Hawaii Drone Laws 2026: The Complete Pilot's Guide

In May 2018, while Kīlauea was tearing open the East Rift Zone and lava was crossing roads in Puna, a 38-year-old visitor from San Jose drove out to Forest Road in Nanawale Estates, set up after dark, and put a drone over the lava flow. A DLNR conservation enforcement officer who was checking barricades spotted the red light in the sky and cited him, and the case went on to the FAA — the whole area was inside a temporary flight restriction, and at that point only the USGS, the island's electric utility, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo were permitted to fly drones over the eruption for hazard work. It is a useful snapshot of how Hawaii treats drones: the scenery is extraordinary, the urge to film it is universal, and the rules around the best spots are tighter than almost anywhere else in the country.

Here is the part most guides get wrong. Hawaii rewrote its drone law in 2024, and nearly every competing article still cites the old statute. There is no state pilot license and no state registration beyond the FAA, but the state now has a full criminal framework — three felony tiers for misusing a drone — plus a residential trespass statute, a near-total ban on state and national park land, and federal wildlife rules that reach right up into the air over a humpback whale. A real-estate fly-around in Kihei, a coffee-farm survey above Kona, a powerline inspection for the island utility, a sunset clip over Waikiki, and a Saturday hobby flight in a Hilo backyard all sit inside the same three layers of law. This guide walks through each one with citations to the Hawaii Revised Statutes, DLNR, the National Park Service, NOAA, and the FAA, so a Hawaii flight stays legal from pre-takeoff to landing.

What governs drone flight in Hawaii?

Three layers, in this order:

The rest of this article works through each layer in that order.

Federal baseline: what applies everywhere

Before any Hawaii rule kicks in, you are bound by FAA rules. Here is the short version.

• Part 107Covers commercial operation. If you fly for anything that benefits a business — real-estate listings, resort marketing, wedding videography, farm imagery, paid social content — you need the FAA Remote Pilot Certificate.
• TRUSTThe Recreational UAS Safety Test covers non-commercial flight. Free, online, and you cannot fail it. Carry the completion certificate when you fly. No Hawaii drone license exists on top of it.
• FAA registrationFive dollars, every drone heavier than 0.55 lb (250 g). The registration number has to be visible on the aircraft.
• Remote IDMandatory since March 16, 2024 — Standard Remote ID, a broadcast module, or operation inside a FRIA.
• Altitude cap400 ft AGL for most flights.
• Visual Line of SightDaylight or civil twilight unless waivered.
• Controlled airspaceClass B (HNL), Class C (OGG), Class D (KOA, LIH, ITO), and surface E require LAANC authorization before launch.

One Hawaii wrinkle worth flagging up front: Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International (HNL) is Class B, and the shelves blanket much of urban Oahu, with very low ceilings near downtown and Waikiki. The neighbor islands are calmer — Kahului (OGG) on Maui is Class C, and Kona (KOA), Lihue (LIH), and Hilo (ITO) are Class D — but LAANC still governs the controlled rings. Everything that follows is what Hawaii layers on top.

Hawaii state-level drone laws

The 2024 rewrite: three felony tiers (Act 161)

This is the section every other Hawaii drone guide is behind on. In 2024 the legislature passed Act 161, effective July 2, 2024, which built a new "Uncrewed Aircraft" part into the penal code and, in the process, renumbered the older trespass statute. If you see a guide citing "HRS 711-1114" as Hawaii's drone law, it is reading a code that is two years out of date.

Act 161 created three graduated criminal offenses, all of them felonies. Misuse of uncrewed aircraft in the first degree (HRS 711-1121) is a class A felony — the most serious in the set — and it covers arming a drone with a firearm, explosive, electric gun, or weapon of mass destruction; interfering with or disrupting a manned aircraft; delivering contraband, drugs, or dangerous instruments into a prison; or causing serious bodily injury to someone. The second degree (HRS 711-1122) is a class B felony and reaches things an ordinary pilot could actually do by accident or shortcut: disabling your Remote ID transmission, defeating or failing to run your anti-collision lighting, causing substantial bodily injury, or doing more than $20,000 in property damage. The third degree (HRS 711-1123) is a class C felony, and its list is the one to read twice — it includes tampering with your registration number, obstructing a police officer or firefighter with your drone, causing bodily injury, doing more than $750 in damage, operating while under the influence of an intoxicant, flying after your operating privileges were revoked, and using a drone in furtherance of any felony. There is a carve-out across all three for police, sheriffs, corrections and fire personnel on duty, and government contractors. And a companion section, HRS 711-1124, says the quiet part out loud: an uncrewed aircraft has to be directly operated by a human at all times.

The takeaway for a careful pilot is not alarm — it is that Hawaii has put real teeth behind the federal rules you already follow. Keep Remote ID and your lighting on, keep your registration legible, never fly impaired, and the felony tiers stay academic.

Trespass with a drone: HRS 711-1125 (the 50-foot rule)

The statute that touches everyday residential flying is the one Act 161 renumbered, from 711-1114 to HRS 711-1125. It makes it a misdemeanor to intentionally fly a drone across someone's property line and bring it within fifty feet of a dwelling to coerce, intimidate, or harass a person — or, after you have been given actual notice to stop, for any reason at all. It also covers taking off or landing in violation of FAA security restrictions. There are defenses: consent from someone with authority over the property, or operating lawfully under federal regulations. What this statute does not do is criminalize ordinary transient overflight; it is aimed at the drone that hovers at a neighbor's window or buzzes a backyard after the homeowner has said to knock it off.

Privacy and surveillance: HRS 711-1111

Hawaii's general invasion-of-privacy statute is not drone-specific, but its language about installing or using a device to observe or record in a private place reaches a drone's camera cleanly. Under HRS 711-1111, violation of privacy in the second degree, it is a misdemeanor to intentionally peer into a dwelling, or to install or use any device for observing or recording in a private place without the consent of the people entitled to privacy there. The statute carves out recording a law enforcement officer performing public duties, but that exception does nothing for hovering a camera over a private yard or at a window. A more serious tier, violation of privacy in the first degree (HRS 711-1110.9), is a class C felony, though it is aimed at recording or disclosing images of someone nude or in a sexual act rather than ordinary drone surveillance.

Critical infrastructure and preemption: what Hawaii leaves to the floor

It is worth saying plainly what Hawaii has not done. There is no Hawaii statute creating a blanket "no drones over power plants or refineries" overflight ban of the kind some mainland states have passed; protection of those sites runs through the general criminal law and the federal framework, with the felony tiers above reaching the worst conduct. Hawaii also has no state drone registration, so the only registration that applies is the FAA's, and the state has not passed a law preempting county drone rules — which is exactly why the county park ordinances below matter.

Wildlife, state parks, and most state land

This is the layer that surprises Hawaii pilots most, because it covers nearly all the public land worth filming. The Department of Land and Natural Resources prohibits drones in Hawaii's state parks, state beaches, historic parks, and recreation areas without written approval, under the state-park administrative rules at HAR Chapter 13-146, and that prohibition is statewide across every island. The same logic extends to forest reserves and natural area reserves managed by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, where access for any organized drone use runs through a special-use permit rather than a casual launch, and where using a drone to harass or scout wildlife is independently off-limits. DLNR's conservation enforcement officers — DOCARE — patrol all of it, from the parks to the coastline, and they are the agency that cited the lava-flow pilot in 2018. If you want to fly on DLNR land for any legitimate reason, the path is a permit, requested well in advance, usually with proof of liability insurance naming the State of Hawaii.

Commercial versus recreational operation

Hawaii does not require a state-level drone license, registration, or business permit beyond what the FAA already requires. Commercial operators need FAA registration and Part 107. Recreational operators need FAA registration and TRUST. Ordinary Hawaii general-excise-tax and business rules apply to a commercial operator the same way they apply to any other business. The extra paperwork in Hawaii is situational and almost always about where you fly: the DLNR permit for state land, the county permit for a county park, LAANC for controlled airspace, and a film permit for production work near state land.

Penalties at a glance

Local ordinances to watch in Hawaii

Hawaii has no broad state law preempting county drone rules, and the local layer is real because it is where the parks people most want to film actually sit. Counties cannot regulate the airspace — that stays federal — but they can and do regulate launching, landing, and operating on the park property they own. Always check the county code and the airspace before flying somewhere new.

Where to fly legally in Hawaii

Looking for places to fly that do not require chasing a permit?

• Private property with the owner's permission, outside controlled-airspace rings unless you have LAANC.
• AMA-recognized club fields listed at modelaircraft.org. Membership includes insurance and a vetted list of fields.
• FAA-Recognized Identification Areas (FRIAs), updated at faa.gov.
• Open areas well clear of state parks, beaches, forest reserves, and the NPS units — which in Hawaii is a smaller universe than visitors expect, so confirm land ownership before you fly.
• The B4UFLY app before every flight. It surfaces controlled airspace, active TFRs (including eruption restrictions on Hawaiʻi Island), and security exclusions in real time.

Two reminders that trip people up. Hawaii's state parks, beaches, and most state land (DLNR) need written approval — that includes the coastal spots that look like obvious drone shots. And the National Park Service units, led by Haleakalā and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes, are off the list entirely.

Who enforces drone laws in Hawaii?

Federal rules are enforced by the FAA, with civil-penalty ceilings that can reach five figures for serious safety or TFR violations. State criminal charges under the misuse, trespass, and privacy statutes are filed by county prosecutors after investigation by county police. DLNR's conservation enforcement officers (DOCARE) enforce the state-park, forest-reserve, and wildlife rules across all state land and the coastline. County park staff and police enforce the county ordinances. National Park Service rangers enforce the federal drone ban in Haleakalā, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes, and the other NPS units, with citations filed in federal court. NOAA enforces the marine-wildlife approach rules. Civil liability for privacy intrusions runs in parallel with any criminal exposure.

How to fly legally in Hawaii — quick checklist

Commercial drone work in Hawaii

Hawaii's commercial drone demand is led by the visual industries. Tourism, resort marketing, and film and television production drive a steady stream of aerial work, much of it bumping up against the national-park bans and the DLNR state-land permit rule, which is why production companies routinely build film permits into their schedules. Real estate and the vacation-rental market lean on aerials the same way. Beyond the cameras, the working economy uses drones too: Kona coffee and diversified agriculture on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island for crop and land mapping, Hawaiian Electric and the island utilities for line and solar-farm inspection, and county fire, ocean-safety, and police programs for search-and-rescue and coastline monitoring. The through-line is the same as everywhere: the entry credential for nearly all of it is the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.

How USI helps you fly legally

Knowing the rules is half the work. The other half is the credential — and the path looks different depending on who you are. Three audiences, three doors.

Hawaii drone law FAQ