so i just got a mini 3 pro for christmas and i have no idea what the rules are. i live in a pretty rural area, like no airports nearby that i know of, just farmland basically. my brother said i need to register with the faa no matter what but my neighbor said thats only if you fly commercially or something. whos right? also does it matter that im in texas specifically or is it all federal

i dont want to get in trouble but also dont want to jump through a million hoops just to fly around my own property

your brother is closer to right unfortunately. if the drone is over 250 grams you gotta register with the FAA, doesnt matter if youre commercial or recreational, doesnt matter if youre in your backyard in the middle of nowhere. the mini 3 pro is just barely over that limit so yeah you need to do it. its like $5 and takes maybe 10 minutes on the FAA droneZone website so its really not that bad

the federal rules apply everywhere in the US, texas doesnt have its own separate drone registration or anything like that. some states and cities have additional restrictions on top of federal but for just flying around your rural property youre probably fine as long as you stay under 400ft and away from any controlled airspace. download the B4UFLY app, itll show you if theres anything weird near you

yeah what the other guy said. also just to add - texas actually tried to pass some state-level drone laws a while back around privacy stuff, i think it made it illegal to photograph certain properties without permission, ag land or critical infrastructure type stuff. probably not relevant to you flying your own yard but worth knowing if you ever wanna fly over like a neighbors field or whatever