Search for a drone preflight checklist and you will get a list about the aircraft: props, battery, gimbal, compass calibration, firmware. All sensible. None of it is what the regulation puts first.
§ 107.49 sets out six duties the remote pilot in command must discharge before flight. The first is about the world around you. The second is about the people standing in it. The aircraft does not appear until the third.
§ 107.49(a), verbatim: the remote pilot in command must "Assess the operating environment, considering risks to persons and property in the immediate vicinity both on the surface and in the air." That assessment "must include" local weather conditions, local airspace and any flight restrictions, the location of persons and property on the surface, and other ground hazards.
Four mandatory elements, and every one of them is outside the aircraft.
The six duties, in the order the rule gives them
| What § 107.49 requires | |
|---|---|
| (a) | Assess the operating environment — weather, airspace and restrictions, people and property on the surface, other ground hazards |
| (b) | Ensure everyone directly participating is informed about operating conditions, emergency procedures, contingency procedures, roles and responsibilities, and potential hazards |
| (c) | Ensure all control links between ground control station and aircraft are working properly |
| (d) | If powered, ensure there is enough available power for the intended operational time |
| (e) | Ensure anything attached or carried is secure and does not adversely affect flight characteristics or controllability |
| (f) | If operating over human beings, ensure the aircraft meets the applicable Category 1 to 4 requirement |
Read (b) again, because it is the one nobody does properly. It is not "tell your spotter what you are doing." Five things must be communicated: operating conditions, emergency procedures, contingency procedures, roles and responsibilities, and potential hazards. Emergency and contingency are listed separately — the rule expects you to have thought about both the thing going wrong and the plan if it does.
And note the scope. "All persons directly participating" is the same population § 107.17 covers for fitness. A client standing beside you watching the screen may well be a direct participant. If they are, they need briefing.
The other rule that governs every flight
§ 107.49 is not the whole preflight obligation. § 107.15 runs alongside it and is stricter than it looks:
"No person may operate a civil small unmanned aircraft system unless it is in a condition for safe operation. Prior to each flight, the remote pilot in command must check the small unmanned aircraft system to determine whether it is in a condition for safe operation." And: "No person may continue flight of the small unmanned aircraft when he or she knows or has reason to know that the small unmanned aircraft system is no longer in a condition for safe operation."
Two things follow. Each flight — not each day, not each site. If you land, swap a battery and launch again, that is another flight and another check. And the second sentence is a duty that continues in the air: on becoming aware of a problem mid-flight, the obligation is to stop, not to finish the shot.
Building a preflight that matches the regulation
Most published checklists are aircraft checklists with the regulatory duties bolted on afterwards, if at all. Inverting that produces something both more compliant and more useful.
Before you leave: airspace and restrictions. Check the class of airspace over the site and whether a TFR applies. If it is controlled, get the airspace authorisation before travelling, not on arrival — and remember the facility map ceiling is not itself a permission. If you cannot yet read the boundaries confidently, our guide to reading restriction zones is the place to start.
Before you leave: weather. Not just "is it raining." Wind at altitude, gusts, visibility, cloud base against the § 107.51 limits of 3 statute miles visibility and 500 feet below cloud. A METAR answers most of this in one line once you can read it.
On site: the surface survey. Where are the people, and where will they be in twenty minutes? Where are the roads, the parked cars, the livestock, the power lines? Walk the take-off and landing area rather than assessing it from where you parked.
On site: the brief. Out loud, to everyone participating, covering the five elements in (b). Ninety seconds. This is the cheapest risk reduction available and the most commonly skipped.
Then the aircraft. Control links, power for the intended flight time, payload security, and the physical condition check § 107.15 requires. Props, airframe, battery seating, gimbal, storage.
And if you are flying over people, the category check under (f) — which, as we covered in the waivers guide, is a question about the aircraft's declared category rather than about your paperwork.
One thing the rule does not require, and you should do anyway. § 107.49 mandates no written record. Nothing obliges you to keep the checklist you used or note what you found. But if you ever have to file a 10-day safety event report, a contemporaneous note of what you assessed beforehand is worth a great deal, and reconstructing it afterwards is worth almost nothing.
What you may not carry
Worth folding into the payload check at (e): § 107.36 states flatly that a small unmanned aircraft may not carry hazardous material, with the term defined in 49 CFR 171.8. There is no threshold and no exception in the section. It is also not on the § 107.205 waivable list, so there is no application to make.
This catches people whose payload is incidental rather than deliberate — spare lithium batteries taped to an airframe, sample containers, anything being moved because it was convenient.
What we could not confirm
- § 107.49 requires no specific checklist and the FAA prescribes no format. Any published checklist, including the shape suggested above, is one person's implementation of the duty rather than the duty itself.
- We could not confirm what standard the FAA applies to "a condition for safe operation" under § 107.15. The regulation does not define it, and the judgement sits with the remote pilot in command.
- We could not confirm where the FAA draws the line on "directly participating" for the purposes of the (b) briefing. A client watching the screen is a genuinely arguable case; the cautious course is to brief them.
- We have not reproduced the 49 CFR 171.8 definition of hazardous material. It is long and it is the operative text — read it rather than a summary if you are carrying anything unusual.
- Text verified against the eCFR edition current to 12 August 2026. § 107.49 as amended by Amdt. 107-8, 86 FR 4382, 15 January 2021.
The short version
The regulation puts the environment first and the aircraft third. Assess weather, airspace and restrictions, people and property on the surface, and ground hazards — all four are mandatory. Brief everyone directly participating on five specified things, including contingency procedures as well as emergencies. Then check control links, power for the intended flight time, and payload security, and confirm the category if you will be over people. Running alongside all of it, § 107.15 requires a condition check before each flight, not each outing, and requires you to stop flying the moment you know the aircraft is no longer safe. None of it has to be written down. Write it down anyway.
Preflight, operating limitations and pilot responsibility are examinable and closely linked. 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). For a printable you can actually take on site, the Part 107 Cheat Sheet condenses the limits worth having in front of you.
Preflight kit
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- BT-100 Handheld Anemometer — 107.49(a) makes local weather a mandatory element. A forecast is regional; wind at your take-off point is not, and the difference is usually the whole decision.
- Amazon Basics Aluminium Storage Clipboard, two-tier — Nothing requires a written preflight. Keeping one is how you still have it a month later when somebody asks.
- RoadHero 28-inch Collapsible Traffic Cones (4-pack) — The surface survey identifies where people should not be. Cones are how you tell them, and they fold flat in a case.
- Hoodman Weighted Trifold Landing Pad — Debris on take-off and landing is a ground hazard you can simply remove from the assessment.