Safety

Drone safety information for planes 

and copters

Drones can be hazardous if operated incorrectly. If you are new to drones, we 

recommend learning on a mini-drone to learn the ropes first. 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 (ready-to-fly) 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 conflic t 

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.

Fail-safes

A fail-safe is a preprogrammed behavior designed to prevent a crash in the 

event of an unsafe situation. All ArduCopter vehicles include a GPS fail-safe 

activated by default. 3DR RTF copters are also preset with radio control (RC) 

and low-battery fail-safe behaviors.

Loss of GPS signal

If the drone loses GPS signal in a flight mode that requires GPS (loiter, auto, 

return-to-launch, guided), it lands automatically, indicated by a blinking 

blue-and-yellow status LED and a high-high-high-low tone. Always fly 

outside in an open area for optimal GPS signal strength.

Loss of RC signal
If the drone loses contact with the RC transmitter, it lands automatically, 

indicated by a blinking yellow status LED. If it loses RC signal during a 

mission, it returns to the launch point before landing.

Low battery

If the battery reaches 25% charge, the drone lands automatically, indicated by 

a blinking-yellow status LED and a quick repeating tone. If the battery runs 

low during a mission, the drone returns to the launch point before landing.

Common sense

Your common sense is the best fail-safe. 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.

For more information about drone safety, visit Know Before you Fly. If you 

are under 18 years of age, please fly with adult supervision. In Canada, visit 

Transport Canada for your local regulations.