New FAA Order Lets Tower Inspection Drones Fly Above LAANC Grids Starting Oct. 31

If you inspect cell towers or rooftops near airports, circle October 31. That’s when a rewritten FAA order changes how airspace requests are handled for structure inspections, Class E surface areas and multi-day jobs.

The document is FAA Order JO 7200.23E, Processing of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Requests. It isn’t a new regulation. It’s the internal playbook the FAA uses to decide what you get back when you file in FAADroneZone, and that shapes your approvals just as much.

Tower inspections above the grid, without ATC coordination

UAS Facility Map (UASFM) grids often drop low near airports, well below the top of a tower. Under paragraph 3-5, the FAA doesn’t need to coordinate with the local air traffic facility to approve an above-grid request if it’s a visual line of sight (VLOS) Part 107 inspection of a vertical structure that meets all of these conditions:

• The drone stays within a 100-foot radius of the structure and no more than 100 feet above its highest point.
• It stays at least 2 nautical miles from any airport, heliport, seaplane base or vertiport landing surface, unless a separate authorization covers that.
• It remains at least 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally from clouds.
• Flight visibility from the control station is at least 3 statute miles.

The order gives cell towers, communications towers and high-rise buildings as examples. It specifically excludes structures with horizontal spans, such as bridges and power lines. These requests go through FAADroneZone, not LAANC, even at LAANC-enabled facilities.

The approvals can be generous: specific-area, wide-area or even nationwide, valid for up to 24 months. Airspace delegated to the Department of War is excluded.

One honest caveat: this isn’t brand new. The same criteria first appeared in an FAA notice (N JO 7200.20) in May 2025. What’s new is that they now sit in the permanent order. The order also puts the burden on you. Service Centers may do only a cursory check, and in the order’s words, “It is the proponent’s responsibility to ensure they comply with the AA requirements.”

Class E surface areas finally get written rules

Requests inside the Class E surface area around an airport (the dashed magenta line on a sectional) get their own paragraph, which the FAA added because earlier versions of the order never addressed them. Now, where the facility hasn’t built its own map, requests are processed using concentric circles measured from the Airport Reference Point:

• Within 2 NM: not authorized without prior coordination and approval from the air traffic facility.
• 2 to 3 NM: up to 100 feet AGL.
• 3 to 4 NM: up to 200 feet AGL.
• Beyond 4 NM: up to 400 feet AGL.

There’s a weather catch: these altitudes apply only when there’s at least a 1,000-foot ceiling. If a facility has its own UASFM that doesn’t follow the circles, the facility map wins. Recreational flyers get a firmer line, since requests within 2 NM of the reference point are not authorized for Section 44809 operations.

Multi-day approvals get tighter

At LAANC-enabled facilities, requests at or below the grid altitude are issued for one day. Ask for a week and you’ll get the first day. Multi-day approvals at grid altitude are now reserved for first responders, and only when they reduce workload or paperwork.

Above the grid, multi-day approvals still need the facility manager’s sign-off and, for everyone except first responders, a defined project area with set start and end dates. A new provision allows up to 14 extra days as a weather buffer, with the facility’s approval.

Also new: the moving-vehicles rule (107.145) is now on the waiver list, and fixed flying sites are reserved for community-based organizations, not individual hobbyists.

What this means for drone pilots

• Tower and rooftop inspectors: File above-grid inspection requests in FAADroneZone and spell out how you meet each condition. One long-term or wide-area authorization could replace a stack of one-off requests.
• Know your geometry: 100 feet out, 100 feet above the top, and 2 NM from landing surfaces. Heliports count.
• Flying near non-towered Class E airports: Measure your distance from the reference point and check the ceiling. On a low overcast day, the default altitudes don’t apply.
• Construction and multi-day jobs at grid altitude: Plan on daily LAANC requests instead of one long authorization.

Facility maps, Class E surface areas and LAANC limits are core Part 107 exam topics. Our Part 107 online course covers each one in plain English.

The bottom line

FAA Order 7200.23E helps structure inspectors and brings predictability to small Class E airports, but it ends routine multi-day grid approvals for most commercial pilots. Check your recurring requests against it before October 31.

Sources: FAA Order JO 7200.23E (PDF); FAA Orders & Notices listing; FAA Notice N JO 7200.20 (May 2025); DroneXL

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