14 CFR Part 107: Pilot Certification, Flight Rules, and Penalties

If you fly a drone for anything other than pure fun, the 14 CFR Part 107 rules are what you have to follow. Part 107 governs civil small unmanned aircraft systems weighing less than 55 pounds and sets the requirements for pilot certification, aircraft registration, and how, when, and where you can fly.¹

Who Has to Follow Part 107

The dividing line is purpose, not payment. Part 107 applies to any drone flight that is not conducted purely for personal enjoyment under the recreational exception in 49 U.S.C. § 44809. The FAA reads “commercial” broadly. A real estate photographer, a farmer scouting fields to improve yields, and a content creator filming for a monetized channel are all conducting Part 107 operations, even when no one hands them a check for the specific flight.²

Volunteer and goodwill work counts too. Surveying coastlines for a nonprofit is a civil operation under Part 107, not recreation. The FAA’s own guidance: when in doubt, assume Part 107 applies.²

The recreational exception is narrow. You have to fly strictly for fun, follow a community-based organization’s safety guidelines, keep the drone in visual line of sight, stay below 400 feet in uncontrolled airspace, and get authorization before entering controlled airspace. Miss any one of those and 49 U.S.C. § 44809(b) pushes you back under Part 107 whether you meant to be there or not.³

Getting a Remote Pilot Certificate

You cannot legally fly under Part 107 without a Remote Pilot Certificate with a small UAS rating. To qualify, you must be at least 16 years old, able to read and communicate in English, and in physical and mental condition to safely operate the system. The core hurdle is passing the initial aeronautical knowledge test, “Unmanned Aircraft General — Small,” at an FAA-approved testing center.⁴

The certificate needs upkeep. Every 24 months you have to complete recurrent training to maintain your knowledge currency. The FAA offers a free online recurrent course through its safety portal, so you don’t have to return to a testing center.⁵

During any Part 107 flight, keep the certificate physically on you or readily accessible. Same idea as a driver’s license.¹

Registering the Drone and What It Can Carry

Every drone flown under Part 107 must be registered with the FAA and marked with a registration number, regardless of weight. The familiar 0.55-pound (250-gram) registration exemption is only for recreational flyers under § 44809. Fly commercially and even a tiny drone needs registration.⁶

The 55-pound weight limit counts everything at takeoff, including cameras, batteries, sensors, and cargo. Part 107 also flatly prohibits carrying hazardous materials as defined under 49 CFR 171.8, which covers items like explosives, flammable liquids, and corrosive substances. The lithium batteries powering the drone itself aren’t cargo, but spare batteries carried as payload would be.⁷

The Basic Flight Limits

Part 107 sets hard boundaries on how you fly. Violating any of them exposes you to enforcement action.⁸

Altitude: no higher than 400 feet above ground level. The one exception is that within 400 feet horizontally of a structure, you can climb to 400 feet above that structure’s highest point.
Speed: maximum groundspeed of 87 knots, roughly 100 miles per hour.
Visibility: at least 3 statute miles of flight visibility from your control station.
Cloud clearance: at least 500 feet below any cloud and 2,000 feet horizontally from it.

Visual Line of Sight

You, your visual observer, or the person at the controls must be able to see the drone with unaided eyes throughout the flight. Corrective lenses are fine. Binoculars, monitors, and first-person-view goggles don’t count as your primary means of tracking the aircraft. Someone on the team always has to be able to confirm the drone’s location, altitude, direction, and whether it’s about to hit something.

Right of Way

Your drone must yield to all other aircraft, airborne vehicles, and launch and reentry vehicles. Yielding means giving way. You cannot pass over, under, or ahead of another aircraft unless you’re well clear. Manned aircraft always have priority.⁹

Flying at Night

Part 107 allows night flying without a waiver if two conditions are met. The remote pilot must have completed the initial knowledge test or recurrent training after April 6, 2021, when the updated rules took effect. And the drone must have anti-collision lighting visible from at least 3 statute miles with a flash rate sufficient to prevent collisions.¹⁰

You can dim the lights if safety demands it, but you can never turn them off during a night flight. The same lighting requirement applies during civil twilight, the period just before sunrise and after sunset.¹⁰

Flying Over People and Moving Vehicles

Flying directly over a person is prohibited unless the flight fits one of three general exceptions or meets the requirements of a specific operational category. The general exceptions: the person is directly participating in the operation, they’re under a covered structure, or they’re inside a stationary vehicle that would protect them from a falling drone.¹¹

Beyond those, Subpart D creates four categories of approved operations over people:

Category 1: the drone weighs less than 250 grams (0.55 pounds) including everything attached, with no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate skin.
Category 2: the drone would transfer less than 11 foot-pounds of kinetic energy on impact and includes laceration protection.
Category 3: the drone would transfer less than 25 foot-pounds of kinetic energy on impact, includes laceration protection, and the pilot follows additional safeguards such as not flying over open-air assemblies of people unless briefly transiting.
Category 4: the drone holds an FAA-issued airworthiness certificate under Part 21, essentially meeting the same design scrutiny as manned aircraft components.

Flying over people inside a moving vehicle follows the same category framework. If the drone qualifies for any of the four categories, it can operate over occupied moving vehicles under § 107.145.¹²

Getting Into Controlled Airspace

Part 107 drones cannot fly in controlled airspace (Class B, C, D, or the surface area of Class E) without prior FAA authorization. This catches many new operators because controlled airspace surrounds most airports, and airports are everywhere. Flying near one without authorization is one of the fastest ways to draw enforcement attention.¹³

The quickest path is LAANC, the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability, which provides near-real-time approvals through FAA-approved apps at pre-approved altitudes shown on UAS Facility Maps. You can submit a LAANC request up to 90 days before your flight. If you need to fly above the pre-approved altitude ceiling but still under 400 feet, you’ll need “further coordination,” which requires an air traffic manager’s review and at least 72 hours’ lead time.¹³

For airports not covered by LAANC, you submit a manual request through the FAA’s DroneZone portal. The FAA recommends submitting at least 60 days before your planned operation date.¹³

Remote ID

Since 2023, most drones operating under Part 107 must comply with Remote Identification rules under 14 CFR Part 89. Remote ID works like a digital license plate: your drone broadcasts its identity, location, altitude, and velocity so law enforcement and other airspace users can identify it in flight.¹⁴

There are two ways to comply. A Standard Remote ID drone has broadcast capability built in by the manufacturer and transmits both the drone’s position and the control station’s location. A Remote ID Broadcast Module is an add-on device for older drones that broadcasts the drone’s position and its takeoff location rather than the control station’s real-time position. Fly with a broadcast module and you must keep the drone within visual line of sight at all times.¹⁴

Drones with no Remote ID capability at all can only fly within an FAA-Recognized Identification Area, a defined geographic area (typically a flying club field or educational institution) where Remote ID broadcasting is not required.¹⁵

Waivers When You Can’t Meet a Rule

If your operation can’t fit one of Part 107’s standard rules, you’re not necessarily grounded. Under § 107.200, the FAA can issue a Certificate of Waiver authorizing deviations from specific regulations listed in § 107.205, provided you show the operation can be conducted safely under the waiver’s terms.¹⁶

Common requests include flying beyond visual line of sight, operating over people outside the category framework, and flying multiple drones simultaneously. Your application must include a thorough description of the operation and a safety case justifying the deviation. The FAA can attach additional limitations to any waiver it grants and rejects applications that don’t include a convincing risk mitigation strategy. Plan for time.

State and Local Rules on Top

Federal aviation rules don’t exist in isolation, but they do dominate their own lane. The FAA holds exclusive authority over aviation safety and airspace management, and state or local laws that step into those areas are preempted. A city cannot ban drone flights over its jurisdiction or set its own altitude limits.¹⁷

States retain authority over issues that don’t conflict with federal regulation. Many have passed laws on drone-related privacy, delivery of contraband to prisons, and restrictions on law enforcement drone use, and those are generally valid as long as they don’t override FAA rules about where and how drones can fly. Your Part 107 certificate gives you federal permission to fly, but check whether the state or locality where you’re operating has added requirements around privacy, trespass, or specific prohibited uses.¹⁷

What Noncompliance Costs

Flying commercially without a Remote Pilot Certificate, ignoring operating limitations, or conducting unauthorized flights in controlled airspace can all trigger FAA enforcement. The agency can assess civil penalties of up to $100,000 per violation against individuals and up to $1,200,000 against business entities, though most enforcement actions fall well below those ceilings. The FAA can also issue cease-and-desist orders or suspend or revoke a Remote Pilot Certificate.¹⁸

Operating under the guise of recreation when a business benefit exists is one of the more common enforcement triggers. The FAA takes a dim view of operators who relabel commercial flights as hobby flying to avoid certification. If someone is paying you, if you’re generating content that earns revenue, or if the flight benefits your business in any tangible way, the FAA treats it as a Part 107 operation and enforcement follows.²

1
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 107 – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
2
Federal Aviation Administration. Recreational Flyers and Community-Based Organizations
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 44809 – Exception for Limited Recreational Operations of Unmanned Aircraft
4
Federal Aviation Administration. Become a Certificated Remote Pilot
5
Federal Aviation Administration. Part 107 Small UAS Recurrent
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Federal Aviation Administration. How to Register Your Drone
7
eCFR. 14 CFR 107.36 – Carriage of Hazardous Material
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eCFR. 14 CFR 107.51 – Operating Limitations for Small Unmanned Aircraft
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eCFR. 14 CFR 107.37 – Operation Near Aircraft; Right-of-Way Rules
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eCFR. 14 CFR 107.29 – Operation at Night
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eCFR. 14 CFR 107.39 – Operation Over Human Beings
12
eCFR. 14 CFR 107.145 – Operations Over Moving Vehicles
13
Federal Aviation Administration. Part 107 Airspace Authorizations
14
Federal Aviation Administration. Remote Identification of Drones
15
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 89 – Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft
16
eCFR. 14 CFR 107.200 – Waiver Policy and Requirements
17
Federal Aviation Administration. State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Fact Sheet
18
Federal Aviation Administration. Legal Enforcement Actions