this happened last weekend and its still kind of bothering me. i was flying in what i was pretty sure was a legal spot, its an open area near an industrial part of town, not near any airports or anything, no signs saying no drones. a police officer pulled up and asked what i was doing and wanted to see my registration. i showed him my FAA registration on my phone and he seemed satisfied and left but before he went he said something like "you might want to check local ordinances" which now has me paranoid.

i looked it up when i got home and i honestly cannot figure out if my city has any specific drone rules. the municipal code website is a nightmare to search. do cops even have authority over drone stuff or is that all federal? i wasnt doing anything sketchy just flying maybe 200 feet up over an empty lot

so the short answer is its complicated. the FAA has primary jurisdiction over airspace which means local governments technically cant regulate HOW you fly but they CAN regulate WHERE you take off and land, things like that. theres been a bunch of court cases about this and it varies by state honestly. some states have preemption laws that stop cities from making their own drone rules, other states dont.

sounds like you were probably fine but the officer wasnt wrong to mention local ordinances. some cities do have stuff buried in their municipal code about unmanned aircraft or even just general nuisance laws that could theoretically apply. the fact that he just mentioned it and drove off suggests he didnt actually think you were breaking anything, probably just covering himself

ugh i had almost the exact same thing happen to me like two months ago. different state but same vibe, officer shows up, checks registration, leaves with a vague comment. i think a lot of cops dont actually know the rules well enough to cite you for anything drone-specific so they just say something general to feel like they did their job. not criticizing them its just a genuinely confusing area of law even for people who deal with it professionally apparently