okay so I just got my first drone, its a mini 3 pro, and my neighbor told me I need to register it with the FAA before I even take it outside. is that actually true? like even if im just flying it in my own yard and not going anywhere near an airport or anything. I live in a pretty rural area in Tennessee if that makes any difference. also do state laws matter here or is it all federal? kind of confused about where to even look this stuff up honestly

yeah so the FAA registration thing is real and its based on the weight of the drone, not where you fly it. anything over 250 grams needs to be registered, period. the mini 3 pro is right at that threshold so you definitely need to register. its like $5 and takes maybe 10 minutes on the FAA dronezone website. Tennessee doesnt really have a ton of its own drone laws that would affect you flying in your backyard, most of that stuff is federally governed anyway. where it gets complicated is if you fly over other peoples property or near a city or whatever. but for your own rural yard you should be pretty fine once youre registered and staying under 400 feet AGL.

just to add - also download the B4UFLY app or check AirMap before you go up, even in a rural area there can be temporary flight restrictions you wouldnt know about otherwise. had a buddy get a nastygram because he flew during a TFR near some wildfire operations and had no idea. registration is the easy part honestly.