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Drone Regulations curriculum

10 chapters
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176 concepts
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Everything the adaptive question bank can teach and test in Drone Regulations, from foundations through advanced practice. Work through it in order, or start practising and let the questions find your level.
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A. Certification & administration
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Remote pilot certificate: 16+, English, physical/mental self-assessment.
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TSA security vetting behind certificate issuance.
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24-calendar-month recurrent training; carrying and presenting the certificate (FAA/NTSB/TSA/law enforcement).
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FAADroneZone, the ≥0.55 lb threshold, marking the number on the aircraft.
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Takeoff weight includes payload; per-aircraft registration; age 13 to register; electronic proof; resale.
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Falsification and alcohol/drug grounds for denial or revocation.
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Part 61 pilots: the online recurrent-training path.
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Making the sUAS, records, and certificate available for FAA inspection.
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A remote pilot certificate carries a small UAS rating; what the certificate authorizes and what it does not.
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The temporary certificate's role and its limited validity while the permanent one is processed.
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The knowledge-test path vs the Part 61 training-course path, and the different evidence each produces.
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Who may verify an applicant's identity on the training-course path.
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Recency is satisfied by current training or testing; flying with lapsed recency is the certificate problem, not a certificate loss.
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No medical certificate is required, but no person may act as remote PIC with a condition that would interfere with safe operation.
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The duty to report a change of name or address, and the window it must happen in.
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Surrendering a certificate voluntarily, and what the request must state.
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Cheating or unauthorized conduct on a knowledge test, and the bar it creates on further testing.
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The waiting period before a failed knowledge test may be retaken.
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Convictions and refusals as independent grounds for denial, suspension or revocation.
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Refusing an alcohol test or to furnish results is itself a certificate action.
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Authorization for an airman to operate a foreign-registered small unmanned aircraft without an FAA remote pilot certificate.
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A non-certificated person may manipulate the controls only under a remote PIC who can immediately take direct control.
B. Operating rules
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100 mph (87 kt) groundspeed max; 400 ft AGL — or within 400 ft of a structure up to 400 ft above its top.
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3 SM visibility; 500 ft below / 2,000 ft horizontal cloud clearance.
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Unaided visual line of sight (corrective lenses OK, binoculars/FPV alone not); a VO does NOT extend VLOS; one sUAS at a time.
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Civil twilight/night with anti-collision lighting visible 3 SM plus current training.
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Category 1–4 framework for people/moving vehicles; assembly interplay with Standard Remote ID.
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No operating FROM a moving vehicle except sparsely populated areas; never from a moving aircraft.
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Yield to ALL manned aircraft; no careless/reckless operation; no hazmat carriage.
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8 hours bottle-to-throttle, ≤0.04 BAC, no impairment; refusal consequences.
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Remote PIC final authority, person manipulating controls, visual observer; transfer of control.
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Condition check, crew briefing, airspace/weather/NOTAM check; maintenance and inspection records concept.
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The PIC may deviate from any rule to the extent required; report to the FAA on request.
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10 calendar days: serious injury, loss of consciousness, or non-UA property damage over $500 (lesser-of repair/replacement test; own-UA excluded).
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LAANC / FAADroneZone for controlled airspace; zero grids and window bounds.
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§107.200: what's waivable (BVLOS, night lighting, over people, altitude…) and the safety-case burden.
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Standard vs broadcast module vs FRIA operations — the three paths.
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Secure external loads; property-carriage economic/interstate limits framed conservatively.
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TFRs, security NOTAMs, the DC FRZ; federal vs local authority over airspace.
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No ADS-B Out on sUAS operating under Part 107.
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ATC transponder equipment may not be operated on a Part 107 sUAS unless the Administrator authorizes it.
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The pre-flight determination that the whole system is in a condition for safe operation, and the duty to stop when it no longer is.
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Flight must not continue once the remote PIC knows or has reason to know the system is unairworthy.
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No person may act as remote PIC, manipulate the controls, or serve as VO with a condition that would interfere with safe operation.
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One person may not operate or act as remote PIC for more than one small unmanned aircraft at a time.
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Effective communication with the visual observer at all times, by a means that works at the distances used.
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The four things unaided sight must accomplish: location, attitude and altitude, other traffic, and hazard to persons or property.
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Civil twilight as the 30-minute windows around sunrise and sunset, with the Alaska exception handled by the Air Almanac.
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The lighting may be dimmed in the interest of safety but never extinguished.
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Flight visibility is measured from the CONTROL STATION, as average slant distance — not the reported airport visibility.
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Permission from the using or controlling agency, not from ATC, is what opens a prohibited or restricted area.
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The separate rule against interfering with airport operations and traffic patterns, which applies even in uncontrolled airspace.
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Compliance with flight restrictions published by notice, including the standing ones near sensitive sites.
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What the remote PIC must brief the crew on: operating conditions, emergency procedures, contingency procedures, roles, and hazards.
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The assessment items: local weather, airspace and restrictions, ground hazards, persons and property, and other aircraft.
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Verifying the control link and, where fitted, the sufficiency of the power supply before flight.
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Carriage of hazardous material is prohibited, with the definition drawn from the hazmat regulations rather than from Part 107.
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Yielding means giving way and not passing over, under or ahead unless well clear.
C. Applicability, definitions & compliance
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Part 107 governs civil small unmanned aircraft systems; what the part reaches and what it leaves to other rules.
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Under 55 pounds on takeoff INCLUDING everything on board or otherwise attached — the payload is not a separate budget.
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An aircraft operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft.
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The aircraft plus the associated elements — including the control link — that make up the system.
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The interface the remote pilot uses to control the flight path, and why the rules keep referring to its location.
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Spectacles or contact lenses count as unaided vision; other optical aids do not.
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A person designated by the remote PIC to assist with seeing and avoiding — a role, not a job title.
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Operations the part does not apply to, including certain public aircraft, amateur rockets, moored balloons and kites.
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Part 107 aircraft generally need no airworthiness certificate; the exception that does is the tell.
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Where Part 107's definitions differ from the general definitions, Part 107 controls for this part.
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Whether an operation is civil or public aircraft decides whether Part 107 applies at all.
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Producing the aircraft, control station, records and certificate for FAA inspection and testing on request.
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Damage is reportable unless repair cost or fair market value stays under the threshold — the operator's own aircraft is excluded.
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Serious injury, or any loss of consciousness, as the injury trigger for a report.
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Certificate action and civil penalty as separate consequences, and where a deviation stops being a violation.
D. Registration & marking
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Age and citizenship or residency conditions on who may hold a registration.
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Part 107 aircraft are registered individually; exclusively recreational aircraft may share one number.
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The information the application must contain, and the certification the applicant signs.
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The certificate's term and the renewal that keeps it alive.
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The duty to keep registry information current, and the window for reporting a change.
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Grounds that make a registration invalid, including incorrect or falsified information.
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Deregistering on sale, destruction or loss, and what the buyer must do.
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How a foreign-registered small unmanned aircraft is recognised for operation in the United States.
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A unique identifier displayed legibly on an external surface of the aircraft.
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Readable without tools and without opening any compartment — the battery-bay placement that used to be allowed is not.
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Displaying the registration number or the manufacturer's serial number, and using the same one consistently.
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Evidence of registration available during operation, electronic form acceptable.
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A fee is charged per registration and per renewal (amounts live in the vertical guide's registry).
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Falsifying a registration application is a separate offence from operating unregistered.
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Registration and remote identification are separate duties that reference each other.
E. Remote identification
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Which aircraft must broadcast, and how the duty tracks the registration requirement.
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Broadcast from takeoff through shutdown, with a successful pre-flight self-test as the precondition.
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A broadcast module confines the operation to visual line of sight — the trade for retrofitting an older aircraft.
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A standard aircraft broadcasts identity, aircraft position and altitude, velocity, CONTROL STATION position and elevation, a time mark, and emergency status.
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A module broadcasts its serial number, aircraft position and altitude, velocity, TAKEOFF location and elevation, and a time mark — the takeoff point, not the pilot's current position.
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The broadcast must not be defeatable by the person operating the aircraft.
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A failed pre-flight self-test grounds the aircraft; it is not a warning to be dismissed.
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What the remote pilot does when the broadcast stops during flight.
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Who may request an FAA-recognized identification area.
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The term of an FRIA, its amendment, and how it expires or is terminated.
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Inside an FRIA an aircraft without remote ID may fly, still within visual line of sight.
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Operations for aeronautical research or to show compliance, conducted under FAA authorization.
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Serial numbers assigned under the recognised industry standard, and why the format matters to the registry.
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An accepted means of compliance as the bridge between the performance rule and a specific design.
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Producer declarations, labelling, and the FAA's ability to rescind acceptance.
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Providing identification information to the FAA on request, and what that request may cover.
F. Operations over human beings
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No flight over a human being unless they participate, are under a covered structure or in a stationary vehicle, or a category applies.
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Who counts as directly participating in the operation, and who merely consented.
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The test is reasonable protection from a FALLING aircraft, not from noise or privacy.
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A weight ceiling including everything on board, plus no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate skin.
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Sustained flight over an open-air assembly additionally requires remote identification.
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An impact-energy injury threshold, no laceration-causing parts, and no safety defect.
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A higher impact-energy threshold traded against operating restrictions.
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A closed or restricted-access site, or no sustained flight over non-participants.
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Category 3 may never operate over an open-air assembly.
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Manufacturer means of compliance and declaration of compliance as the evidence behind Categories 2 and 3.
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The remote PIC must ensure the aircraft carries the label stating its category.
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Category 4 requires an airworthiness certificate and operation within the approved flight manual.
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Maintenance, preventive maintenance, alteration and inspection records that Category 4 adds.
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One aircraft can qualify in more than one category by mode or configuration; the remote PIC must know which is active.
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Flying over people inside a moving vehicle: a qualifying category plus a site or sustained-flight condition.
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Transiting over people versus remaining above them — the distinction the whole subpart turns on.
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People inside moving vehicles at a closed site must be on notice that an aircraft may fly over them.
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Record-retention duties attached to declarations of compliance.
G. Waivers & airspace authorizations
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The enumerated sections a certificate of waiver may authorize deviation from.
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Requirements that are never waivable, so no safety case can reach them.
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No moving-vehicle waiver will be issued to allow carriage of another's property for compensation or hire.
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The applicant carries the burden: a complete description plus justification that it can be done safely.
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The Administrator may impose extra limitations, and the holder must comply with every one.
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A waiver permits deviation only to the extent specified — everything else in Part 107 still applies.
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An airspace authorization is not a waiver; knowing which one a flight needs is the first decision.
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Near-real-time authorization against published grid ceilings, and what it cannot approve.
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A zero-foot grid blocks automatic approval; it is not a blanket prohibition on ever flying there.
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Requests above the published ceiling move to manual coordination with the facility.
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Time windows, altitude caps and area bounds as binding conditions of an authorization.
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Special governmental interest processing for time-critical operations, and who may request it.
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What a waiver request must contain to be evaluable at all.
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Having the waiver available during the operation and meeting its reporting conditions.
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A Part 107 waiver deviates from Part 107; an exemption reaches rules outside it.
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Amending a waiver, and the FAA's ability to cancel one.
H. Knowledge requirements & testing
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The subject areas an initial knowledge test or training course must cover.
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How the Airman Certification Standards organise knowledge into areas with referenceable codes.
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Where the knowledge test is taken and the identification it requires.
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The passing standard and the knowledge test report as the evidence of it.
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What recurrent training must cover, and how its scope differs from the initial areas.
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The training-course path for Part 61 holders who meet the flight review requirement.
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Using the report's subject codes to close the gaps it identified rather than re-reading everything.
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Locating a rule in the regulations is a tested skill; memorising every number is not.
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Emergency procedures and contingency planning as their own knowledge area.
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Crew resource management as a knowledge area once more than one person is involved.
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Physiological effects of drugs and alcohol as tested knowledge, separate from the operating prohibition.
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Maintenance and preflight inspection procedures as a tested knowledge area.
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Airport operations as a tested knowledge area for a rule set that mostly flies away from airports.
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Loading and performance as a tested knowledge area.
I. Other operating regimes
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The statutory exception for limited recreational operations, and the conditions that keep it available.
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Recreational purpose, community-based safety guidelines, visual line of sight, yielding, altitude limits and airspace authorization.
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The aeronautical knowledge and safety test recreational flyers must pass, and carrying proof of it.
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The purpose of the flight, not the aircraft, decides the regime — a single flight cannot be both.
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What must be true before the same pilot and aircraft move from recreational to Part 107 operations.
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Public aircraft status and the certificate of authorization route for government operators.
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What a public COA can authorize that Part 107 cannot, and the self-certification burden it carries.
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Aircraft at or above 55 pounds on takeoff fall outside Part 107 entirely.
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Exemptions from rules outside Part 107 as the path for operations Part 107 cannot cover.
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Agricultural aircraft operations as a separate certificate regime with its own rules.
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Part 107 carriage of another's property for compensation: the total weight cap and the operating limits attached.
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Where package delivery stops being a Part 107 operation and requires air carrier authority.
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Airspace is federally regulated; what state and local law may still reach (land use, trespass, privacy).
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Standing restrictions over designated federal facilities and the special flight rules area around the capital.
J. Hazardous materials & carriage of loads
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The categorical bar on carrying hazardous material under Part 107, with no waiver available.
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The hazard classes, and which ones a realistic drone payload actually touches.
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Spare lithium batteries as cargo raise a hazmat question the aircraft's own installed battery does not.
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Aerosols, flammable liquids, corrosives and compressed gases as the everyday items that trip the rule.
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Dispensing agricultural chemicals is not a Part 107 operation, which is why the separate regime exists.
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Securing an external load so it cannot shift or release, and its effect on controllability.
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Dropping an object without creating an undue hazard, and where it becomes careless or reckless operation.
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Payload counts toward takeoff weight, which is what pushes some carriage operations out of Part 107.
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Carrying another person's property for compensation versus carrying your own equipment.
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The limits Part 107 places on carriage for compensation across a state boundary.
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