What changed in Part 107 in 2021
If you are studying from the FAA’s Remote Pilot Study Guide, you are studying from a document written in August 2016 — and the rules it describes for flying at night and flying over people were replaced five years later. This page is what changed, what replaced it, and how to tell which of the two a given piece of study material is teaching you.
One amendment did most of it
Amendment 107-8 was published at 86 FR 4381 on 15 January 2021 and took effect on 21 April 2021. It is the reason the test you will sit is not the test the study guide prepares you for.
Three things changed at once, and each one is a favourite of the question writers precisely because it is recent.
| Subject | Before Amendment 107-8 | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Night operations | Prohibited without a certificate of waiver under § 107.205 | Permitted under § 107.29 with updated knowledge and anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles |
| Operations over people | Prohibited except over participants or people under cover | Four categories in subpart D, defined by weight, impact kinetic energy and airworthiness certification |
| Remote identification | No requirement | 14 CFR part 89 — standard Remote ID aircraft, broadcast modules, or flight within a FRIA |
| Recurrent knowledge | A recurrent knowledge test at a testing centre every 24 calendar months | A free online recurrent training course every 24 calendar months |
Regulatory text from eCFR (title 14 current to 25 August 2026, read 27 August 2026); the recurrent training courses from the FAA’s own certification page, read the same day.
Why the FAA’s own study guide has not caught up
FAA-G-8082-22, the Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Guide, is dated August 2016 and is still linked from the FAA’s study-materials page. On weather, airspace classes, loading, physiology, radio procedure and airport data it is excellent and entirely current — none of that was touched in 2021. On the regulations it is five years behind.
That matters more than it sounds, because most preparation material in this category was written from the study guide rather than from the regulation. A practice test that teaches you night operations need a waiver is not slightly out of date; it is teaching a rule that was revoked before it was written.
- The Airman Certification Standards were updated: FAA-S-ACS-10B, effective 6 April 2021, added the whole of Task E (Operations Over People) and Task F (Remote Identification).
- The ACS codes changed with it. A prep site coded to the older ACS-10A hands you codes for elements that no longer exist.
- The knowledge test itself is built to the ACS, not to the study guide — which is why the ACS is the document to check a claim against.
A rule that moved after all that
One more, found while checking citations for this site on 27 August 2026 and worth knowing because no prep material read that day had it: the falsification rule for part 107 documents is no longer at § 107.5.
Amendment 3-4 (90 FR 42524, 3 September 2025) moved falsification, reproduction, alteration and knowing omission into 14 CFR part 3, subpart D — § 3.403 — which now covers nearly all of chapter I at once. § 107.5 reads [Reserved]. The substance is unchanged, so no test answer turns on it; the citation everyone prints is simply wrong now.
How to check a claim yourself, in about a minute
- For a rule: read the section on eCFR. It publishes the date its text is current to at the top of every part, which no PDF does.
- For the shape of the test: read Appendix 1 of the ACS. Question count, time limit, passing score and the share of the test each area gets are all there.
- For anything about the certificate: the FAA’s own certification page carries a “Last updated” date at the foot.
- If a source has no date on it, treat what it says about the regulations as a hypothesis rather than a fact.
Now find out which ACS codes you would get back.
A full-length mock at the FAA’s published weighting, free, reported the way a real test report reports it.
Take a practice testFrequently asked
- Do I still need a waiver to fly at night under Part 107?
- No. Since Amendment 107-8 took effect on 21 April 2021, § 107.29 permits night operations without a waiver provided the remote pilot has completed the initial knowledge test or training under § 107.65 after 6 April 2021, and the aircraft has anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles.
- Is the FAA’s Remote Pilot Study Guide still worth reading?
- Yes, for weather, airspace, loading, physiology, radio and airport operations — none of which changed. Not for the regulations: it is dated August 2016 and predates the 2021 amendment entirely.
- Which ACS revision is the current test built to?
- FAA-S-ACS-10B, with material effective 6 April 2021. It added knowledge elements to Areas I, II and V and introduced Tasks E and F under Regulations.
- Does the 2021 change affect the questions on the knowledge test?
- Yes. The ACS is the specification the test is written to, and ACS-10B added elements covering operations over people, Remote ID and night operations. Those elements are testable, which is why this site’s Regulations bank is sourced to the current regulation rather than to the study guide.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of the documents below, with the date it was read and what the document says about its own currency. Regulations change by amendment; where a source has moved on since the date shown, the source is right and this page is out of date.
- 14 CFR part 107 — Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (eCFR) Read August 27, 2026· eCFR reports title 14 up to date as of 2026-08-25 The regulation itself, and the only acceptable source on this site for an operating limit, a category, an eligibility rule or a recency rule. Amendment 107-8 (86 FR 4381, 15 January 2021) is the one that rewrote night operations and added operations over human beings.
- 14 CFR part 89 — Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft (eCFR) Read August 27, 2026· eCFR reports title 14 up to date as of 2026-08-25 Remote ID: the message elements a standard remote identification unmanned aircraft must broadcast, broadcast modules, and the rule that ADS-B Out cannot be used to satisfy Remote ID.
- 14 CFR part 3, subpart D — Falsification, Reproduction, Alteration, Omission, or Incorrect Statements (eCFR) Read August 27, 2026· Subpart D added by Amdt. 3-4, 90 FR 42524, 3 September 2025 ⚠️ The falsification rule MOVED. It used to be § 107.5; that section now reads [Reserved] and the operative rule for part 107 documents is § 3.403. Found while checking a citation for this property on 2026-08-27; the ACS (April 2021) still points at the old section, and so does every prep site read that day.
- FAA-S-ACS-10B — Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Airman Certification Standards Read August 27, 2026· Material in FAA-S-ACS-10B is effective April 6, 2021 The shape of the test and the ACS codes. Appendix 1 publishes the 60-question length, the two-hour limit, the 70% passing score and the share of the test each area of operation gets. Appendix 3 publishes that a passing test report is valid for 24 calendar months.
- FAA-G-8082-22 — Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Guide Read August 27, 2026· August 2016 — predates Amendment 107-8 ⚠️ USE FOR SUBJECT MATTER, NEVER FOR A RULE. Airspace classes, METAR and TAF decoding, density altitude, load factor, physiology, radio procedure and airport data are unchanged and are sourced here. Its regulations chapter, its night rules and its silence on operations over people are all out of date, and a question sourced here on any of those is a bug.
Page facts last verified August 27, 2026.
More guides
Part 107 Drills is independent practice material. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, PSI Services LLC, or any knowledge testing centre. Every question here is original and none is taken from any actual FAA knowledge test. Regulatory text and FAA publications are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain; where this site states a rule, it cites the section it came from and the date that section was read.