Getting your FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate is a five-step process. No flight hours, no medical exam, no aviation background required. Here's the whole thing.
Step 1 — Confirm you're eligible
You must be:
- At least 16 years old
- Able to read, speak, write, and understand English
- In a physical and mental condition to safely operate a small UAS
That's it. There's no medical certificate requirement, unlike manned pilot certificates.
Step 2 — Get an FAA Tracking Number (FTN)
Create an account in IACRA (the FAA's Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application system) at iacra.faa.gov. Registering generates your FTN — a code like C1234567 that follows you through your entire aviation career. You need it before you can schedule the test.
Step 3 — Study, then schedule the exam
Prepare first, book second. Once you're consistently scoring well on realistic practice questions, schedule the Unmanned Aircraft General (UAG) knowledge test through PSI at faa.psiexams.com. It costs roughly $175, paid to PSI.
Unlike the private pilot written, Part 107 requires no instructor endorsement — you can book it yourself.
What to bring on test day
- A government-issued photo ID whose name matches your IACRA registration exactly. This is the single most common reason people get turned away at the desk.
- Your FTN
- Optionally a magnifying glass — the sectional chart excerpts in the supplement are small and dense
Everything else is provided. You cannot bring your own materials into the testing room.
Walk in knowing you'll pass.
180 practice questions weighted like the real UAG, a one-page cram sheet for the morning of, and a searchable reference guide for everything in between.
Get the Fast Pass Suite →Step 4 — Pass the test
60 questions, 2 hours, 70% to pass (42 correct). You get your Airman Knowledge Test Report immediately, showing your score and the ACS codes for anything you missed. Keep that report — you need the Exam ID from it for the next step.
Step 5 — Apply for your certificate in IACRA
Passing the test doesn't give you the certificate. You still have to apply:
- Log into IACRA → Start New Application → Pilot → Remote Pilot
- Enter your 17-digit Exam ID from the test report
- Check that your place of birth and name in your user profile are correct before submitting — fixing them later means deleting and restarting the application
- Sign electronically and submit
Your application routes to the TSA for a security background check automatically. Once cleared, you'll receive a temporary remote pilot certificate by email — that's a legal certificate, and you can fly commercially the moment it arrives. It's valid 120 days while the permanent plastic card is issued and mailed.
One common snag
If IACRA says it can't find your Exam ID, it's almost always because your test result hasn't synced from PSI yet. That can take up to 48 hours. Wait a day and try again rather than re-registering.
After you're certificated
- Register your drone — $5 per aircraft at FAADroneZone, valid 3 years, and mark the registration number on the exterior
- Confirm Remote ID compliance — most recent drones broadcast it natively; older ones need a broadcast module
- Set up LAANC access for authorization to fly in controlled airspace
- Recurrent training every 24 calendar months — free, online
Pass with Fast Pass? We'll cover your drone registration.
Once you pass, email us your Airman Knowledge Test Report and we'll send you $5 — the exact cost of registering your first drone with the FAA. Sharing a short review of what helped is welcome but completely optional. One per customer, for Fast Pass buyers. Email drone@academysim.com.