Most of the city sits under Logan's airspace. In a lot of it, legal clearance takes months, not minutes.
Every few weeks an agent asks me about drone shots for a downtown listing that's going live the following week. Usually I have to tell them no, and it has nothing to do with weather or my schedule.
It's the airspace. Large parts of Boston sit under restrictions where getting permission to fly legally can take up to 90 days. Most agents have no idea until they ask, and by then the listing is already on a timeline.
Here's what's actually going on, and how to plan around it.
Any drone flight that helps market a property is a commercial operation under FAA rules. That means the pilot needs a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. It doesn't matter whether money changed hands. If the footage is going in a listing, it's commercial.
People get confused because hobbyist rules are looser, and a drone is a drone. But the FAA cares about the purpose of the flight, not the size of the aircraft or whether anyone got paid. Someone flying your listing "as a favor" without a certificate is operating illegally, and that exposure doesn't stay with the pilot. It touches the listing and the brokerage too.
Ask to see the certificate. Any legitimate operator will send it over without being offended. Takes about thirty seconds.
Logan sits practically in the middle of the city. That's convenient if you're catching a flight and inconvenient for basically everything involving airspace.
Logan anchors a large block of Class B airspace, the most tightly controlled category around major airports. It covers downtown, the Seaport, and reaches into parts of Cambridge and Somerville. Being Part 107 certified doesn't let you fly there on its own. You need authorization first, every time.
For a lot of the country, that authorization is quick. The FAA runs a system called LAANC that approves requests automatically, often in under a minute. You open an app, request the altitude you need, and you're cleared.
LAANC works off a map divided into grid squares. Each square has a maximum altitude the system will approve automatically. Out in the suburbs you'll often see 200 or 400 feet, which is plenty for listing work.
Closer to Logan, a lot of those squares are set to zero.
A zero-foot ceiling means LAANC won't approve anything. Not a lower altitude, not a shorter flight. The automated path is simply closed, and your only option is a manual authorization request through the FAA's DroneZone portal, where you make a case for the flight and wait.
That wait runs up to 90 days.
Which is the whole problem. Ninety days is longer than most listings exist. By the time authorization comes through, the house is under agreement and the shots are pointless. This is why "can we get drone footage" is a scheduling question in Weymouth and a planning question in the Seaport.
Plenty of the market I shoot in is either uncontrolled airspace or sits in grid squares with workable ceilings. Much of the North Shore falls outside Logan's Class B entirely. Same for a good portion of the South Shore and MetroWest. In those areas aerials are a normal add-on, cleared the morning of the shoot.
The honest answer for any specific address is that it depends on the grid square, and grid ceilings get adjusted. I check every address before I commit to aerials, and I'd be suspicious of anyone who tells you yes without looking.
If you want to check one yourself, the FAA's B4UFLY app and the UAS Facility Maps show the ceilings by grid. Worth doing before you put "drone photography" in a listing presentation.
Massport has posted a few hundred No Drone Zone signs around Logan and nearby parks. Those are separate from the airspace question and they're not suggestions.
Temporary flight restrictions pop up for events, and Boston has a lot of events. Ballgames, marathons, presidential visits. A grid that was fine last week can be closed on a Saturday.
And regardless of location: the drone stays within visual line of sight, under 400 feet, and registered with Remote ID active.
If the property is on the North Shore, in most of the South Shore, or out toward MetroWest, treat aerials as a standard option. Book them with the rest of the shoot.
If it's downtown, in the Seaport, or in the denser parts of Cambridge or Somerville, ask early. Not the week of. Ideally when you take the listing, because if manual authorization is the only route, that clock is long and it doesn't start until someone files.
And if aerials aren't going to happen in time, that's usually fine. Drone earns its money on waterfront, larger lots, and properties where location is the story. A mid-block condo with no exterior story to tell is better served by a walkthrough video. I'd rather tell an agent that up front than have them promise a seller something the airspace won't allow.
Chris Palladino is an FAA Part 107 certified remote pilot and the founder of 37 Visuals. He spent five years as a licensed agent at Compass before moving to real estate photography full time, and shoots listings across Greater Boston and the North Shore. Airspace conditions change; confirm any specific address before you rely on it.
Send me the address and I'll check the airspace before you promise anything. Costs nothing and takes a few minutes.