FAA Replaces NOTAM FDC 6/4375 With FDC 6/2824: What Commercial Drone Operators Need to Know
FDC 6/2824 drops hard stand-off distances, and National Defense Airspace designation — but agency interdiction authority remains intact
The FAA issued a new nationwide UAS security advisory today, April 15, 2026, replacing the highly controversial NOTAM FDC 6/4375 that had been in effect since January 16. The replacement, FDC 6/2824, makes several significant structural changes, but stops short of the full overhaul that drone industry advocates had been pushing for since the original NOTAM drew widespread criticism earlier this year.
What Changed
The most immediate difference operators will notice: FDC 6/2824 contains no explicit stand-off distances. Where FDC 6/4375 established a hard 3,000-foot lateral and 1,000-foot vertical exclusion zone around covered assets, the new NOTAM instructs UAS operators to “avoid flying in proximity to” covered mobile assets, without defining what proximity means.
The new NOTAM also drops the “National Defense Airspace” classification that underpinned 6/4375’s enforcement framework, and removes the explicit criminal penalty language that warned of charges under 49 USC §46307, civil penalties, and FAA certificate revocation.
On paper, that’s a softer posture. But the authority for agencies to interdict, seize, or destroy aircraft deemed a credible threat remains fully intact, cited under 10 U.S.C. 130I, 10 U.S.C. 6227, and 6 U.S.C. 124N.
Agency Scope Has Also Shifted
FDC 6/4375 covered the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The new NOTAM replaces “DOD” with “Department of War (DOW)” and adds the Department of Justice (DOJ) explicitly — meaning the new NOTAM covers more agencies than its predecessor, not fewer. The addition of DOJ is particularly significant for commercial operators, as it sweeps in FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Marshals field operations — all of which routinely conduct mobile enforcement activity in urban environments where commercial drone work is common. The language shift from DOD to DOW reflects the Trump administration’s rebranding of the Pentagon, formalized by Executive Order in September 2025 and now appearing with increasing regularity in FAA regulatory language.
What Hasn’t Changed
The fundamental problem that made 6/4375 so contentious for commercial operators is still present: covered assets are mobile, their locations are not publicly broadcast, and no flight planning tool, B4UFLY, LAANC, or the FAA TFR map can show you where these invisible restrictions are in real time. If a covered convoy passes within range of your active flight, you may have no practical way to know.
The contact pathway remains the same: FAA UAS Support at [email protected], (844) FLY-MY-UA, or faa.gov/uas/contact_us.
What This Means for Commercial Operators
For AEC professionals, facade inspection operators, and other commercial UAS practitioners working in and around urban environments, the practical compliance calculus has not meaningfully improved. The removal of explicit stand-off distances could be read as regulatory relief, but without defined boundaries, there is no clear line that tells you when you’re safe.
Until the FAA provides additional guidance on how “proximity” will be interpreted and enforced under 6/2824, the conservative approach remains unchanged: treat any visible or suspected federal law enforcement activity in your operating area as a reason to postpone flight, document your pre-flight checks thoroughly, and contact the FAA SOSC before any mission where federal assets could plausibly be present.
The full text of FDC 6/2824 is available via the FAA NOTAM search portal. Industry groups, including the Commercial Drone Alliance and Drone Service Providers Alliance, have not yet issued formal guidance on the replacement NOTAM as of publication.
Ted Parisot is an FAA Part 107-certified commercial UAS operator and co-founder of Helios Visions, a Chicago-based aerial intelligence firm serving the AEC sector. He serves as Chair of the GTIA IoT Advisory Council.