A1 A3 Drone Licence 2026: What the Flyer ID Lets You Fly

Which sub-category is your drone in?

Class mark or weight	Sub-category
UK0, UK1, C0 or C1	Over People (A1)
No class mark, under 250g	Over People (A1)
UK2 or C2	A2 with an A2 CofC, otherwise A3
No class mark, under 2kg	A2 with an A2 CofC, otherwise A3
UK3, UK4, C3 or C4	Far from People (A3)
No class mark, under 25kg	Far from People (A3)
UK5, UK6, C5 or C6	Not in the Open Category: needs a CAA authorisation

A drone with no class mark is judged by weight if it was placed on the market before 1 January 2026. A privately built drone flies in Over People (A1) if it’s under 250g with a top speed under 19 metres a second, or in Far from People (A3) under 25kg, but not in Near People (A2). The A1 rules are on the page for drones under 250g, and the A2 distances are on the A2 CofC page.

Over People (A1) rules →Near People (A2) and the A2 CofC →

UK class marks and European C marks

A class mark shows the drone meets set requirements on weight, technical functions and safety features. Any new model placed on the market from 1 January 2026 must have a UK class mark, though older models without one can still be sold. The maximum weights, including payload:

Class	Under
UK0	250g
UK1	900g
UK2	4kg
UK3, also under 3m across	25kg
UK4 and UK5	25kg
UK6, also under 3m across	25kg

A drone with a European C class mark can be flown as the matching UK class until 31 December 2027, so a C0 drone counts as UK0. From 1 January 2028 it becomes a legacy drone and flies by weight. Whether an older drone can be given a UK class mark later is up to its manufacturer.

Far from People (A3) rules

Stay at least 50m from uninvolved people, and don’t fly over them.
Stay at least 150m from residential, recreational, commercial and industrial areas.
A building at least 50m from any other isn’t an area, but you must still stay 50m from it.
Fly where you reasonably expect no uninvolved person will be put in danger.

The Code’s examples: residential areas include small groups of houses within 50m of each other, housing estates, villages, towns and schools; recreational areas include tourist attractions, sports facilities, beaches, parks and theme parks; commercial areas include shopping centres, warehouses and business parks; industrial areas include factories, docks and rail and transport hubs.

Does an A1/A3 drone licence cover A2?

No. The Flyer ID stops at A1 and A3. To fly a UK2 or C2 drone, or an unmarked one under 2kg, closer to people in Near People (A2), you need the A2 CofC from a training provider the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approves.

How to get the A2 CofC →

Open, Specific and Certified categories

Category	Type of flying
Open	Low-risk, simple
Specific	Moderate-risk, complex
Certified	High-risk, complex

You move up the categories as your flying gets more complex, for example closer to people. The Specific Category needs an operational authorisation from the CAA.

The Specific Category and flying for work →

Sources: CAA · CAA Regulatory Library and 4 more. Checked October 2026.