Is it permissible to fly over people who are not directly participating in the operation?

• A. No; you should avoid flying over such people.
• B. Yes, if they are inside a building.
• C. Yes, as long as you stay under 50 feet.
• D. Only if you have their permission.

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is safety around bystanders. You should not fly your UAS over people who are not directly participating in the operation. If something goes wrong—loss of control, mechanical failure, or a crash—the drone could harm people on the ground. That risk is why the safe practice is to keep the flight path away from bystanders.

Simply being inside a building, staying under a certain altitude, or having someone’s permission does not make it acceptable to fly over nonparticipants. The responsibility is to minimize risk by avoiding overflight of bystanders; only those directly involved in the operation are considered safe to be under the flight path, and even then you should maintain appropriate distances.