New Hampshire Drone Laws: RSA 644:23 & Privacy Rules (2026)

New Hampshire's first drone-specific criminal statute, RSA 644:23, took effect January 1, 2026. It layers state penalties for FAA violations, weaponized drones, and flights over correctional facilities on top of the state's older, general privacy law, which already reaches a drone's camera.

This guide is part of our Drone Laws by State series; for the broader rules on recording people and property in New Hampshire, see our surveillance camera laws guide.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses New Hampshire law governing drones under RSA 644:23, RSA 644:9, and RSA 207:57. It does not address FAA registration, Remote ID, or Part 107 pilot certification, which apply the same way nationwide regardless of state law.

How Federal and New Hampshire Law Divide Drone Authority

The FAA regulates where a drone may fly. Under 49 U.S.C. section 40102, it treats any unmanned aircraft as an "aircraft," pulling it into the national airspace system regardless of size. A commercial or government flight generally needs a Remote Pilot Certificate under 14 C.F.R. Part 107, and a hobbyist flight falls under the separate statutory exception at 49 U.S.C. section 44809. Most registrable drones must also broadcast Remote ID.

None of that answers what a New Hampshire drone operator may record, or whether New Hampshire police need a warrant. Until 2026, New Hampshire had no drone-specific criminal statute, and conduct fell largely under general privacy and trespass law, alongside RSA 207:57, which has carried an express drone and UAV surveillance ban since January 1, 2016. RSA 644:23 changed that, but its focus is narrower than a comprehensive privacy code, and understanding what it does and does not cover matters for anyone trying to figure out their rights.

New Hampshire's New Drone Statute: RSA 644:23

RSA 644:23, "Unlawful Operation or Use of Small Unmanned Aircraft System," came out of House Bill 468 in the 2025 session, was enacted as Chapter 278 of the 2025 laws, and took effect January 1, 2026. It borrows its definitions of "aircraft," "small unmanned aircraft," and "small unmanned aircraft system" from the New Hampshire Aeronautics Act at RSA 422:3.

The statute's core provision, paragraph II, makes operating a drone in violation of FAA rules, including 14 C.F.R. Part 107, a violation for a first offense and a misdemeanor after that, giving New Hampshire prosecutors a state charge for what had been a purely federal matter. Paragraph III makes it a misdemeanor to interfere with law enforcement, firefighting, or emergency-response operations by drone, or to operate a drone in a way that violates RSA 644:9, New Hampshire's privacy statute, with an exemption for news media that hold FAA authorization and follow safety directives.

Paragraph IV addresses manned aircraft: negligently disrupting a human-occupied aircraft or airport is a Class A misdemeanor, a Class B felony if it causes damage, and a Class A felony if it causes a fatal or injurious crash. Paragraph V makes flying in restricted airspace over a correctional facility a misdemeanor, a Class B felony if meant to deliver contraband or aid an escape, the same prison-drone problem several other states have faced. Paragraph VI makes it a Class B felony to knowingly possess or operate a drone equipped to fire a projectile or otherwise cause serious injury, death, or property damage, with narrow bomb-squad and law-enforcement exemptions.

Paragraph VII then states that "this provision" shall not apply to any law enforcement officer acting pursuant to his or her lawful authority. How much that exempts is genuinely unsettled, and the statute does not say. Paragraph VII contains no prohibition of its own, so "this provision" has no antecedent inside the paragraph: read narrowly it exempts officers only from the weaponized-drone felony in paragraph VI, and read broadly it exempts them from the section as a whole. The narrow reading also sits awkwardly with paragraph VI's own, far more specific law-enforcement carve-out for deploying distraction or disorientation devices, which a blanket exemption from paragraph VI would make unnecessary. The section took effect January 1, 2026 and no court has yet construed it, so anyone relying on either reading should treat the question as open.

Can a Private Citizen Legally Fly a Drone Over My Property in New Hampshire?

RSA 644:23 does not answer this question with a standalone general prohibition. Read closely, most of its provisions address FAA compliance, emergency-scene interference, manned-aircraft safety, correctional facilities, and weaponization, and none of those bars a drone from simply surveilling a neighbor's private property. But paragraph III of RSA 644:23 does cross-reference New Hampshire's privacy statute directly: it makes it a misdemeanor to operate a drone in a way that violates RSA 644:9, so a drone-based privacy violation is chargeable under RSA 644:23 itself, not just under RSA 644:9.

That gap is filled by RSA 644:9, New Hampshire's older violation-of-privacy law, last substantively amended in 2024. It is not drone-specific, but its language is technology-neutral. Under paragraph I it is a Class A misdemeanor, without the consent of the person entitled to privacy, to install or use a "device" to observe, photograph, or record someone's intimate body parts, or to observe or record inside a "private place" (a restroom, locker room, dwelling interior, or anywhere else a person reasonably expects privacy).

A third subparagraph matters most for drones. RSA 644:9, I(c) reaches a device used outside a private place to hear, observe, record, or transmit images, location, movement, or sounds originating inside that place which would not ordinarily be audible, visible, or comprehensible from outside it. That is the drone-hovering-outside-the-window fact pattern, and it is the most likely charging theory when an aerial camera is used to see or hear into a home. A drone-mounted camera fits these definitions the same way a hidden camera would.

Penalties escalate two different ways. Under paragraph VI, a second or subsequent offense is a Class B felony. Under paragraph VII, a first offense is already a Class B felony where a reasonable person knows or should know the person entitled to privacy is a child under 18, and a second or subsequent offense under that paragraph is a Class A felony.

Outside RSA 644:9's scenarios, a New Hampshire property owner bothered by a drone that captures nothing intimate, records nothing originating inside a private place, and picks up nothing that would not ordinarily be visible or audible from outside is generally left to ordinary trespass, nuisance, or harassment law, the same as in a state with no drone statute at all.

Do Police Need a Warrant to Fly a Drone Over My Property in New Hampshire?

No statute currently requires one. New Hampshire has not enacted a law-enforcement drone warrant statute comparable to those in states like Maine and Virginia. RSA 644:23 paragraph VII exempts an officer acting under lawful authority, and how far that exemption reaches within the section is unresolved, but on either reading it does not create a warrant requirement the statute does not otherwise impose. RSA 644:9 paragraph V separately provides that paragraphs I and II are not to be construed to impair otherwise lawful law enforcement activity, and allows evidence-gathering supported by articulable suspicion during an investigation. Absent a specific state warrant statute, ordinary Fourth Amendment doctrine, and each department's internal policy, governs when a warrantless police drone flight becomes an unreasonable search.

The New Hampshire Legislature has considered, but not passed, bills that would have required a warrant before law enforcement could fly a drone over private property to record; readers should not assume such a requirement exists in New Hampshire simply because similar bills have been debated or because neighboring states have enacted one.

Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife Rules for Drones

New Hampshire's hunter-harassment statute, RSA 207:57, in effect since 2016, bars using a drone to conduct video surveillance of a private citizen who is lawfully hunting, fishing, or trapping, without first getting that person's written consent; violating it is a violation, roughly equivalent to a traffic ticket, and law enforcement and Fish and Game personnel are exempt when acting in their official duties. Separately, a New Hampshire Fish and Game administrative rule, Fis 312.02, bars using a drone to locate or attempt to locate game for the purpose of taking it, addressing drone-assisted scouting rather than surveillance of other people.

Watch out: Do not assume RSA 644:23 bans drone surveillance generally just because it is New Hampshire's newest and most-publicized drone statute. Most of it is aimed at FAA compliance, weaponization, and safety around manned aircraft and correctional facilities. A dispute about a neighbor's drone camera pointed at your yard or window is analyzed under RSA 644:9, New Hampshire's general privacy statute, though RSA 644:23(III) also makes that same RSA 644:9 violation a misdemeanor under RSA 644:23 itself, since paragraph III cross-references RSA 644:9 directly.

Can I Shoot Down a Drone Over My New Hampshire Property?

No. Federal law makes it a serious crime to damage, destroy, or disable any drone, including one hovering low over your own yard. 18 U.S.C. section 32, the Aircraft Sabotage Act, criminalizes willfully damaging an "aircraft," a category the FAA has applied to drones since 2012. A conviction carries up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000, and the permanent loss of Second Amendment rights that follows any federal felony. The FAA's position is that it controls the national airspace, not the landowner below, so owning the ground does not create a right to fire on what is above it. No New Hampshire statute, including RSA 644:23, authorizes a landowner to disable or shoot down a drone as a matter of right.

More New Hampshire Laws

• New Hampshire Data Privacy Laws
• New Hampshire GPS Tracking Laws
• New Hampshire Police Bodycam Laws
• New Hampshire Recording Laws
• New Hampshire Smart Glasses Recording Laws