight

Maintaining visual contact with your aircraft is the best assurance of a safe flight. Don’t let the drone get too far 

away from you; keep it where you can easily see its orientation from the ground. This is called your visual line 

of sight and prevents a situation where you cannot recover the drone safely.
Flying within visual line of sight is also a good way to ensure that your radio signals (from the RC and telemetry 

radio systems) aren’t blocked by buildings or other obstructions. If you can’t see through it, it’s likely that your 

radio signal can’t either.

Under 400 Feet

Keep your drone flying below 400 feet (120 meters) altitude to avoid conflict with full-scale, manned aircraft 

and maintain visual line of sight. To give you an idea of how high that is, the Statue of Liberty is 300 feet (93 

meters) tall.

100 Feet from People, Vehicles, and Property

Always maintain at least 100 feet (30 meters) between your drone and people, vehicles, and buildings. This 

rule is important for flying near crowds, buildings, and roads due to potential hazards from unplanned landings.

5 Miles from Airports

To prevent conflict between your drone and manned aircraft, always fly at least five miles (eight kilometers) 

away from all airports and other locations where manned aircraft are in use. Research your area to find all 

areas of restricted airspace near you.
Failsafes

A failsafe is a pre-programmed behavior designed to prevent a crash in the event of an unsafe situation. All 

ArduCopter vehicles include a GPS failsafe activated by default. 3DR RTF copters are also preset with radio control 

(RC) and low battery failsafe behaviors.

 Loss of GPS signal

If the drone looses GPS signal in a flight mode that requires GPS (loiter, auto, return-to-launch, guided), it will land 

automatically, indicated by a blinking blue and yellow status LED and a high-high-high-low tone. Always

fly outside in an open area to improve GPS signal strength.

 Loss of RC signal

If the drone looses contact with the RC transmitter, it will land automatically, indicated by a blinking yellow 

status LED. If it looses RC signal during a mission, it will return to the launch point before landing.

 Low battery

If the battery reaches 25% charge, the drone will land automatically, indicated by a blinking yellow status LED and a 

quick repeating tone. If the battery runs low during a mission, the drone will return to the launch point before landing.

Common sense

Your common sense is the best failsafe. Always be ready to regain manual control of the drone in the event of 

an unsafe situation. Before you fly, determine the boundaries of your safe flying area. If the drone moves 

outside the designated area or exhibits instability in flight, switch to stabilize mode and land the drone 

manually. Remember that, despite specific regulations, flying recklessly or creating an unsafe situation for the 

public is always illegal. As the operator, you take responsibility for the behavior of your drone at all times.

Visit Know Before you Fly (http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/) for more information about drone safety.