Drone Insurance USA: Do You Need It and What Does It Cost?

No. Neither the rules for recreational flyers nor the Part 107 rules for commercial pilots include an insurance requirement.

That does not mean you carry no risk. Under Part 107 you must report any flight that results in serious injury, loss of consciousness or property damage of at least $500 to the FAA within 10 days. The cost of that damage is yours unless you are insured.

Clients, event organizers, venues and landowners can also ask for proof of liability cover before they let you fly.

Drone policies usually combine two kinds of cover:

• Liability: pays if your drone injures someone or damages someone else's property. This is the part clients ask for.
• Hull, or physical damage: pays to repair or replace your own drone, and sometimes the camera, gimbal and other payload.

SkyWatch, for example, offers liability limits from $0.5 million to $5 million. BWI, a US drone insurance broker, says many commercial operators choose $1 million in liability cover.

• On-demand: liability cover for a single job, from one hour to a full day. Suits pilots who fly for work now and then.
• Monthly: liability and hull cover month by month.
• Annual: liability and hull cover all year, usually cheaper than paying month by month.

SkyWatch, for example, sells all three kinds in the US.

The price depends on where you fly, what the drone is worth, what you use it for and your experience. Examples from the insurers' own pages:

• SkyWatch monthly plan with liability and hull: from $44 a month.
• SkyWatch annual plan with liability and hull: from $466 a year.
• BWI: $639 a year for $1 million liability only, for a commercial photographer.

BWI requires a Part 107 certificate to quote, even for recreational flying. Compare several insurers before you buy, since limits and exclusions differ.

Hobby pilots can get liability cover through a membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), one of the FAA-approved TRUST test administrators. A full membership costs $89 a year for adults aged 19 to 64 and includes:

• $2,500,000 personal liability insurance
• $25,000 medical cover (AD&D policy, $10,000 death benefit)
• $1,000 fire, theft and vandalism cover

The cheaper Park Pilot membership includes $500,000 liability cover, for aircraft of at most 2 lb and 60 mph without a combustion engine. To be covered you must follow AMA's safety programming. AMA's membership pages do not say whether commercial flying is covered, so check the policy terms if you fly for work.

• Liability limit: is it high enough for the jobs you take? Ask your clients what they require.
• Hull cover: are crashes, water damage and theft covered, and is the payload included?
• Use: recreational flying, Part 107 work or both.
• Where it applies: anywhere in the US, and abroad if you travel with the drone.
• Pilots: whether other pilots may fly your drone under the policy.
• Proof: whether you can download a certificate of insurance for a client straight away.

• Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Regulations (Part 107) (checked 30 October 2026)
• Recreational Flyers & Community-Based Organizations (checked 30 October 2026)
• AMA membership options (checked 30 October 2026)
• SkyWatch monthly drone insurance plan (checked 30 October 2026)
• SkyWatch annual drone insurance plan (checked 30 October 2026)
• BWI Fly drone insurance (checked 30 October 2026)