Ohio Drone Laws 2026: The Complete Pilot's Guide

The Buckeyes were playing Maryland on a Saturday afternoon in October 2023 when a drone drifted over the rim of Ohio Stadium. Officials paused the game. Players moved back to the sidelines. More than 100,000 fans sat through the stoppage before anyone on the ground figured out what was happening. The pilot, Rigoberto Canaca Escoto, was arrested and charged with unsafe operation of aircraft, inducing panic, and disorderly conduct. Less than two years later, Ohio had a new omnibus drone law on the books. Incidents like that one — along with a run of prison-contraband flights out of southern Ohio that same year — are why.

If you fly in Ohio, the rules that apply to your flight sit in three layers. Federal, from the FAA. State, rewritten in a serious way by House Bill 77 in 2025. And local — where things get patchy, especially at the metro-park level, since Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo each run their own playbook. A wedding shoot in Cuyahoga Valley, a rooftop inspection in the Short North, a crop scan outside Wooster, or a Sunday-afternoon lap at a Metro Park all sit inside those same three layers. The guide below covers all three, with primary-source citations, so you can plan a flight that stays legal from pre-takeoff to landing.

What governs drone flight in Ohio

Federal baseline: what applies everywhere

Ohio state-level drone laws

HB 77 is the big change — and it took effect April 9, 2025

House Bill 77, out of the 135th General Assembly, was signed by Governor Mike DeWine on January 8, 2025, and took effect ninety days later. The bill enacted seven new sections of the Ohio Revised Code — 4561.26, 4561.27, 4561.50, 4561.51, 4561.52, and 4561.53 — and put a dedicated legal framework around drone use in Ohio for the first time.

The three operative drone provisions all live in ORC § 4561.51:

1. Endangering operation. Flying a drone in a manner that knowingly endangers any person or property — or that purposely disregards the rights or safety of others — can run up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.
2. Emergency-response interference. Disrupting law enforcement, firefighters, or EMS while they are working. Reckless interference is a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Knowing interference is a first-degree misdemeanor on a first offense, and a fifth-degree felony on any subsequent offense.
3. Critical-facility loitering with criminal intent. Photographing, recording, or loitering over or near a critical facility with the purpose to further another offense that would cause physical harm is a first-degree misdemeanor the first time, then a fifth-degree felony on a repeat. Doing the same thing with the purpose to destroy or tamper with the facility jumps to a third-degree felony — nine months to three years in prison, up to $10,000.

What counts as a "critical facility" under Ohio law

ORC § 4561.50 lists the categories. The net is wide:

• Any "critical infrastructure facility" as defined in ORC § 2911.21 — power generation and transmission, petroleum and chemical facilities, water treatment, telecommunications, natural gas
• Commercial distribution and logistics centers
• Federal, state, county, and municipal courts
• Police stations, sheriff's offices, State Highway Patrol posts, and Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation premises
• Jails, prisons, and similar incarceration facilities
• Federal and state military installations — Wright-Patterson AFB, Camp Perry, Rickenbacker ANGB
• Hospitals with air-ambulance service

One more thing worth saying out loud: stadiums and large outdoor venues are not on the § 4561.50 list. That does not make stadium flights legal. Federal temporary flight restrictions under 14 CFR § 99.7 cover stadiums of 30,000 seats or more during MLB, NFL, NCAA Division I football, and major motor-sport events, and that federal TFR is exactly the charge the Paycor Stadium and Great American Ball Park pilots landed in 2022.

State parks — OAC 1501:46-13-11

The ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft rewrote its state-parks drone rule effective January 1, 2025. Inside the boundary of any Ohio state park, you need written permission from the Chief of the Division (or an authorized agent) before you fly, or you need to be using a designated landing field.

The rule applies broadly. "Unmanned aerial craft" covers drones, model aircraft, and anything else that flies without a pilot on board. Separately, the rule bars flying over beaches, open-air assemblies, boats, and roadways on division-administered land, and makes harassing wildlife or people a violation in its own right.

To request permission, call the Division of Parks and Watercraft at (614) 265-6561 or email parks@dnr.ohio.gov. There is no standardized application form — each request is handled case by case.

Wildlife — no drones for hunting

OAC 1501:31-15-02(B) is blunt. You cannot use any aircraft, drones included, to hunt, shoot, kill, take, or attempt to take wild birds or wild quadrupeds. The narrow, well-settled exception is using a drone to recover a deer that has already been harvested — and only if nobody in the party is actively hunting or carrying hunting implements during the recovery flight.

The Division of Wildlife enforces this one. Their TIP line is 1-800-WILDLIFE (1-800-945-3543).

Privacy and surveillance

Ohio has not passed a dedicated drone-privacy statute. There is no Ohio version of Florida's Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act. Drone privacy claims get processed through existing privacy law instead:

• ORC § 2907.08 (Voyeurism). Secretly recording a person in a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy is a second-degree misdemeanor. Recording through or under clothing is a first-degree misdemeanor. A drone operator who films into a fenced back yard or a bedroom window can be prosecuted under this section the same as a person on foot with a camera.
• ORC § 2903.211 (Menacing by Stalking). Drone-based surveillance can supply the "pattern of conduct" element.
• ORC § 2933.52. Ohio is a one-party-consent state for audio recording, but a drone mic that captures a conversation without any party's consent violates this section.
• Common-law intrusion upon seclusion. Available as a civil tort in state court.

A standalone drone-voyeurism / drone-trespass bill is under consideration in the 136th General Assembly right now. It would close gaps specific to drone conduct. Its status is worth rechecking before publication.

Commercial versus recreational operation

Ohio 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. Normal Ohio business and tax obligations apply to commercial drone operators the same way they apply to any other business.

Penalties at a glance

Local ordinances to watch in Ohio

Ohio is not a broad-preemption state. ORC § 4561.52 gives Ohio cities, counties, townships, and park districts explicit authority to adopt ordinances governing (a) hobby and recreational drone use above their own parks and public property and (b) their own drone fleets. The practical result is a real patchwork — especially at the metro-park level.

Where to fly legally in Ohio

Looking for places that do not require a permit application?

• AMA-recognized club fields listed at modelaircraft.org. Membership comes with insurance and a published list of Ohio sites.
• Scioto Grove Metro Park's designated droning field (Columbus).
• Cleveland Metroparks' four designated locations above.
• Private property with the owner's written permission — outside any critical-facility buffer and outside controlled-airspace rings unless LAANC is approved.
• FAA-Recognized Identification Areas (FRIAs). Ohio has a short list, updated at faa.gov.
• Most ODNR Division of Wildlife areas — with the caveat that drones cannot locate, drive, or take game.
• The B4UFLY app before every flight. It surfaces controlled airspace, active TFRs, and national-security exclusions in real time.

Who enforces drone laws in Ohio?

Federal rules are enforced by the FAA. Civil penalties run into the tens of thousands of dollars for serious violations, and criminal referrals go to the U.S. Attorney's office — the 2022 Cincinnati stadium prosecutions were federal TFR cases. Ohio state criminal charges under HB 77 are filed by local prosecutors, usually following an investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol or a municipal police department. ODNR park rangers and wildlife officers handle state-parks and wildlife rules. Local police and park-district enforcement officers cover city and park-district violations. If a drone has damaged property, injured a person, or invaded privacy, civil liability runs in parallel.

Pre-flight checklist

How USI helps you fly legally

Common questions about Ohio drone laws