Ages and youth rules: who may fly, register and supervise.

At a glance

Each row is one jurisdiction's own rule. The detail and exceptions follow below.

United States

What this rests on: regulation and statute texts from govinfo and Cornell's Legal Information Institute; faa.gov could not be opened.

• Registration, 14 CFR 48.25(b) (1 January 2019 edition): a small unmanned aircraft is registered by its owner in the owner's legal name, unless the owner is under 13, in which case a person at least 13 years old must register it.
• Remote pilot certificate, 14 CFR 107.61 (Amendment 107-1, 28 June 2016, as amended 15 January 2021): an applicant must be at least 16 (107.61(a)) and able to read, speak, write and understand English (107.61(b)).
• Recreational flying, 49 U.S.C. 44809: the statute as read sets no minimum age for recreational flyers; its subsection (g) covers only the content of the aeronautical knowledge and safety test.

United Kingdom

What this rests on: the CAA's Drone and Model Aircraft Code, CAP2320 (March 2026), and the CAA's news release of 29 December 2025 on the rules that took effect on 1 January 2026.

• Flyer ID: needed to fly a drone or model aircraft of 100 g or more from 1 January 2026, down from 250 g. Children need one too. The online test has no age limit; under-18s can take it alone, but under-13s must have a parent or guardian with them when taking the test and registering (CAP2320 p.39; CAA release).
• Operator ID: the operator must be 18 or over. For an owner under 18, a parent or guardian registers as the operator and holds the Operator ID (CAP2320 pp.6 and 41; CAA release).
• Flying: children under 12 must be supervised by someone aged 16 or over while flying (CAA release).

The rule has changed over time rather than being disputed. The CAA's December 2020 Drone Code said that in most cases a person had to be at least 12 to fly alone, with under-12s supervised by someone 16 or over and both holding a Flyer ID, at a 250 g threshold. The 2026 rules keep the supervision age and lower the threshold to 100 g.

Under the BMFA's authorisation (association rule)

The BMFA's guide to its CAA Article 16 authorisation (updated 21 December 2021) says operator registration carries a minimum age of 18, and that there is no lower age limit for remote pilots flying under the BMFA authorisation, although they must meet competency requirements to fly unsupervised. Its members' handbook says juniors in its Schools and Youth Groups scheme have reduced-rate cover only while flying under their group leader's supervision, with full junior membership needed for full cover. These are association terms, not law.

European Union

What this rests on: Regulation (EU) 2019/947 in its 2019 as-adopted text, a search summary of the consolidated text, and EASA's pages. Member states may set national variations not covered here.

• Article 9: the minimum age for remote pilots in the Open and Specific categories is 16. EASA's FAQ says no minimum applies when flying in subcategory A1 with a class C0 drone, flying a privately built drone under 250 g, or flying under the direct supervision of a qualified remote pilot.
• Lowering the age: a search summary of the consolidated regulation says member states may lower the age by up to four years in the Open category and two in the Specific category, valid only in that state, and that an Article 16 club authorisation may set a different age. EASA's Open category page says a member state may lower the age to 12.
• Racing: EASA's FPV topic page (updated 26 September 2022) says pilots must be at least 16 to fly an FPV racing drone, subject to national exemptions.

Canada

What this rests on: Transport Canada's Aeronautical Information Manual, RPA chapter (effective 19 March 2026), citing the Canadian Aviation Regulations, and Transport Canada's 2019 release and 2025 summary of changes.

• Basic operations certificate: age 14 (CARs 901.54 and 901.55). Under-14s may fly basic operations under the direct supervision of someone holding a basic or advanced certificate (CAR 901.54(2)).
• Advanced operations certificate: age 16 (CAR 901.64(c)). Younger or uncertified people may fly advanced operations under the direct supervision of an advanced certificate holder (CAR 901.63(2)).
• Level 1 Complex certificate (lower-risk flying beyond visual line of sight): age 18, set by the 2025 amendments.
• Registration: a registered owner must be at least 14.

Transport Canada's release of 9 January 2019 set the same 14 and 16 ages when the rules began on 1 June 2019.

Australia

No CASA minimum age for drone flyers was found. CASA's website timed out throughout the research, so this is a gap in what could be read, not a finding that no age rule exists.

Racing bodies and associations

• FAI: no FAI age or junior rule for drone racing was found in the research.
• MultiGP: its rule book could not be read, so any age rules it sets are not known here.
• AMA, MAAC and MAAA: the research for this site records no age rule from any of them, and MAAC's own safety code could not be read.

Young people in the injury data

Two US studies of emergency-department records include children, and their figures are not combined. In the University of Florida's NEISS analysis for 2015 to 2019, 21 percent of patients were under 18. Khan and Brown's study of children aged 0 to 18, from NEISS records for 2010 to 2019, found 26 drone-related cases, 58 percent of them head or face injuries. Both count hospital visits, not risk. Details are on propeller injuries research. Any injury to a child from a drone needs medical care.