Bill Would Require Drone Operators to Acknowledge Safety Rules Before Their First Flight

House committee advances a proposal to put safety information in front of operators when they set up a new drone.

More than 700 unauthorized drones were seized in restricted airspace during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to the FAA. The agency had established nearly 250 temporary flight restrictions and warned operators to leave their drones at home. The seizure figure shows the scale of the challenge, though it does not reveal why individual operators flew in restricted airspace. www.faa.gov

The FAA already requires recreational drone flyers to pass The Recreational UAS Safety Test, or TRUST, before flying. The free online test teaches safety and regulatory information. Still, a new owner must know about that requirement and seek out the test.

A bill advanced by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would put another safety message directly in the path of a new operator. On September 15, the committee approved an amended version of H.R. 10304, the Drone Safety Statement Modernization Act of 2026, by voice vote.

Congress Required Manufacturer Safety Statements in 2016

The proposal builds on an existing law. Section 2203 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 requires small drone manufacturers to make a safety statement available to the owner when they deliver the aircraft. The FAA offers an example statement that manufacturers may use.

That requirement puts safety information with the product, but it does not require the person who first operates the drone to acknowledge reading it. The new bill would change both the point at which operators receive the information and the way they respond to it.

What H.R. 10304 Would Change

Under the committee-approved text, a small drone manufacturer would have to make a safety statement available to the initial operator when that person first activates the system. The manufacturer would also have to require the operator to electronically acknowledge reading and understanding each part of the statement. The bill does not say that this acknowledgment would replace TRUST or any other requirement for recreational flyers.

The FAA would set and update the statement’s requirements. They would cover applicable drone rules, temporary flight restrictions, other airspace limits, and FAA-approved ways to determine whether a flight in particular airspace is lawful. The statement would also address safe operation and possible consequences of unlawful or unsafe flights.

Within 120 days of enactment, the FAA would have to publish an example statement. Manufacturers would be free to use a different statement that meets the requirements. The bill would repeal the 2016 safety-statement provision as it establishes the updated one.

The approach is aimed at a practical gap in education: information can be available without reaching an operator before a first flight. It would not, by itself, verify that an operator understands a changing flight restriction or checks the airspace before each flight. Nor can the World Cup seizure total tell us how many of those flights an activation notice might have prevented.

H.R. 10304 is not law. Following committee approval, its next step would be consideration by the full House. If the House passes it, the Senate would then need to consider the measure before it could reach the president.

Read more:

• After 700 Drone Seizures, What Did the FIFA World Cup Really Prove?
• FAA Launches Recreational Drone Test: TRUST
• California Passes 400-Foot Drone Restriction for Concerts, Raising FAA Pre-Emption Questions