Part 107 ACS Task Area 1: Applicable Regulations

Applicable Regulations is Task Area 1 of the Unmanned Aircraft General, Small (UAG) Airman Certification Standards (ACS), the document the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) uses to write every question on the Part 107 knowledge test. It is also the broadest task area: instead of one narrow skill, it covers the entire rule set in 14 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 107, the regulation that governs commercial and non-hobby small unmanned aircraft system (UAS, “drone”) operations in the United States. If you only study one task area deeply before test day, make it this one, because its rules also underpin questions inside other task areas (airspace, operations, and loading and performance all assume you already know the base Part 107 rules).

Certification and registration

You need two separate things before you can fly commercially: a Remote Pilot Certificate (issued to you, the person) and aircraft registration (issued to the specific drone). To hold the certificate you must be at least 16 years old, pass the initial knowledge test, and pass a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) background check before the FAA issues the certificate. Any drone weighing more than 0.55 lbs (250 grams) at takeoff, including everything attached to it, must be registered individually through the FAA’s DroneZone before its first Part 107 flight, and the registration number must be marked on the aircraft’s exterior.

The core operating rules

These are the numbers the test drills hardest, and the ones every remote pilot needs memorized cold:

• Maximum altitude: 400 feet above ground level (AGL), or within 400 feet of a structure if you stay within 400 feet laterally of it.
• Maximum speed: 100 miles per hour (87 knots).
• Visual line of sight (VLOS): you or a visual observer working with you must be able to see the aircraft with unaided vision (contacts and glasses are fine, binoculars are not) at all times during flight.
• One aircraft per pilot: a remote pilot may operate only one unmanned aircraft at a time under Part 107.
• No operations from a moving vehicle over a populated area, though flight from a moving land or water-borne vehicle is allowed over sparsely populated areas if the drone is not carrying another person’s property for compensation.
• Right of way: small UAS must always yield the right of way to other aircraft, manned or unmanned.
• No careless or reckless operation, and no operating while impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Daylight, twilight, and night operations

Since the FAA’s 2021 rule update, Part 107 pilots may fly during daylight, civil twilight, or at night without a waiver, provided the remote pilot has completed the current recurrent training that covers night-operations knowledge and the aircraft displays anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles with a flash rate sufficient to avoid a collision hazard. This replaced the older rule that required a separate waiver for any flight after civil twilight.

Operations over people and moving vehicles

Part 107 sorts drones into four operational Categories (1 through 4) based on the aircraft’s weight and the injury-severity risk if it strikes a person, each with its own conditions for flying over people and over moving vehicles without a waiver. A Category 1 aircraft (0.55 lbs or less, no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate skin) can fly over people and moving vehicles with the fewest restrictions; Categories 2 through 4 require a means-of-compliance declaration from the manufacturer. This is dense enough that it earns its own explainer: see operations over people for the full category breakdown.

Airspace authorization

Flying in controlled airspace (Class B, C, D, or the surface area of Class E) requires prior authorization, most often obtained instantly through the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC). Flying in Class G (uncontrolled) airspace at or below 400 feet AGL generally needs no additional authorization. This task area expects you to know which airspace classes require authorization in principle; the follow-on skill of reading a sectional chart to identify which class you are actually in belongs to Task Area 2.

Accident reporting

A remote pilot must report an accident to the FAA within 10 calendar days if it results in serious injury to any person, loss of consciousness, or property damage of at least $500 to property other than the drone itself. There is no requirement to report minor damage below that threshold, or damage only to the aircraft.

Waivers

Part 107 lets the FAA waive most of its own operating rules (altitude, VLOS, operations over people, daylight, and more) if an applicant demonstrates the operation can be conducted safely under an alternative means of compliance. This task area expects you to know a waiver exists and roughly what it is for, not the application mechanics; for the mechanics, see the waivers hub, including the pages on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and LAANC airspace authorization.

How this gets tested

Expect direct recall questions (“what is the maximum operating altitude under Part 107”) mixed with scenario questions that describe a situation and ask whether it is legal (“a remote pilot wants to fly at 450 feet over a 60-foot structure”). The scenario format is why memorizing the numbers alone is not enough; you need to be able to apply them. Once you can recite the operating rules above without hesitation, drill them against realistic scenario questions in the free practice bank, which flags which regulation each miss traces back to.