Almost every guide to Part 107 covers the aircraft, the airspace and the exam. Very few cover the three sections that regulate the person holding the controller — which is unfortunate, because they are short, absolute, and one of them binds people who are not even pilots.
Start with the one that surprises everyone coming from manned aviation.
There is no medical certificate. There is something stranger.
Part 107 requires no aviation medical certificate of any class. No examiner, no forms, no renewal. What it requires instead is continuous self-assessment, and the wording is broader than people expect.
§ 107.17, in full: "No person may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft system or act as a remote pilot in command, visual observer, or direct participant in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft if he or she knows or has reason to know that he or she has a physical or mental condition that would interfere with the safe operation of the small unmanned aircraft system."
Three things in that sentence do real work.
It covers four roles, not one. The person on the controls, the remote pilot in command, the visual observer, and any direct participant. Your spotter is inside this rule. If they are unfit, the operation is non-compliant even if you are in perfect health.
"Knows or has reason to know" is not a pure honesty test. Wilful ignorance does not help you. If a reasonable person in your position would have recognised the condition, you had reason to know.
"Physical or mental" is deliberately wide. Nothing here is limited to the disqualifying conditions of a manned-aviation medical. Migraine, a bad night's sleep, illness, a sedating antihistamine, acute stress, a new prescription — the test is not whether a doctor would ground you, but whether the condition would interfere with safe operation of this system, today, on this job.
The effect is to move the entire judgement onto you and to make it continuous rather than annual. A medical certificate says a doctor cleared you eighteen months ago. § 107.17 asks whether you are fit right now, and asks again before the next flight.
Alcohol and drugs: Part 107 borrows the manned-aviation rule wholesale
§ 107.27 is one sentence long and does its work by reference: a person manipulating the controls, acting as remote pilot in command, or acting as visual observer "must comply with the provisions of §§ 91.17 and 91.19 of this chapter."
Those are the general aviation rules, applied to you unchanged. Section 91.17(a) prohibits acting or attempting to act as a crewmember:
| Prohibition | The standard |
|---|---|
| After drinking | Within 8 hours of consuming any alcoholic beverage |
| Under the influence | No time limit — the state itself is disqualifying |
| Drugs | While using any drug affecting your faculties in any way contrary to safety |
| Concentration | 0.04 or greater in a blood or breath specimen |
Two details people miss. The eight-hour rule and the 0.04 limit are separate tests, not one test expressed two ways — you can be outside eight hours and still over 0.04, and you are still prohibited. And 0.04 is half the 0.08 threshold most US drivers have in mind. The aviation standard is stricter than the road standard, and it now applies to you and to your visual observer.
Section 91.17 also obliges a crewmember to submit to a test on the request of a law enforcement officer authorised to conduct it, and to furnish results to the FAA on request where the FAA has a reasonable basis to believe a violation occurred.
Section 91.19 is the other half: no operating a civil aircraft within the United States knowing that narcotics, marihuana, or depressant or stimulant drugs are carried aboard, unless authorised by or under Federal or State statute or agency. That one is about the payload rather than the pilot — and it sits alongside § 107.36, which flatly prohibits a small unmanned aircraft from carrying hazardous material as defined in 49 CFR 171.8.
Worth saying plainly: state law legalising a substance does not change § 91.17(a)(3). The test there is whether a drug affects your faculties contrary to safety, and that is a federal aviation standard applied to a federal certificate. Legality of possession and fitness to fly are different questions.
Currency: the certificate does not expire, your privileges do
§ 107.65 is precise in a way that matters. It does not say your certificate lapses. It says you may not exercise the privileges of a remote pilot in command unless, within the previous 24 calendar months, you have done one of:
- passed an initial aeronautical knowledge test covering the areas in § 107.73;
- completed recurrent training covering those areas; or
- if you hold a Part 61 pilot certificate other than student and meet the § 61.56 flight review requirement, completed training covering the areas in § 107.74.
Note what changed in 2021: the recurrent requirement is training, not a test. It is a free online course, it cannot be failed, and you take it at home. Our guide to recurrent training versus the initial exam covers the mechanics and the course numbers.
"24 calendar months" means the end of the month, not the anniversary date — training completed on 3 March gives you until 31 March two years later.
The pattern across all three
Part 107 handles the pilot the way it handles the aircraft: no certification up front, continuous responsibility afterwards. There is no medical, but you must ground yourself. There is no recurrent exam, but privileges stop without training. Nobody inspects your aircraft, but § 107.15 requires you to check it is in a condition for safe operation before each flight, and to stop flying the moment you know it is not.
Which is the same trade you see in insurance, where the FAA requires none and leaves the exposure entirely with you. Light on gatekeeping, heavy on personal responsibility — and the responsibility is the part with teeth.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm any FAA list of conditions that do or do not "interfere with the safe operation" under § 107.17. The regulation gives no examples and we found no FAA guidance enumerating them. That is a judgement the rule deliberately leaves with you, and anything you read presenting a definitive list is somebody's opinion.
- We are not doctors and this is not medical advice. If a condition or a medication might affect your fitness, the question belongs with a clinician — and an Aviation Medical Examiner is the right kind of clinician even though Part 107 requires no medical.
- We could not confirm how § 107.17 is enforced in practice, or whether it has been the sole basis of any enforcement action.
- We could not confirm how the FAA treats prescription medication taken as directed. The text turns on effect, not on prescription status.
- Text verified against the eCFR edition current to 12 August 2026. § 107.65 as amended by Amdt. 107-8, 86 FR 4382 and 86 FR 13631.
The short version
No medical certificate exists for Part 107, and in exchange § 107.17 makes you assess your own fitness before every flight — a duty that also binds your visual observer and anyone directly participating. Alcohol and drugs are governed by the manned-aviation rules imported wholesale: eight hours after any drink, no acting under the influence, nothing affecting your faculties contrary to safety, and 0.04 blood alcohol, which is half the usual driving limit. Your certificate does not expire, but your privileges stop 24 calendar months after your last knowledge test or recurrent training — and recurrent is free training you cannot fail, so there is no excuse for letting it lapse.
These sections are short, absolute and heavily examinable, and they are the ones study guides skim. Start free with the Flycensed iOS app and its 485+ practice questions, or work through the regulations chapters in the Part 107 Complete Study Guide ($14.99).
Crew and currency gear
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you. We only list gear we would actually put on a job.
- The Standard UAS Operator Logbook (ASA-SP-UAS1) — Part 107 does not require a logbook, but 107.65 gives you a 24-month clock and a written record of when you last did recurrent training is the cheapest way to never be caught out.
- Mini First Aid Kit, 150-piece waterproof hard shell — 107.17 covers fitness to fly; the rest of crew welfare is on you, and a kit in the case costs nothing to carry.
- Rechargeable LED Headlamp (2-pack) — Fatigue and fumbling in the dark are fitness issues in practice. Two, because your visual observer is inside 107.17 as well.