Tustin, CA Drone Rules: Commercial Drones (2026)

Tustin's Unmanned Aircraft Systems chapter, added by Ordinance No. 1487 and 1488 in 2017, does not carve out a separate track for commercial drone work. Section 4961 defines "Person," the subject of every prohibition in the chapter, to include "any individual, partnership, corporation, or joint venture," so a real estate photographer's business or a delivery startup answers to the identical rules as a hobbyist. Section 4965 narrows the exempt class to two groups only: "Public UAS" operated by a qualifying government agency, and any UAS weighing less than 0.55 pounds, leaving every other commercial flight fully inside Sections 4962 through 4964.

That means a business drone pilot in Tustin must keep the aircraft within visual line of sight, stay at least twenty-five feet from bystanders at takeoff and landing, get the property owner's written or electronic consent before launching or landing on private land that is not the operator's own, and carry proof of that consent on the flight. No local business license or drone-specific permit is layered on top; the City instead relies on the same operational rulebook, backed by a misdemeanor penalty under Section 4667 of up to $1,000 per violation, up to six months in the Orange County jail, or both, with each day a violation continues charged as a separate offense.