How LAANC Actually Works for Part 107 Pilots

Most Part 107 pilots learn LAANC as "the app that gets you into controlled airspace." That's true as far as it goes, but it skips the part that actually shows up on the exam and matters in the field: LAANC isn't one process, it's two, and they're not interchangeable.

What is LAANC?

LAANC, the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability, is a data-sharing system between the FAA and a set of FAA-approved companies called UAS Service Suppliers (USS). Those companies build the actual apps pilots use; LAANC itself is the backend that checks a requested flight against the FAA's own airspace data, including UAS Facility Maps, Special Use Airspace boundaries, airport and airspace classification data, and current TFRs and NOTAMs.

The system exists because 14 CFR §107.41 requires prior authorization from air traffic control to fly in Class B, C or D airspace, or within the lateral boundaries of the surface area of Class E airspace designated for an airport. Without LAANC, every one of those requests would need manual coordination. LAANC automates the routine case.

What are the two LAANC request types?

This is the part that trips people up. LAANC supports two genuinely different kinds of requests, and only one of them is available to every drone pilot.

A near-real-time authorization covers flights up to the altitude ceiling set by the UAS Facility Map for that specific grid location, and it's available to both Part 107 pilots and recreational flyers. This is the fast path most people picture when they think of LAANC: submit through an app, get an automated response, usually within minutes.

A Further Coordination Request is for flights that need to go higher than the Facility Map ceiling for that location, up to the general 400-foot limit. This path is Part 107 pilots only, not available to recreational flyers, can be submitted up to 90 days ahead of the flight, and gets manually coordinated through the FAA rather than approved automatically. If a facility denies a Further Coordination Request, it can provide guidance on what would need to change for the pilot to adjust and resubmit.

The distinction matters for more than trivia: a facility map might cap routine authorization at 100 feet in a given grid, while the airspace itself is legally available up to 400 feet. Getting to that higher altitude legally requires knowing which of the two requests to file, not just requesting "authorization" and expecting the system to sort it out.

What does LAANC approval not cover?

An authorization through LAANC is exactly that: authorization for the airspace question. It is not a substitute for the rest of a standard preflight briefing. Current NOTAMs, weather conditions, and every other applicable airspace restriction still have to be checked independently. A pilot with a valid LAANC authorization who skips the NOTAM check and flies into an active TFR hasn't been protected by the authorization; the two are unrelated failures that happen to both be preflight steps. The reverse holds too: a property owner's permission is not an airspace authorization, as the client and remote PIC post explains.

If a flight also needs a waiver, LAANC can't handle it: the FAA says an operation in controlled airspace that needs both a waiver and an airspace authorization must apply for both through FAADroneZone. The system also doesn't generally require a separate call to the tower once authorization is granted. Unless a specific authorization explicitly requires it, drone pilots don't need to notify the tower before flying under an approved LAANC authorization, since the coordination already happened through the system itself.

The version of this the exam actually tests

Exam questions on this topic tend to test the boundary, not the general concept. The concept, "you need authorization to fly in controlled airspace below 400 feet," is the easy part. The boundary, whether a given scenario needs a routine authorization or a Further Coordination Request, whether a recreational flyer can use the path a Part 107 pilot is using, whether an authorization covers a NOTAM the pilot never checked, is where the wrong answers live. Read a LAANC scenario question by asking what altitude is actually being requested relative to the Facility Map ceiling, and whether the pilot in the scenario is operating under Part 107 or as a recreational flyer, before deciding which rule applies.

The handbook's ATC authorizations section covers the airspace-class side of this in more depth, Class B/C/D communication and clearance requirements that LAANC's automation sits on top of.

Source: FAA UAS Data Exchange (LAANC).

Authorization is one piece of airspace knowledge. See how to read airspace on a sectional chart for finding the boundaries, right-of-way and restricted areas for rules outside the class system, and airport operations for how manned traffic behaves nearby.

Which airspace needs a request in the first place is covered class by class, from Class B down to Class D and Class E surface areas.

If you are not sure an airport's airspace needs a request at all, start with the airport post.

Flying above the grid, including zero-foot grids, is covered in detail in the further coordination post.