Effective November 7 the FAA is restricting drone flights over 60 additional “national security sensitive locations.” Most of the locations are federal prisons. A few are defense-related. The FAA posted a complete list and the information is available via NOTAMs including FDC 9/7752, which defines special security instructions, and  FDC 9/1278, which alerts unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators and others in the aviation community to this change and points to FDC 9/7752. 

The FAA advises UAS operators to review these NOTAMs, as well as important supporting information provided by the FAA’s UAS Data Delivery System (UDDS) website. This website contains the text of FDC 9/7752 (click on “UAS NOTAM FDC 9/7752” on the scroll bar along the top of the page). Further down the page is an interactive map (“Map of FAA UAS Data”) displaying restricted airspace throughout the U.S. Zooming in will enable viewers to click on each of the 60 new DOD and DOJ locations and see the specific restrictions. Each of the 60 locations is in yellow since the restrictions are pending until the Novemer 7 effective date, at which point they will become red. The restrictions will also be included in the FAA’s B4UFLY mobile app.

The FAA warns that “UAS operators who violate these flight restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges.”