This past June the FAA released the Part 107 ruling, a highly anticipated set of rules governing the usage of drones for commercial purposes that will be enacted on August 29, 2016. As we transition to Part 107, now in the waning days of the 333 Exemption, drone pilots will no longer be required to have a pilot’s license in order to operate a drone commercially. As part of the new ruling, the FAA will only require a “Remote Pilot Certificate,” which can be obtained by passing an aeronautical knowledge test at one of their 700 testing centers around the US. There is also a shift from the word “drone operator”, as the NPRM called them, to the word “drone pilot,” the main distinction being now whether you are a Part 61 pilot (manned) or a Part 107 pilot (unmanned). Part 61 pilots will also be required to take the Part 107 exam, but will be allowed to do so online. In this post we’ll outline some of the key requirements for taking the exam, the format and topics likely to be part of the exam, and how to best prepare for it.
In order to take the exam, drone pilots will need to:
Upon successful completion of the exam, the drone pilot will receive their Remote Pilot Certification, but that’s not all. With the certification, drone pilots will be required to:
Additionally, for pilots who need to operate outside of the rules defined in the Part 107, they will need to gain additional permission from the FAA through a waiver process. These will include operations such as flying at night, over 400ft AGL and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
According to the FAA draft, the Part 107 exam will be:
The graphic below gives an indication of how the test will be weighed (note the FAA’s priority on safety by having a greater emphasis on Regulations).
Though this list in not 100% definitive, more details should emerge in the coming weeks about the topics that will be covered on the exam. For the moment, the FAA has summarized the topics as:
As with all things online, once there’s a hot topic floating around the internet, you can bet there’s going to be someone trying to exploit it for a quick buck. Drone study courses are no exception, so please beware of any company claiming they are “official,” and can grant the actual Part 107 certificate upon course completion. Let us be clear in that the Part 107 exam will be administered only by the FAA at one of the 700 testing centers listed above with the certificate granted solely by the FAA. Just be careful and evaluate courses on their own merits, as there are good ones along with scheming not-so-good ones popping up almost everyday!
To get started, the FAA has released a 41 question sample exam to help drone pilots understand the types of questions that will be asked. The FAA has also released a training course for Part 61 certificate holders which anyone, including non-pilots, are welcome to take for free. Another great resource is one provided by Rupprecht Law, a reputable firm that specializes in drone law. Jonathan Rupprecht is well known in media circles as a drone expert, author, manned and unmanned pilot, and analyst of all things drone. He provides many resources on his website and offers supplemental training material for the exam.
Though it’s taken some time to get to where we are now, we see pathways and tremendous growth opportunities opening up in the industry. As a drone software company, we’ve been eagerly awaiting rules that remove the grey area of what drones can and cannot do. Furthermore, the FAA has taken the first crucial step towards setting the foundation for the safe integration of drones into the national airspace.
In early August, The White House hosted a Workshop on Drones and the Future of Aviation to promote the safe integration of sUAS systems in US airspace. This workshop was highly visible and designed to give a boost to the industry, and was quickly followed by the first FAA approval of drone delivery in the US by tech giants Amazon and Alphabet (parent co of Google).
The Remote Pilot Certification and Part 107 rule-making will be a boon for drone pilots, and has give us our clearest directive to date: to build and provide pilots the most robust and versatile flight planning, control, and management toolset needed to succeed and thrive in this dynamic industry.