How high can you fly here?
Inland Empire Drone
Airspace Checker
Enter any Inland Empire address. You'll get the ceiling the FAA publishes for that grid square, the airport that controls it, and whether LAANC can authorize it on the spot — from 4,460 squares of FAA data, not an estimate.
A reference, not an authorization. File through LAANC or FAA DroneZone before you fly.
Check an Address
Street address, or paste coordinates. Nothing is stored and there's no signup.
Type an address in Riverside or San Bernardino County and you'll get the ceiling the FAA publishes for that grid square — the number a Part 107 pre-flight check starts from.
What the Map Says About the Inland Empire
25%
of the region's 4,460 controlled grid squares carry a 0 ft ceiling — 1,119 squares where LAANC grants nothing instantly.
15
airports and airfields project controlled airspace onto the two counties, from Ontario and March ARB to Blythe and Needles.
10
of the 22 cities profiled below have no controlled square within three miles of the city centre at all.
Every published ceiling
| Ceiling | Grid squares | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0 ft | 1,119 | 25% |
| 50 ft | 168 | 4% |
| 100 ft | 528 | 12% |
| 200 ft | 751 | 17% |
| 300 ft | 151 | 3% |
| 400 ft | 1,743 | 39% |
Airspace by City
Each city centre against the FAA grid, plus how much of the surrounding three miles sits in controlled airspace. Sorted by how constrained the area is.
| City | At the centre | Controlled within 3 mi | Facilities overhead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 50 ft | 91% | Chino, Ontario Intl |
| Rancho Cucamonga | 400 ft | 88% | Ontario Intl |
| Moreno Valley | 400 ft | 76% | March ARB |
| Chino | 400 ft | 73% | Brackett Fld, Chino, Ontario Intl |
| Eastvale | 400 ft | 68% | Chino, Ontario Intl |
| San Bernardino | 50 ft | 67% | San Bernardino Intl |
| Colton | 200 ft | 57% | San Bernardino Intl |
| Redlands | 400 ft | 55% | San Bernardino Intl |
| Norco | No limit published | 42% | Chino, Riverside |
| Chino Hills | No limit published | 39% | Brackett Fld, Chino, Ontario Intl |
| Perris | No limit published | 33% | March ARB |
| Corona | No limit published | 6% | Chino |
No controlled airspace within three miles of the centre: Banning, Fontana, Lake Arrowhead, Menifee, Murrieta, Running Springs, San Jacinto, Temecula, Temescal Valley, Yucaipa. Part 107's 400 ft still applies, and everything in the "not covered" list below still applies.
Why a Photographer Built This
On a listing shoot, the airspace question has a deadline. The authorization gets filed in advance — the friction is never the paperwork, it's getting the approval onto the aircraft so it will take off. What ruins a morning is discovering the address sits in a 0 ft square after you've driven out, because that approval was never going to arrive the same day.
A quarter of this region's controlled squares are 0 ft squares. Knowing which ones before the booking is confirmed is the difference between rescheduling a shoot and explaining to an agent why there are no aerials.
Every aerial I deliver is flown under FAA Part 107, on a DJI Air 3. If you'd rather hand the whole question to someone who already does it, get in touch.
Methodology
Every number on this page comes from the FAA UAS Facility Map, retrieved from the FAA's public ArcGIS service on 2026-09-20 (chart cycle effective 9/3/2026). The snapshot holds 4,460 grid squares covering Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The FAA publishes a square only where controlled airspace reaches the surface, so a square with no published ceiling is uncontrolled — reported here as such rather than left blank. City figures profile every square whose centre falls within three miles of the city's coordinate. Nothing is modelled, interpolated, or estimated: if the FAA did not publish it, this page does not assert it. Next scheduled refresh 2026-12-20.
Not covered
- • Temporary flight restrictions — wildfires, VIP movements, stadium events. These appear and vanish; check them on the day.
- • Special use airspace: restricted areas, military operations areas, and the warning areas around them.
- • National and state park land. The Park Service bans launching and landing in national parks regardless of the airspace above them — Joshua Tree included.
- • City and county ordinances, HOA rules, and private property permission.
Cite This Tool
Journalists, drone operators, and brokers are welcome to reference this page:
"Inland Empire Drone Airspace Checker," Dustyn Reno Design — dustynrenodesign.com/inland-empire-drone-airspace-checker (FAA data retrieved 2026-09-20).
The underlying data is a US government work and free to reuse. The analysis, the city profiles, and the 25% figure are this page's — a link back is all that's asked.
Airspace Questions, Answered
What does a 0 ft ceiling actually mean?
It means LAANC will not give you an instant authorization for that square at any altitude. It does not mean drones are banned there forever — it means the approval has to come through a further coordination request to the facility via FAA DroneZone, which takes real time. For a listing shoot, that is a scheduling problem: you find out weeks ahead, not on the driveway.
Is this an authorization to fly?
No. It is a reference showing what the FAA published for that grid square on the snapshot date. The authorization itself comes from LAANC or FAA DroneZone, and the pre-flight check is still yours to run — this tool cannot see temporary flight restrictions, special use airspace, park rules, or local ordinances.
Why does an address near my house come back with no published limit?
The FAA only publishes a grid square where controlled airspace reaches the surface. Most of the Inland Empire is uncontrolled, so there is nothing to publish — Part 107's own 400 ft above ground level applies and no airspace authorization is needed. A blank is an answer, not missing data.
How current is this data?
The snapshot was taken from the FAA UAS Facility Map service on 2026-09-20, reflecting the chart cycle effective 9/3/2026. The FAA revises the map on a 56-day chart cycle. This page is refreshed against the live service and the next scheduled review is 2026-12-20. Always confirm on the day you fly — TFRs in particular appear with no notice.
Does this cover Los Angeles or Orange County?
Not yet. The snapshot covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties — the Inland Empire service area. Addresses outside it return an honest 'outside this snapshot' rather than a guess.
Shooting a California listing? The other reference on this site covers what you have to disclose about the photos once they're edited: the AB 723 photo edit disclosure checker.