As of September 16, 2023, the FAA had required commercially flown drones to have remote ID however, the FAA recently announced a delay of this compliance to around March 2024.

If your drone does not have remote ID, you may be able to still fly your old drone in an FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA). So don’t necessarily sell your old Mavic Air 2 drone yet as you can either fly in an FRIA or pay $200-$300 for a remote ID (RID) module addon. As of this publication, many RID’s were on backorder, but visit the Adorama website for a small selection of RID’s.

Just a thought: The Mavic Mini 3 Pro weighs less than 250 grams yet, this drone has remote ID. And if you have a Mavic Air 2 or similar, your old RCN1 controller will work seamlessly with the Mavic Mini 3 Pro. So instead of paying $220-$350 for a remote ID module, why not just spend $300 more and buy a new Mavic Mini 3 Pro?

The Mavic Air 2 does has a slightly better image quality than the Mini 3 Pro but, the Mini 3 Pro can shoot in 48MP RAW so for those on a budget, buying a new drone over paying for an expensive module may be a better solution for you.

In the meantime, the best way to remain informed on the FAA’s ever changing rules for RID, we have compiled a list of web links for you to bookmark. And revisit these sites often to remained informed!

FAA Recognized Identification Areas (FRIA)
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id/fria

FAA List of Compliant RID Drones
https://uasdoc.faa.gov/listDocs

FAA: Getting Started With Remote ID
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id

FAA UAS Data Map
https://udds-faa.opendata.arcgis.com/

DJI Web Page On FAA Remote ID Compliance
https://support.dji.com/help/content?customId=en-us03400007747&spaceId=34