1.10 Accidents, Inspections, Records, Alcohol & Drugs, Waivers

18 min · UA.I.A.K3 UA.I.A.K4 UA.I.A.K5 UA.I.A.K6 UA.I.A.K7 UA.I.A.K8 UA.I.B.K5 UA.I.B.K8 UA.I.C.K1 UA.I.C.K2 UA.I.C.K4 UA.I.D.K1

This lesson gathers the rules that apply after something happens, plus the two administrative topics that finish Area I: keeping your certificate current, and getting permission to break a rule on purpose.

Reporting a safety event — § 107.9

The section has been retitled Safety event reporting, though most study material still calls it accident reporting. Its structure is a deadline and two triggers.

Read paragraph (b) as an exclusion, not a trigger. Report property damage unless one of the $500 conditions is satisfied. Damage of exactly $500 falls inside the exclusion; $501 does not. Damage to your own aircraft never counts, however expensive — the text says property other than the small unmanned aircraft.

Serious injury means an injury at Level 3 or above on the Abbreviated Injury Scale — a broken bone, a laceration requiring hospitalization, a significant burn. A scratch is not one. Any loss of consciousness is reportable on its own.

Reports go to the appropriate FAA Regional Operations Center, electronically or by phone, with the remote PIC's name and certificate number, the aircraft registration number, the location and time, the injuries, the property damage, and a description of what happened.

In-flight emergencies — § 107.21

In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the remote PIC may deviate from any rule of Part 107 to the extent necessary to meet that emergency, and must then send a written report of the deviation upon request of the Administrator.

Two details decide the exam question. The authority is broad — any rule of this part — but available only for an emergency requiring immediate action. And the report is owed only if the FAA asks; there is no automatic filing and no report to ATC or the NTSB.

Inspection, testing, and demonstration of compliance — § 107.7

A remote PIC, owner, or person manipulating the flight controls must have the remote pilot certificate and identification in that person's physical possession and readily accessible when exercising the privileges of the certificate, and must present them on request from:

1. The Administrator (the FAA);
2. An authorized representative of the National Transportation Safety Board;
3. Any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer; or
4. An authorized representative of the Transportation Security Administration.

That list is wider than most people expect — a city police officer may ask on a job site and you must produce it. The section also requires you to make available any record the rules require you to keep, and to allow the FAA to test or inspect the aircraft and the people involved. Note the standard: physical possession, not a photograph on your phone.

Falsification

This rule has moved. Falsification used to be § 107.5. That section was removed and reserved effective November 3, 2025, and the prohibition now sits in 14 CFR Part 3, Subpart D — §§ 3.403 and 3.405 — applying across FAA certificates. The substance is unchanged, and the substance is what the exam tests.

• No fraudulent or intentionally false statement may be made in any application, certificate, record, or report submitted under the rules, and the same applies to reproducing or altering a certificate, rating, authorization, record, or report for fraudulent purpose, or omitting material facts.
• The consequence is denial of the application, or suspension or revocation of any certificate, rating, or authorization the person holds. A material incorrect statement is grounds for withdrawing an FAA approval even without fraud.
• Falsifying a federal document can also carry criminal penalties independent of any certificate action.

Alcohol and drugs

Section 107.27 writes no limits of its own. It pulls in § 91.17 and § 91.19, the rules that bind airline crews, and applies them to the person manipulating the controls, the remote PIC, and the visual observer.

The 8-hour rule and the 0.04 percent rule are independent and both must be satisfied. Eight hours after a heavy night you can still be above 0.04 percent, and being below 0.04 percent does not excuse flying seven hours after your last drink.

Notice that a refusal carries the same consequence as the offense. There is no advantage in declining the test.

Staying current — § 107.65

The remote pilot certificate never expires. What expires is your aeronautical knowledge recency. Within the previous 24 calendar months you must have accomplished one of the following:

1. Passed an initial aeronautical knowledge test covering the § 107.73 areas — what you are studying for now; or
2. Completed recurrent training covering the § 107.73 areas — the free online course ALC-677 on the FAA Safety Team website; or
3. If you hold a Part 61 pilot certificate other than student pilot and meet the § 61.56 flight review requirement, completed training covering the § 107.74 areas — the free course ALC-515.

There has been no recurrent knowledge test since April 6, 2021. You do not return to a testing center and you do not pay again. You log in to faasafety.gov, work through a roughly two-hour course, and print the completion certificate — one of the documents § 107.7 requires you to produce on request.

Waivers — §§ 107.200 and 107.205

A certificate of waiver is FAA permission to deviate from a specific regulation. Under § 107.200 the Administrator may issue one if the operation can safely be conducted under the terms of that certificate. The request must contain a complete description of the proposed operation and a justification establishing that, and you must comply with every condition imposed.

Section 107.205 is a closed list of ten items. Learn it as a list; questions are often phrased as which of these may not be waived.

What is not on the list is as testable as what is. You cannot waive § 107.12 (the certificate requirement), § 107.15 (condition for safe operation), § 107.17 (medical condition), § 107.23 (careless or reckless operation and dropping objects), § 107.36 (hazardous material), or § 107.49 (preflight). There is no waiver for flying an unsafe aircraft or skipping the preflight.

Applications go through the FAA's Aviation Safety (AVS) Hub, which took over Part 107 waiver processing from FAADroneZone in 2026. Airspace authorizations remain in FAADroneZone and LAANC — an authorization to enter controlled airspace is a different animal from a waiver. The FAA targets a decision in about 90 days, so apply early.

Records, multiple categories, and older aircraft

Part 107 imposes no logbook requirement on you — no flight time to log and no FAA-prescribed maintenance log. The recordkeeping duties in Area I fall mostly on manufacturers, with three that can reach an operator.

• § 107.165 — declaration of compliance holders. A producer retains the compliance information for 2 years after production ceases; a designer or modifier retains it for 2 years after submitting the DoC. File your own DoC and this becomes yours.
• § 107.155 — means of compliance submitters retain the description and justification for as long as the means of compliance remains accepted.
• § 107.140(c) — Category 4 operators keep maintenance records for 1 year and transfer the life-limited parts and airworthiness directive records with the aircraft.

Multiple category aircraft (§ 107.150). A small UAS may be eligible for more than one category of operation over human beings, as long as a remote PIC cannot inadvertently switch between modes or configurations, and its label must identify each category correctly.

Previously manufactured aircraft. Subpart D and Part 89 both arrived after many drones were already in service, and both provide a route forward. An aircraft built before the operations-over-people rule can become Category 2 or 3 eligible when someone demonstrates compliance and files a DoC. One built without Remote ID stays legal through a broadcast module or inside a FRIA.

That closes Area I. You now hold the whole regulatory frame: what Part 107 covers, what the aircraft and pilot must be, where and how high you may fly, what happens over people, how the aircraft identifies itself, and what you owe the FAA afterward.