Penal Law § 280.05 · Article 280. Offenses Relating to Unlawful Use of a Drone
Unlawful use of a drone
Verbatim from the official edition
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 280.05 Unlawful use of a drone.
A person commits unlawful use of a drone when such person:
1. operates a drone in a nefarious manner; or
2. operates a drone over prohibited space without express prior approval from someone the person reasonably believes has the authority to grant such approval.
Unlawful use of a drone is a class A misdemeanor.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN280.05
- Text hash
- sha256 c2cfc2b1d59d7f136ec2ee202c0f2b78c8886fe702a17841d02ed1ed24b28726
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.