Rialto, CA Drone Rules: Recreational Drones (2026)

Rialto Municipal Code Title 13 regulates the Rialto Municipal Airport and the airspace immediately around it. 010(C) defines the 'airport area' as the portion of the city lying south of Highland Avenue, west of Cedar Avenue, north of Baseline Avenue and east of Alder Avenue, a zone that covers the airport property and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding it. 100(A) makes it unlawful for any person to fly, or to cause or permit the flying of, model aircraft, airships, balloons or similar devices, on the airport grounds or anywhere else inside the defined boundary.

This provision predates consumer drones, but its ban on 'model aircraft' and 'similar devices' has not been repealed and continues to cover remote-controlled drones flown recreationally within the airport area. The same section separately bars ultralight aircraft from the zone unless the ultralight holds an FAA airworthiness certificate, and prohibits parachuting without the airport manager's written authorization except as a lifesaving measure. 040 requires anyone using the airport or its facilities, including operators of aircraft or motor vehicles, to know and follow all adopted rules.

050 gives the airport manager authority to deny or prohibit a violator's access to the airport, and separately makes violation of any Title 13 rule a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment as the court determines. Outside the mapped airport area, the city code does not separately regulate recreational drone flight, leaving federal FAA rules, including the FAA's model aircraft and Part 107 recreational flyer requirements, as the controlling law for drone operators elsewhere in Rialto.