Can you fly a drone for a listing near Burbank airport?

Why the airport changes the plan

Hollywood Burbank Airport sits in the middle of the city, and the controlled airspace around it covers most of the homes we shoot here. Magnolia Park, the Media District, the Rancho and big parts of Toluca Lake are all close enough to the runways that a drone can't just go up. A licensed pilot needs FAA authorization for that exact spot before takeoff. The FAA's Part 107 airspace authorization page lays out the process.

That sounds like a hassle. Most of the time it isn't. A normal listing flight goes through LAANC, the FAA's automated request system. Under FAA Order JO 7210.3, LAANC covers flights at or below 400 feet in controlled airspace, and a request inside the facility map's height limit can be approved automatically, in near real time.

The catch is the height. The FAA's UAS Facility Maps split the airspace around each airport into a grid of squares, and every square has its own ceiling. Right by the runways the ceiling can be zero, which means no automatic approval at all. Farther out it rises. Two houses a few blocks apart in Burbank can get different answers, so we check the block, not the city.

How we clear a Burbank drone shot

This is what happens on our side for every flight near the airport. Only the first step needs anything from you.

1. Send the full address when you book. The airspace answer depends on the exact lot. A neighborhood name isn't enough.
2. We look up the grid square. The facility map gives us the ceiling over the house, and we compare it with the height the shots actually need.
3. We file the LAANC request for the shoot window. Inside the ceiling, approval usually comes back right away. Requests can go in up to 90 days ahead, so a booked shoot can be cleared the day you book it.
4. If a shot needs more height than the grid allows, the request goes to further coordination, where a person at the FAA reviews it. That isn't instant, so we plan it well before shoot day. Anything above 400 feet needs a separate waiver, and a listing almost never calls for that.
5. For twilight, we fly lit. During civil twilight the drone carries anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles. After civil twilight ends, the FAA counts it as night, which also needs pilot training and a night authorization in controlled airspace.
6. On site, we fly inside the window. The authorization covers a set time and a set height. We stay inside both, and if the wind or the timing doesn't line up, we don't force it.
7. If the answer is no, we tell you before shoot day. Then we plan the exterior from the ground, so nobody finds out on the driveway.

Why winter twilight needs an early booking

In winter the sun drops behind the hills before most agents have left the office, and the good light is short. From mid-fall through January, a Burbank twilight flight lands in the late afternoon. If you book it for a normal evening slot, you shoot the dark. Book the slot to the sunset time for that day, and send the address early so the airspace is cleared before the light is.

• Book the twilight slot against that day's sunset time, not a clock time you used in summer.
• Have every interior light on, and the pool and the garden lights on, before the sun drops. The deep blue part of the sky doesn't wait.
• Move cars off the driveway and the street frontage if you can. From the air, a car or a trash bin at the curb shows up in every frame.
• Open the side gate if the back yard is part of the shot list, so the crew isn't hunting for a key at dusk.

The lighting rule is in the FAA's Advisory Circular 107-2A, and the FAA made night authorization in controlled airspace available through LAANC providers, so a flight that runs past civil twilight near the airport can still be cleared ahead of time.

What a Burbank flight looks like

Here's an aerial we shot on Riverside Drive in the Media District, a few minutes from Toluca Lake. That block is a few miles from the runways and well inside the airport's controlled airspace. It's a storefront, not a house, but the airspace rules are the same, and so is the lesson. The shot didn't need much height. It needed the right angle.

Look at what the frame carries. The lit storefront, the checkered patio tables at the pizzeria next door, the trees along the sidewalk and the hills behind. A buyer gets the whole block in one look, and a ground photo can't do that. That's the case for drone in Burbank. It isn't about altitude. It's about context.

Where drone earns its spot in Burbank

Not every Burbank listing needs a drone. Here's how we think about it, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Magnolia Park. Bungalows on narrow lots, close to the shops and cafes on Magnolia Boulevard. The house itself rarely needs an aerial. The walk to Magnolia does. One or two frames that show how close the house sits to the boulevard can do more than ten more angles of the front yard.

Rancho Equestrian. This is where drone pays off the most. Lots run bigger, plenty have room for horses, and the trails and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center across the river are a reason people buy here. You can't show a horse-property lot from the sidewalk.

The hillside streets. Up in the Burbank hills the view is the selling point, and the best view photo often comes from the lot, not the air. The photo below is from a hillside shoot, looking out over the rooftops and the valley floor to the mountains. No drone needed.

Next door. The same check applies when the listing is in Glendale or North Hollywood. Different block, different grid square, same process.

What the Burbank market is doing

Burbank prices have held steady. Redfin's Burbank housing market page put the median sale price at about $1.18 million in September 2026, up 1.5% on a year earlier. When prices sit still, buyers take their time and compare listings side by side. The one that shows the lot, the street and the walk to Magnolia gives them a reason to book the showing.

When you book drone with listing photos for a Burbank home, send the address and the shots you have in mind. We'll check the airspace and tell you what we can fly. Current prices are on our pricing page.

Questions agents ask

Sources

1. Part 107 Airspace Authorizations, FAA, read November 3, 2026
2. Order JO 7210.3, Chapter 19, Section 6: Waivers, Authorizations, and Exemptions, FAA, read November 3, 2026
3. UAS Facility Maps, FAA, read November 3, 2026
4. Advisory Circular 107-2A: Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, FAA, read November 3, 2026
5. Night Authorization Available for Part 107 Drone Pilots, FAA, read November 3, 2026
6. Burbank Housing Market, Redfin, read November 11, 2026