Practice tests — not official FAA exams. Not affiliated with the FAA or any testing provider.

UAS

FAA Part 107 remote pilot knowledge test

FAA drone pilot test practice, done properly.

A 5-part study system, an unlimited-retake question pool, and six timed practice tests for the FAA Part 107 remote pilot knowledge test — free forever, no account or payment required to start.

Always freeContent reviewed July 25, 2026Not affiliated with the FAA

What this test is

The Part 107 Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test is the FAA exam every remote pilot must pass to hold a Part 107 remote pilot certificate for commercial small drone operations. It is a computer-based, multiple-choice test administered at FAA- approved testing centers. Question counts, time limits, fees, and the passing score are all set by the FAA and its testing vendor and can change, so this page never states them as a fixed fact — see the official-source box at the bottom of this page.

What's on the test

The knowledge test draws from five subject areas. Each links to its full study section below.

Part 1

Regulations and Certification

Commercial purpose defines Part 107, not payment
The certificate: age 16, TSA vetting, 24-month recurrent training
Altitude, speed, visibility, and cloud-clearance limits
Visual line of sight, night operations, and Remote ID

Part 2

Airspace and Charts

Classes A through G and what each requires
LAANC and UAS Facility Map grids
Reading sectional charts: line codes and obstacle symbols
Prohibited, restricted, and warning areas

Part 3

Weather for Remote Pilots

Density altitude and its effect on performance
Wind, gusts, and mechanical turbulence
Stability, fog types, and cloud-base estimation
Thunderstorm formation and the three stages

Part 4

Loading, Performance, and the Machine

The 55-pound weight limit and center of gravity
Endurance planning and performance verification
Lithium battery charging, storage, and crash response
Preflight inspection and the operator's maintenance program

Part 5

Operations: Crew, Emergencies, and the Pilot's Mind

Crew roles and closed-loop communication
Lost link versus a true flyaway emergency
Physiology, fatigue, and the I'M SAFE checklist
The five hazardous attitudes and their antidotes

The study system

Read every part below right on this page, then drill the same material as multiple-choice practice — free and unlimited.

Part 1 of 5

Regulations and Certification

Who needs a remote pilot certificate, the operating-rules numbers grid, flight over people and Remote ID, and what happens after an accident.

Who needs Part 107

Part 107 governs commercial small unmanned aircraft (sUAS) operations — drones under 55 pounds flown for any non-recreational purpose. The dividing line is purpose, not payment: a business-serving flight is a Part 107 flight even if nobody pays for it. The certificate requires a minimum age of 16, English proficiency, fitness to operate, passing the initial knowledge test, and clearing TSA vetting. It never expires, but privileges require recurrent training every 24 calendar months, now satisfied by the FAA's free online course.

The operating-rules grid

The numbers to memorize: 400 feet AGL altitude (with a structure exception up to 400 feet above a structure's top within 400 feet laterally), 100 mph groundspeed, 3 statute miles visibility, and 500 feet below/2,000 feet horizontal from clouds. Visual line of sight must be maintained unaided — a visual observer extends scanning but never substitutes. Night operations are permitted without a waiver if the pilot has current training and the aircraft carries anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles.

People, property, Remote ID, and accidents

Flight over people runs through a four-category framework based on injury risk; Remote ID broadcast compliance is standard equipment law for most operations. sUAS yield to all other aircraft, always. Report to the FAA within 10 calendar days any operation causing serious injury, loss of consciousness, or property damage over $500 to something other than the drone itself. Many rules are waiverable with a safety case through the FAA's process; careless or reckless operation is never waivable.

Part 2 of 5

Airspace and Charts

The six airspace classes, LAANC authorizations, sectional chart symbology, and special-use airspace like TFRs and restricted areas.

The airspace alphabet

Class A (18,000 feet MSL and up) is closed to sUAS entirely. Classes B, C, and D — around the busiest to smaller towered airports — require ATC authorization through LAANC or FAADroneZone. Class E is controlled airspace that begins at the surface in some places (authorization required) or at 700 or 1,200 feet AGL elsewhere, which usually leaves sub-400-foot drone flight in the uncontrolled Class G below it. Class G needs no authorization, though every other Part 107 rule still applies.

LAANC and reading the sectional

UAS Facility Maps divide controlled airspace into grids with maximum authorizable altitudes; requesting at or below the grid ceiling gets near-instant LAANC approval. On a sectional chart, solid blue lines mark Class B, solid magenta marks Class C, dashed blue marks Class D, dashed magenta marks Class E to the surface, and a fuzzy magenta gradient marks Class E starting at 700 feet AGL. Obstacle symbols show two numbers — the bold MSL height and the parenthetical AGL height, which is the drone-relevant number.

Special-use airspace and the preflight sequence

Prohibited areas are never open; restricted areas are closed when active; MOAs, Warning, and Alert areas call for caution, not automatic avoidance. Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) can close airspace on short notice for wildfires, VIP movement, or disasters, and a standing TFR closes airspace within 3 nautical miles of major stadium events for one hour before through one hour after. The professional preflight sequence: plot the operation on the chart, check the grid ceiling and request LAANC, check NOTAMs and TFRs, identify nearby airports, note obstacles, and brief the crew.

Part 3 of 5

Weather for Remote Pilots

Density altitude, wind and turbulence, cloud and fog formation, thunderstorms, and decoding a METAR field by field.

Density altitude and wind

Density altitude is how high the air thinks it is: heat, altitude, and humidity all raise it, thinning the air and reducing thrust, lift, and battery life. Gusts threaten control margin more than sustained wind speed; wind flowing over buildings and terrain creates mechanical turbulence on the downwind side. The doctrine: fly upwind first and downwind home, since a headwind return leg can multiply battery consumption.

Stability, fog, and thunderstorms

Stable air is smooth but hazy; unstable air is clear but bumpy and prone to afternoon storms. Fog forms when temperature reaches dew point — radiation fog on clear calm nights, advection fog when moist air moves over cooler surfaces (California's coastal marine layer). Thunderstorms need moisture, unstable air, and a lifting force, and progress through cumulus, mature (maximum violence — hail, microbursts, shear), and dissipating stages. The operational rule at drone scale is absolute: thunderstorms anywhere near the operation end the operation.

Reading a METAR

A METAR like KSAC 121853Z 16012G22KT 10SM FEW040 SCT100 21/12 A3005 decodes as: station, day and time in Zulu (UTC), wind direction/speed/gusts, visibility in statute miles, cloud layers in hundreds of feet AGL, temperature/dew point in Celsius, and altimeter setting. A TAF is a forecast using the same vocabulary with valid periods and change groups. The official source family is aviationweather.gov's METARs, TAFs, and graphical forecasts — consumer apps supplement but never replace them.

Part 4 of 5

Loading, Performance, and the Machine

Weight and balance, endurance planning, lithium battery care, and the maintenance and preflight-inspection habits Part 107 expects.

Weight, balance, and performance planning

The 55-pound Part 107 ceiling includes everything attached at takeoff; the manufacturer's own maximum takeoff weight is the real performance boundary inside that legal one. Payload placement moves the center of gravity, and hover behavior should be re-verified after any configuration change. Performance planning stacks density altitude, weight, and wind together: plan endurance at 70-80% of the manufacturer's ideal figures and land with a healthy reserve, never at the low-battery alarm.

Lithium battery discipline

Charge only with the correct charger, attended, on a non-flammable surface, and never charge a swollen or crashed pack — swelling means retirement, not one more flight. Store packs at roughly half charge in a cool, fire-resistant container. A crashed lithium battery can enter thermal runaway hours later, so it should be isolated outdoors away from combustibles and monitored, not immediately reinstalled or charged.

Maintenance and the preflight habit

The FAA sets no mandated maintenance schedule for sUAS — the manufacturer's guidance plus the operator's own program is the whole system, and the remote PIC owns the aircraft's condition for safe operation before every flight. Nicked or chipped propellers get replaced, not filed down. A known defect plus schedule pressure has one tested answer: ground the aircraft.

Part 5 of 5

Operations: Crew, Emergencies, and the Pilot's Mind

Crew resource management, lost-link and flyaway procedures, personal physiology, the five hazardous attitudes, and airport-environment awareness.

Crew resource management and emergencies

The remote pilot in command is the final authority and may supervise a non-certificated person manipulating the controls under direct, immediate-takeover supervision. A visual observer extends scanning but never replaces the unaided visual-line-of-sight requirement. Lost link is a procedure when the return-to-home behavior was set and briefed for the site; a flyaway — an aircraft ignoring commands and its own programmed behavior — is the true emergency, and one threatening manned traffic calls for notifying the relevant facility immediately.

Physiology and hazardous attitudes

The I'M SAFE checklist — Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion — runs on every crewmember before flight. The FAA's five hazardous attitudes and their antidotes are a guaranteed test topic: anti-authority ('follow the rules — they're usually right'), impulsivity ('not so fast, think first'), invulnerability ('it could happen to me'), macho ('taking chances is foolish'), and resignation ('I'm not helpless, I can make a difference').

Airport-environment awareness

Near a non-towered airport, monitoring the CTAF lets a drone crew hear manned traffic's position calls and anticipate where it will be next — downwind, base, then final, descending through drone altitudes. Runway numbers correspond to magnetic heading in tens, so 'runway 27' points roughly 270 degrees. Listening requires no transmission license; it converts see-and-avoid from luck into a system.

Sample questions from the practice pool

Real questions pulled from the imported 101PD question pool — the same pool used inside the free-practice player. Expand any question to see the answer and explanation.

1. Ana photographs a friend's rental listing with her drone as a favor — no payment. The flight is:

A. Recreational — no money changed hands
B. Commercial under Part 107 — PURPOSE controls, and the flight serves a business ✓
C. Exempt as a favor

The commercial line is purpose, not payment: business-serving flight is Part 107 flight, paid or not. (Book §1.1)

2. The minimum age for a Part 107 remote pilot certificate is:

A. 14
B. 16 ✓
C. 18

Sixteen, plus English proficiency, fitness to operate, the knowledge test, and TSA vetting. (Book §1.1)

3. To stay current, a remote pilot must complete recurrent training every:

A. 12 calendar months
B. 24 calendar months ✓
C. 36 calendar months

The 24-month recurrent cycle — now satisfied by the FAA's free online course (verify current). (Book §1.1)

4. Part 107 covers unmanned aircraft weighing:

A. Under 55 pounds ✓
B. Under 100 pounds
C. Any weight

The sub-55-pound line defines sUAS; heavier aircraft need different authorization. (Book §1.1)

5. Ben inspects a 900-foot broadcast tower. His maximum legal altitude beside it is:

A. 400 feet AGL, period
B. Up to 400 feet above the tower's top, within a 400-foot radius of the structure ✓
C. Unlimited near structures

The structure rule: within 400 feet of a structure you may fly to 400 feet above its uppermost limit — the tower-inspection exception. (Book §1.2)

6. Away from any structure, the standard Part 107 ceiling is:

A. 400 feet AGL ✓
B. 500 feet AGL
C. 1,000 feet MSL

400 AGL is the baseline ceiling; the structure rule is its only standard extension. (Book §1.2)

7. Maximum groundspeed under Part 107:

A. 87 mph
B. 100 mph (87 knots) ✓
C. 150 mph

100 mph / 87 knots — one of the grid's paired numbers (don't swap the units). (Book §1.2)

8. Minimum flight visibility from the control station:

A. 1 statute mile
B. 3 statute miles ✓
C. 5 statute miles

3 SM visibility, with the 500-below/2,000-horizontal cloud clearances riding alongside. (Book §1.2)

Start practicing free Read the FAQ first

6 independent timed practice tests are also available — start with practice test 1.

Common questions

Before you start practicing

Is this the official FAA Part 107 knowledge test?

Practice tests — not official FAA exams. Not affiliated with the FAA or any testing provider. Always confirm current test rules at faa.gov.

Do I need an account to start practicing?

No. Every sample question on this page is free to read with no account. Creating a free 101PD account only saves your progress and score history across the six numbered practice tests.

How many questions are on the real FAA test, and what's the passing score?

Question counts, time limits, fees, and passing scores are set by the FAA and its approved testing centers and can change, so we do not print them here as unchanging facts. Check faa.gov for the current format before you schedule your test.

Who needs a Part 107 remote pilot certificate?

Anyone flying a small drone for a business purpose — including real estate photography, inspections, or monetized video — not just people who get paid directly. See Part 1 for the full purpose-versus-payment rule.

Can I retake a practice test if I don't pass?

Yes. Each of the six numbered practice tests immediately offers a second, independently drawn version if you don't pass the first, and the full study-part question pool stays free and unlimited.

Do 101PD practice tests show the correct answer and why?

Yes. Every question shows whether you were right and a plain-English explanation with a study-part citation, so a missed question becomes a learning moment instead of a dead end.

Does passing a 101PD practice test mean I'll pass the real FAA test?

No. It means you handled this set of original questions well. Only an FAA-approved testing center administers and scores the test that counts toward a remote pilot certificate.

Is there a fee for 101PD's drone practice tests?

No. The FAA Part 107 practice tests are free forever — not a limited-time launch offer. There is no card, coupon, or account requirement to read questions.

What if I want help with real estate, notary, or another California profession too?

101PD also builds exam preparation and continuing education for California professions, including a real estate exam-prep track relevant to many drone photographers' day jobs. See the full catalog at /professions.

Practice tests — not official FAA exams. Not affiliated with the FAA or any testing provider.

Official source: faa.gov