FAA boosts outreach and enforcement on drones.

It was around 5:45am one November morning when Lisa Hayes saw out her window, in the pre-dawn light, some sort of strange UFO with red and blinking lights hovering over her New Monterey neighborhood.

The UFO, she soon realized, was in fact a UAS, an unmanned aircraft system, better known as a drone.

“It was kind of creepy that somebody could be flying around like that early in the morning,” she says.

Creepy, and also not allowed under Federal Aviation Administration rules. Flying over homes or crowds is not allowed for safety reasons. An operator letting the drone out of his or her sight is also against the rules, as is flying within five miles of an airport without first contacting officials.

Locally, there are four specific areas within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary where drones are never allowed, to protect wildlife: from Pescadero Point to Point Santa Cruz for 3 nautical miles out into the ocean; a half-circle area around Moss Landing for 5 nautical miles; Elkhorn Slough; and from the Carmel River south to Cambria, for 3 nautical miles.

With more than 2.5 million drones flying regularly in the U.S. and another 1.2 million expected to be sold during this holiday season, according to an FAA report, that’s a lot of potential for people who aren’t aware of drone regulations. FAA officials made a major push to require operators of drones between 0.55-55 pounds to register with the agency last holiday season. More than 616,000 people registered since then, the FAA reported in December.

The rules are available on the agency’s website (faa.gov/uas), and its free smartphone app, B4UFLY, guides operators on what to do before taking off.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect that the FAA does not allow drones to fly over homes or crowds for safety reasons. A previous version said it was for privacy.