New rules on small drones kick in today: What you need to know

For companies that want to use small drones, a new era began Monday. That's when rules kicked in that free them from having to request special permission from the federal government for any commercial drone endeavor -- a waiver process that often took months. Although industry experts say the Federal Aviation Administration's new rules on commercial drones largely make it easier for companies to use the unmanned aerial vehicles, there are still a lot of constraints. Under the new commercial-drone rules, operators must keep their drones within visual line of sight -- that is, the person flying the drone must be able to see it with the naked eye -- and can fly only during the day, though twilight flying is permitted if the drone has anti-collision lights. Drones cannot fly over people who are not directly participating in the operation or go higher than 400 feet above the ground.