Onslow County, NC Drone Rules: Park Drone Restrictions (2026)

Section 12-34 of the Onslow County Code of Ordinances, titled 'Aviation,' prohibits any person from voluntarily bringing, landing, or causing to descend or alight within or upon any park an airplane, flying machine, balloon, parachute, drone, rocket, or other apparatus for aviation, except under a permit issued by the county parks and recreation department. The section defines 'voluntarily' to mean anything other than a forced landing, so an emergency or malfunction landing falls outside the prohibition while a planned recreational or commercial drone flight into county park airspace does not.

The section carries a cross-reference to Chapter 3, the county's separate Airport chapter, tying the park drone rule to the county's broader aviation regulation around Albert J. Ellis Airport. Because Section 12-4 governs how any park permit works, a drone-flying permit issued under Section 12-34 is strictly limited to its stated terms and conditions, and the parks and recreation department, or its authorized representative, can revoke it and forfeit any fee paid if the holder violates those terms. Under Section 12-3, the aviation restriction applies within and upon every park, site, and recreational area under the department's jurisdiction.

The rule was carried forward from a parks ordinance dating to May 15, 2006, and restated by an amending ordinance on April 5, 2021, which is when the drone reference was added alongside the older airplane, balloon, parachute and rocket language.