Drones are currently classified by the FAA as "model aircraft" and the FAA has tried and failed to sue a person for flying one commercially [1]. The FAA thought they regulated commercial "model aircraft" in 2007, but it was thrown out in court in 2014. Until the FAA can pass it's newly proposed rules, commercial operation of drones is unregulated (aside from standard safety regulations).

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-03-06/drone-pilo...

That article is outdated, the FAA regulations were drafted this year. I posted a link to them in my other comment (currently directly below)

Section 333 is from 2012, but the FAA failed to sue a commercial UAV operator in 2014.

That is correct Dan, it is illegal to commercially operate a UAV without obtaining the FAA's 333 exemption (https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/). As I mentioned in another comment, there are now 1100 pilots who have obtained the exemption.

Could you comment towards or provide insight about what deckar01 said above:

> Section 333 is from 2012, but the FAA failed to sue a commercial UAV operator in 2014.

If this is the case then you wouldn't need this FAA 333 exemption would you?

Not to mention you can also just rent a drone yourself if you want to skip out on the hefty pilot fees. Unregulated indeed.