WEBVTT NOTE Currency, Recurrent Knowledge, and Waivers 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.786 The clock. 2 00:00:00.786 --> 00:00:31.344 section 107.65, A person may not exercise the privileges of a remote pilot in command with small UAS rating unless that person has, within the previous 24 calendar months, passed an initial aeronautical knowledge test, completed recurrent training covering section 107.73, or, if they hold a Part 61 pilot certificate and are current under section 61.56, completed section 107.74 training. 3 00:00:31.344 --> 00:00:41.714 Three things people get wrong: The certificate does not expire; the currency does. Your remote pilot certificate has no expiry date. 4 00:00:41.714 --> 00:00:57.190 What lapses is your aeronautical knowledge recency, and without it you may not exercise the privileges. It is 24 calendar months, so it runs to the end of the month 24 months later, not to the day. 5 00:00:57.190 --> 00:01:11.880 The recurrent training is free and online. Complete the ALC course through the FAA Safety Team site, and keep the certificate of completion. There is no longer a proctored recurrent test. 6 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:25.018 The thirteen knowledge areas. section 107.73 lists exactly what initial testing and recurrent training cover: Applicable regulations, privileges, limitations, flight operation. 7 00:01:25.018 --> 00:01:41.067 Airspace classification, operating requirements, and flight restrictions. Aviation weather sources and weather effects on performance. Small unmanned aircraft loading. Emergency procedures. Crew resource management. 8 00:01:41.067 --> 00:01:53.907 Radio communication procedures. Determining aircraft performance. Physiological effects of drugs and alcohol. Aeronautical decision-making and judgment. Airport operations. 9 00:01:53.907 --> 00:02:07.941 Maintenance and preflight inspection procedures. Operation at night. Items 2, 7, 11, and 13 are the ones this track covers in depth, because they are where drone operations and radio meet. 10 00:02:07.941 --> 00:02:15.480 The others are well served by the FAA's own free material, and there is no point duplicating it here. 11 00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:16.798 Night operations. 12 00:02:16.798 --> 00:02:38.897 section 107.29, no night operation unless the RPIC has completed an initial knowledge test or training under section 107.65 after April 6, 2021, and the aircraft has lighted anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles with a flash rate sufficient to avoid a collision. 13 00:02:38.897 --> 00:02:48.978 Two conditions, both required. The lighting requirement also applies during civil twilight, when the knowledge condition does not. 14 00:02:48.978 --> 00:02:59.213 The RPIC may reduce the intensity of the anti-collision lighting if operating conditions make that safer, but may not extinguish it. 15 00:02:59.213 --> 00:03:13.636 If your certificate predates April 6, 2021 and you have not since completed recurrent training, you may not fly at night. Completing the current recurrent course satisfies the condition. 16 00:03:13.636 --> 00:03:15.501 Operations over people. 17 00:03:15.501 --> 00:03:37.152 section 107.39, No operation over a human being unless that person is directly participating, is under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that provides reasonable protection, or the operation meets one of the Category 1 to 4 requirements in subpart D. 18 00:03:37.152 --> 00:03:55.397 The categories are aircraft-eligibility rules, not pilot rules, and they turn on the aircraft's design: Category, 1; Basis, 0.55 lb or less (250 g) including everything on board, no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate. 19 00:03:55.397 --> 00:04:07.641 Category, 2; Basis, injury no worse than a 11 ft-lb kinetic-energy transfer, no laceration risk, no safety defects, declaration of compliance required. 20 00:04:07.641 --> 00:04:22.156 Category, 3; Basis, the same but at 25 ft-lb, plus no operation over open-air assemblies, and only over closed or restricted-access sites, or without sustained flight over people. 21 00:04:22.156 --> 00:04:27.751 Category, 4; Basis, holds an airworthiness certificate under Part 21. 22 00:04:27.751 --> 00:04:45.266 No category permits sustained flight over an open-air assembly unless the operation also complies with Remote ID under section 89.110 or section 89.115(a), the one place Part 107 reaches back into Part 89 explicitly. 23 00:04:45.266 --> 00:05:00.916 Categories 2 and 3 require the manufacturer to have filed an accepted declaration of compliance and the aircraft to be labelled accordingly (section 107.135). You cannot self-certify into them. 24 00:05:00.916 --> 00:05:01.673 Waivers. 25 00:05:01.673 --> 00:05:23.546 section 107.200, the Administrator may issue a certificate of waiver authorising deviation from a regulation listed in section 107.205, on a showing that the proposed operation can be conducted safely under the terms of the waiver. 26 00:05:23.546 --> 00:05:41.820 section 107.205 is a closed list. These may be waived: section 107.25 operation from a moving vehicle. section 107.29(a)(2) and (b) anti-collision lighting. section 107.31 visual line of sight. 27 00:05:41.820 --> 00:05:59.810 section 107.33 visual observer. section 107.35 multiple aircraft. section 107.37(a) yielding right of way. section 107.39 operation over people. section 107.41 operation in certain airspace. 28 00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:12.403 section 107.51 operating limitations (altitude, speed, visibility, cloud clearance). section 107.145 operations over moving vehicles. 29 00:06:12.403 --> 00:06:30.961 Everything else is not waivable, including section 107.49 preflight, section 107.19 RPIC responsibility, and the section 107.52/107.53 transponder and ADS-B Out prohibitions from the radio lesson. 30 00:06:30.961 --> 00:06:47.152 Note also the carve-out attached to section 107.25 and section 107.31: no waiver of either will be issued to allow carriage of another's property for compensation or hire. 31 00:06:47.152 --> 00:06:54.916 BVLOS operation is the waiver most people want, and it is a section 107.31 waiver. 32 00:06:54.916 --> 00:07:09.876 It requires a detailed concept of operations and a demonstrated detect-and-avoid approach, the reason a dedicated BVLOS rule has been in rulemaking for years. 33 00:07:09.876 --> 00:07:10.768 Reporting. 34 00:07:10.768 --> 00:07:31.109 section 107.9, Report to the FAA no later than 10 calendar days after an operation involving serious injury or loss of consciousness, or property damage, unless the repair cost or the property's fair market value is 500 or less. 35 00:07:31.109 --> 00:07:50.380 Ten calendar days.500 threshold. Damage to your own aircraft never counts. Check yourself. Your certificate says nothing about expiry and you last did recurrent training in March 2024. May you fly commercially today? 36 00:07:50.380 --> 00:08:06.796 You want to fly at 500 feet AGL to inspect a chimney 600 feet from your control station. Waiver, or not? Your aircraft clips a parked car and causes $300 of damage. Must you report it? 37 00:08:12.796 --> 00:08:30.045 No. The certificate does not expire, but aeronautical knowledge recency lapses after 24 calendar months, that ran out at the end of March 2026. Complete the free online recurrent course first. A waiver. 38 00:08:30.045 --> 00:08:45.587 The section 107.51 structure exception requires you to be within a 400 ft radius of the structure; at 600 ft it does not apply, so exceeding 400 ft AGL needs a section 107.51 waiver. 39 00:08:45.587 --> 00:08:55.236 No, property damage under the $500 repair-cost or fair-market-value threshold is exempt, and there was no injury.