The resources below are for students attending my drone courses at Norcal Flight Center, but if other readers stop by, I hope you find these useful!
The FAA classifies certification for commercial use of drones as an “sUAS” cert. Or, a small Unmanned Aerial System, Remote Pilot certification. This certification allows us to operate a drone up to 55lb, for profit, in much of the US airspace. Below are links and resources, as well as questions and answers that come up during classes. Feel free to post here with more questions if you have them!
This is for part 107 operations, or sUAS operations.
- FAA Advisory Circular 107-2 – many common questions answered here
- FAA’s B4UFLY App, this is a great too to confirm you are free to operate in an area.
- Waiver for operation in controlled airspace (request for from FAA)
- Interactive test questions
- Excellent summary of numbers & facts
- FAA Test Supplement PDF (2016)
- Drone Logbook References
- Free Online Charts
- Excellent online test with chart images
If you are having trouble with reading of charts, especially the Lat/Long stuff, here’s a great video that walks through the steps.
—-UPDATE—-
Some answers to the questions which came up during the class:
Question: “Can a rPIC certificate holder operate within 5 miles of a non-towered airport?”
Yes – refer to FAA AC 107-2, section 5.8.1. “…Unless the flight is conducted within controlled airspace, no notification or authorization is necessary to operate at or near an airport. ” (Applies to certificated sUAS pilots)
Question: “Are sUAS operations permitted in MOA’s?”
Yes – There si a great study table on airspace from this website, search for “MOA”.
-Austin