If your organization is putting drones to work, whether that's a surveying or construction firm mapping sites, a utility or roofing company running inspections, or a police or fire department standing up an aerial response program, the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate is the credential that makes it legal. It is the single requirement that stands between a drone sitting in a case and a pilot flying it for your business or agency. And for most teams, the hard part isn't the material. It's getting busy people to actually sit down, study, and finish the process before it slips to the bottom of the to-do list for another six months. This article covers what Part 107 is, who on your team needs it, what the test actually involves, and the fastest, most reliable way we've found to get a group of operators certified. The path is identical whether you're a private business or a public agency.
Part 107 isn't hard. Finishing it is. The material is learnable in a couple of focused days; the reason teams stay grounded is that studying gets pushed off indefinitely. The fix is a deadline, not more content.
What the Part 107 certificate actually is
The FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate is the license required to operate a small drone (under 55 pounds) for any non-recreational purpose in the United States. "Non-recreational" is broad. It covers essentially everything an agency or business does with a drone: gathering evidence, documenting a scene, inspecting a bridge, mapping a site, or capturing footage for a report. If the flight supports your organization's mission in any way, it is a commercial or public operation under the FAA's definition, and the person at the controls needs to be certificated.
A few things follow from that definition that are worth stating plainly:
- The certificate belongs to the person, not the drone or the agency. Each pilot who acts as the Remote Pilot in Command needs their own certificate. Buying the aircraft does not certify anyone to fly it.
- Businesses and public agencies alike need it. The requirement is the same either way. Public agencies do have a separate path for public aircraft operations under a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), but the vast majority of police, fire, and municipal drone programs still operate under Part 107 because it is simpler to stand up and covers day-to-day work, reserving COA authority for specific, planned operations. For a private business, Part 107 is simply the way you fly.
- It's a knowledge certificate, not a flight test. There is no practical "check ride" for Part 107. You demonstrate that you understand the rules, airspace, and safety of flight by passing a written knowledge exam. There is no in-person flying evaluation.
- It has to be maintained. The certificate is valid for 24 months. To stay current, pilots complete a free online recurrent training every 24 calendar months. There is no repeat testing fee for recurrency.
Recreational flying has its own separate requirement (the TRUST test), but it does not authorize any organizational or commercial use. If a flight is being done on behalf of your department or business, TRUST is not enough. The pilot needs Part 107.
Who on your team needs to be certificated
The rule is built around the Remote Pilot in Command, or RPIC. That is the certificated person responsible for each flight. Everyone who will act as RPIC needs their own Part 107 certificate. A visual observer or a payload operator working under a certificated RPIC does not personally need the certificate, but in practice most agencies certify everyone who touches the controls, because it builds bench depth and lets any qualified team member run a mission when the primary pilot is unavailable.
For a growing program, whether commercial or public, the practical question is how many people to certify. Certifying a single pilot creates a single point of failure: if that person is on vacation, out sick, or off shift, the drone doesn't fly. This is exactly why we built our course around certifying a whole group at once.
Basic eligibility
To qualify for the certificate, a person must:
- Be at least 16 years old
- Be able to read, speak, write, and understand English
- Be in a physical and mental condition to safely operate a drone
- Pass the FAA aeronautical knowledge test
- Pass TSA security vetting, which happens automatically during the certificate application
Notably, there is no medical certificate required. The fitness requirement is a self-assessment, not a formal flight physical. That keeps the barrier to entry low for just about any employee or team member.
What the knowledge test actually involves
The FAA aeronautical knowledge test is the one real hurdle, and it is very passable with focused preparation. Here is what your pilots are walking into.
| Detail | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Format | 60 multiple-choice questions |
| Time allowed | 2 hours |
| Passing score | 70% (missing up to 18 questions) |
| Where | An FAA-approved Knowledge Testing Center (PSI location) |
| Cost | $175 (we typically include this in the course) |
| Results | Pass/fail given at the testing center immediately after |
The exam draws from five broad areas: FAA regulations, airspace and its classifications, weather and how to read reports like METARs, reading sectional charts, and general small-UAS operations. For someone who has never worked in aviation, the two topics that consistently cause the most trouble are airspace classification and reading sectional charts. They are visual, they use unfamiliar symbology, and they are heavily tested. This is precisely where instructor-led explanation pays off, because a good instructor can make an airspace chart click in a single session when it might take a self-studier days of frustration.
The real obstacle isn't the exam. It's momentum.
Here is the pattern we see over and over. An agency buys a drone, everyone is excited, and someone downloads a study guide. Three months later the drone is still in the case because nobody found the time to study, schedule a test, and drive to a testing center. The material was never the problem. The problem was that "get Part 107" had no deadline, so it lost every week to whatever had a deadline.
Our entire program is built to break that pattern. It is not just a class; it is a forcing function.
Two days of locked-in focus
Our Part 107 Exam Prep Course is two full days of instructor-led training that covers the complete scope of the FAA knowledge test. It is taught by experienced UAS professionals, and it is designed for teams: group pricing, group scheduling, and a pace built around getting a whole roster of operators ready at once. Two days out of the office, fully focused, gets your people through material that drags on for months when it competes with day-to-day work.
We schedule the test before you leave
This is the part that actually gets people certified. On the second day of the course, we schedule each student's FAA knowledge test at an authorized testing center, and we set it inside a roughly two-week window. That deadline is the whole point. It lights a fire. Instead of an open-ended "someday," every student walks out with a specific date on the calendar and two weeks of fresh instruction behind them. That short, firm timeline is the single biggest reason our students follow through and pass, rather than letting the certification drift for another quarter.
Practice software to close the gap
Between the last day of class and test day, students study on our Part 107 practice exam software. It's a self-study tool built specifically for this exam: timed practice tests that mirror the real thing, flashcards that automatically re-serve the cards you miss, performance tracking that shows exactly which of the five categories you're weak in, and a built-in sectional chart reference so you're not switching tabs to decode a map symbol. The software is genuinely useful on its own, but its real job in our program is to give students a focused, measurable way to drill during that two-week window and walk into the testing center confident.
Prefer to keep your team at their desks? We also offer virtual training, which delivers the same instructor-led curriculum remotely. It's a good fit for agencies with personnel spread across multiple locations or shift schedules that make a two-day in-person block hard to arrange.
Once your team is certified: the rules that matter most
Passing the exam is the start, not the finish. Part 107 also defines how your pilots can operate. The standard rules cover the majority of public safety and commercial work without any special permission:
- Daylight and civil twilight, and now night. Night operations no longer require a waiver, provided the pilot has completed the current Part 107 training (which includes the night-operations material) and the drone carries an anti-collision light visible for at least three statute miles.
- Visual line of sight. The RPIC or a visual observer must keep the drone within unaided sight during the flight.
- 400 feet above ground level, or higher when within 400 feet of a structure.
- Controlled airspace requires authorization, typically granted near-instantly through LAANC at most locations.
- Remote ID. Nearly all drones operated under Part 107 must broadcast Remote Identification. Most current enterprise and public-safety aircraft do this out of the box.
When your mission needs to go beyond these limits, the FAA offers waivers. The most common request is flight beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), which enables everything from long linear inspections and large-site mapping on the commercial side to a Drones as a First Responder (DFR) program in public safety, where an aircraft launches from a fixed location and responds to a call before officers arrive. BVLOS is also the hardest waiver to obtain, and these programs typically layer additional authority on top of a Part 107 foundation. Every one of those pilots still starts with the same certificate your team is working toward now.
A short checklist for standing up your program
If you can answer these before you reach out, we can build you an accurate quote and a schedule quickly.
- How many people need to be certified? Count everyone who might act as RPIC, plus a couple extra for coverage. Certifying only one pilot leaves your program grounded whenever that person is out.
- In person or virtual? A two-day on-site course works best for co-located teams; virtual training fits agencies spread across locations or shifts.
- What's your target date? Because we schedule the FAA test on day two, your certified-and-ready date is roughly the course date plus two to three weeks.
Frequently asked questions
Does everyone on our team need Part 107, or just one person?
Everyone who will act as the Remote Pilot in Command needs their own certificate. A visual observer working under a certificated RPIC does not, but most agencies certify everyone who flies so the program isn't grounded when one pilot is unavailable. Certifying a group at once is exactly what our course is built for.
We're a police/fire department. Don't we operate under a COA instead?
You can, but most public safety agencies run day-to-day operations under Part 107 because it's simpler to stand up and covers the majority of missions. A public aircraft COA is typically reserved for specific planned operations. Either way, Part 107 is the standard foundation, and it's the fastest way to get flying legally.
How long does the whole process take?
With our program, about two to three weeks from the first day of class. The course is two days, and we schedule each student's FAA test within roughly a two-week window afterward. That deadline is deliberate. It's the difference between people finishing and people putting it off for months.
How hard is the test really?
It's a 60-question, multiple-choice exam and you need 70% to pass. With focused preparation it's very manageable. The topics that trip people up most are airspace classification and reading sectional charts, which are exactly the areas where having an instructor walk you through it saves the most time versus studying alone.
What does it cost?
Our course is $600 per student for the two days of instruction, plus $100 for study material (the book and the practice software). We also typically build in the $175 FAA exam fee so it's paid for in class. That spares your pilots any reimbursement paperwork and makes sure no one leaves without their test paid for and scheduled. For larger teams we may be able to offer group pricing, so contact us with your headcount and we'll put together a quote.
Can we just use the practice software and skip the class?
You can buy the practice software on its own, and some self-motivated studiers pass that way. But the software is designed primarily as a drill tool for the two weeks after the course, not as a substitute for instruction. The class is where the hard concepts click, and the scheduled test date is what actually gets people to finish. The two work best together.
What happens after we're certified? Does it expire?
The certificate is valid for 24 months. To stay current, each pilot completes a free online recurrent training every 24 calendar months. There's no repeat exam fee and no need to visit a testing center again for recurrency.
Can you help us pick drones and equipment too?
Yes. Training is one part of what we do. Once your team is certified, we can help you spec the right aircraft, payloads, and software for your mission. Tell us what you need to accomplish and we'll point you to the right platform.
Part 107 is the front door to every drone program, and for most teams the certificate is far easier to earn than it looks. The real obstacle is momentum: busy people put off open-ended tasks, and "get certified" quietly slides from this quarter to next. Our two-day course removes that obstacle by teaching the material in a focused block and, more importantly, by putting a real test date on the calendar before anyone leaves the room. Add the practice software for the two weeks in between, and your operators go from a drone in a case to a certified, mission-ready team in about three weeks.
If you're ready to get your people certified, or you just want to talk through how many pilots you need and when, reach out for a quote. We'll build a schedule that fits your team and get them flying legally on a timeline you can count on.
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