What the certificate lets you do — Part 107 Field Manual

How flying under Part 107 differs from flying recreationally under TRUST, what you may do freely, what needs a waiver, and what the FAA never lets anyone waive.

If you have flown a drone for fun, you have probably been operating under a separate set of rules without ever reading them. This page is for that reader. It sets the recreational rules beside Part 107, so you can see exactly what the certificate changes, and then it covers the three different ways of getting permission to do something Part 107 does not allow by default.

The two legal worlds

There are two ways to fly a small drone legally in the United States, and they are written as two separate things. The recreational exception is a statute, 49 U.S.C. § 44809. It lets a person fly a small drone without any FAA certification, as long as the flight is strictly for recreation and a list of conditions is met, including passing an aeronautical knowledge and safety test. That test is TRUST, The Recreational UAS Safety Test, and you must be able to show proof of passing. AC 107-2A, para. 4.1 n.1

Part 107 is the regulation. Its scope sentence applies it to the registration, certification and operation of civil small unmanned aircraft in the United States, and then lists what it does not apply to. Aircraft subject to § 44809 is one of the exclusions. 14 CFR § 107.1 Read those two sentences together and the structure is plain: recreation under the exception is the narrow case, and Part 107 is the default for everything else. If the flight is for a client, an employer, a listing, a video you will sell, or anything other than purely your own enjoyment, it is not recreational, and you need the certificate.

A certificate holder may still fly recreationally. As of October 2026, the FAA’s recreational flyers page says a Part 107 holder who wants to use the recreational exception must pass TRUST, while one who flies a recreational-style flight under Part 107 must follow all of Part 107 for it. This site could not read that page in full, so check it for the current wording.

Side by side

	Recreational (TRUST / § 44809)	Part 107
Who may fly	Anyone who has passed TRUST and can show proof (§ 44809 as summarized in AC 107-2A).	A person with a remote pilot certificate who is current under § 107.65, or someone under direct supervision of a remote pilot in command who can take over immediately (§ 107.12).
Purpose	Strictly recreational.	Any purpose, including paid work (§ 107.1; the rules assume compensation in § 107.25 and § 107.205).
Knowledge requirement	Pass TRUST; carry proof of passage. As of October 2026 the FAA describes it as a one-time test.	Pass the UAG test (or ALC-451 for Part 61 pilots), then recurrent training every 24 calendar months (§ 107.61, § 107.65).
Registration	Aircraft at or under 0.55 lb on takeoff need not be registered. Heavier ones must be. One $5 certificate covers all your recreational aircraft (§ 48.15, § 48.105, § 48.30).	Every aircraft is registered, whatever it weighs. $5 per aircraft (§ 48.15, § 48.100, § 48.30).
Remote ID	Applies if the aircraft is registered or required to be registered (§ 89.101). A recreational aircraft at or under 0.55 lb is not, so Part 89 does not reach it.	Applies. Fly a standard Remote ID aircraft, use a broadcast module with the aircraft in sight, or stay inside an FAA-recognized identification area (§ 89.105 to § 89.115).
Altitude	In Class G, from the surface to not more than 400 ft AGL, and within the safety guidelines of a community-based organization (§ 44809).	400 ft AGL, or within a 400 ft radius of a structure and no higher than 400 ft above its top (§ 107.51(b)).
Controlled airspace	Prior authorization from the FAA or its designee in Class B, C and D and in the surface area of an airport's Class E (§ 44809).	Prior authorization from ATC in the same airspace (§ 107.41).
Over people	The statute as AC 107-2A summarizes it does not mention it. Any limit comes from your community-based organization's guidelines, which this site does not reproduce.	Allowed only for participants, under a covered structure or in a stationary vehicle, or under a subpart D category (§ 107.39, § 107.105).
Night	The statute as summarized sets no night rule of its own. Check your organization's guidelines.	Allowed if you have trained or tested since April 6, 2021 and the aircraft has anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles (§ 107.29).
Visual line of sight	Required, from the operator or a co-located visual observer in direct communication (§ 44809).	Required, unaided except for corrective lenses, by the remote pilot in command and the person at the controls, or a visual observer (§ 107.31, § 107.33).
Right of way	Do not interfere with manned aircraft, and give way to them (§ 44809).	Yield to all aircraft and never create a collision hazard (§ 107.37).
From a moving vehicle	Not addressed in the statute as summarized.	Never from a moving aircraft. From a moving land or water vehicle only over a sparsely populated area and not carrying another person's property for hire (§ 107.25).
Multiple aircraft	Not addressed in the statute as summarized.	One aircraft per person at a time (§ 107.35).
Speed and weather	No numbers in the statute as summarized.	87 knots groundspeed, 3 statute miles visibility, 500 ft below and 2,000 ft horizontal from clouds (§ 107.51).
Carrying the credential	Proof of TRUST passage and of registration, available to the FAA or law enforcement on request (§ 44809).	The certificate and identification in your physical possession, shown on request (§ 107.7(a)).
Waivers	No waiver process in the statute as summarized.	A certificate of waiver for the rules listed in § 107.205 (§ 107.200).

Look at where the right-hand column is specific and the left is quiet. The recreational statute, as AC 107-2A summarizes it, sets a few general conditions and then hands the details to community-based organizations, which write safety guidelines in coordination with the FAA. AC 107-2A, para. 4.1 n.1 Part 107 does the opposite. It writes every limit into the regulation itself, in numbers. That is why a recreational flyer gets away with not knowing the speed limit and a certificate holder does not.

Reading the quiet cells

Be careful with the cells above that say a rule is not addressed. They mean the sources this site uses say nothing, not that the activity is allowed. Night, over people, and moving vehicles are the clearest cases. The statute summary in AC 107-2A is silent, and the guidelines of a community-based organization are the document that governs. This site does not reproduce those guidelines, so it will not guess at what they say. If you fly recreationally and care about one of these, read your organization’s guidelines.

What you may do without a waiver

Everything in Part 107 that is not on the waiver list is something you do under the ordinary rules, and that covers a great deal.

Fly for any purpose, including for pay, within the operating limits.
Fly at night and in civil twilight, once you have trained or tested since April 6, 2021 and the aircraft carries anti-collision lighting you can see for 3 statute miles. You may dim the light for safety but never extinguish it. 14 CFR § 107.29
Fly above 400 feet near a structure, within a 400-foot radius of it and no more than 400 feet above its uppermost point. 14 CFR § 107.51(b)
Fly over people who are directly participating in the operation, or who are under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that gives reasonable protection. 14 CFR § 107.39(a)-(b) Or fly over people under a subpart D category, covered below.
Use a visual observer, which is optional, as long as the communication and scanning rules in § 107.33 are met. 14 CFR § 107.33
Fly from a moving land or water vehicle, if the area is sparsely populated and you are not carrying someone else’s property for pay. 14 CFR § 107.25
Fly in controlled airspace, once you have the prior authorization. That is a permission, not a waiver, and the next section separates the two.

What needs a waiver

A certificate of waiver lets you deviate from a rule, but only from rules on a fixed list, and only if the FAA finds the operation can be conducted safely under the terms it writes into the certificate. 14 CFR § 107.200(a) Your request must contain a complete description of the operation and a justification that it can be done safely, and the FAA may add limits. 14 CFR § 107.200(b)-(c) The AC encourages applying at least 60 days ahead and says the FAA aims to decide within 60 days, with complex requests taking longer. AC 107-2A, para. 5.20.2 The full list in § 107.205 is short enough to learn:

§ 107.25. Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft. No waiver will ever let you carry another person’s property for compensation or hire.
§ 107.29(a)(2) and (b). The anti-collision light at night and in civil twilight.
§ 107.31. Visual line of sight. Again, no waiver for carrying another’s property for compensation or hire.
§ 107.33. The visual observer rules.
§ 107.35. Operating more than one aircraft at a time.
§ 107.37(a). Yielding the right of way.
§ 107.39. Operation over people.
§ 107.41. Operation in certain airspace.
§ 107.51. The operating limitations: speed, altitude, visibility, cloud clearance.
§ 107.145. Operations over moving vehicles.

14 CFR § 107.205

Notice what the list is made of: limits on how you fly, none on whether you are fit to fly. Beyond-line-of-sight, swarms, and flying above the altitude cap are all on the list. Alcohol rules and the certificate requirement are not.

What cannot be waived

Section 107.205 is the whole list. If a rule is not named there, no waiver can reach it. That matters because several rules look like the ones nearby that are waivable. A few examples from the regulation itself:

Hazardous material. A small unmanned aircraft may not carry it, as defined in 49 CFR 171.8. 14 CFR § 107.36
Careless or reckless operation, and dropping objects in a way that creates an undue hazard. 14 CFR § 107.23
Alcohol and drugs, and the medical-condition rule. 14 CFR § 107.27 · 14 CFR § 107.17
The collision-hazard half of the right-of-way rule. Only § 107.37(a), yielding, is on the list. Subsection (b), operating so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard, is not. 14 CFR § 107.37(b)
The night training requirement. The waiver list names only the lighting parts of § 107.29, not the requirement in (a)(1) that you have completed the post-2021 test or training.
Airport interference, restricted areas, and TFRs. 14 CFR § 107.43 · 14 CFR § 107.45 · 14 CFR § 107.47
Preflight assessment and the condition-for-safe-operation check. 14 CFR § 107.49 · 14 CFR § 107.15

Three doors: authorization, waiver, category

People mix these up, and the test does too, because they sound alike. They are three different things.

An authorization is permission to be in a specific place. In Class B, C and D airspace, and in the surface area of a Class E airspace designated for an airport, you need prior ATC authorization before you fly. 14 CFR § 107.41 In prohibited or restricted areas you need permission from the using or controlling agency. 14 CFR § 107.45 You are not deviating from any rule. You are following the rule, which says you may be there if you ask first. The airspace chapter covers how, and the AC itself only points to the FAA’s website for the current process.

A waiver is permission to break a rule on the § 107.205 list. You are deviating, and the FAA is saying you may, under terms it has written down. Notice that § 107.41 shows up on both lists. Ordinarily you request an authorization. A waiver is for the unusual case: the AC says a pilot who wants to operate in controlled airspace because of extra equipment, such as geo-fencing, should apply for a certificate of waiver, because ATC does not weigh equipment when it grants or denies an authorization. AC 107-2A, para. 5.10.2

A subpart D category is neither. It is a set of conditions about the aircraft and the operation that, once met, make flight over people legal with no FAA decision about your flight:

Category 1. An aircraft that weighs 0.55 pounds or less throughout the operation and has no exposed rotating parts that would lacerate skin. 14 CFR § 107.110
Category 2. An aircraft on an FAA-accepted declaration of compliance and labeled for it. 14 CFR § 107.115
Category 3. Like Category 2, with extra limits: flight only within a closed or restricted-access site whose occupants are on notice, or no sustained flight over people, and never over open-air assemblies. 14 CFR § 107.125
Category 4. An aircraft with an airworthiness certificate and flown within its approved limits. 14 CFR § 107.140

Categories 1, 2 and 4 also forbid sustained flight over open-air assemblies unless the operation meets the Remote ID rule of § 89.110 or § 89.115(a). 14 CFR § 107.110(b)

Penalties and reporting

The reporting duty is concrete. No later than 10 calendar days after an operation that involved serious injury or loss of consciousness, or damage to someone else’s property above $500 in repair cost or fair market value, the remote pilot in command must report it to the FAA. 14 CFR § 107.9 The consequences the local sources spell out run against the certificate. Drug and alcohol offenses, refusing an alcohol test, and cheating on the knowledge test are grounds for denial, suspension or revocation. 14 CFR § 107.57 · 14 CFR § 107.59 · 14 CFR § 107.69(c) Falsifying or altering a record, report or certificate can bring civil sanctions as well as suspension or revocation. AC 107-2A, para. 4.3 The sources used here do not list civil penalty amounts, so this site states none.