Part 107 Waivers: What's Actually on the List

The word "waiver" gets used loosely in drone forums as a stand-in for "special permission for anything unusual," which is close enough for casual conversation and wrong enough to cost exam points.

What can a Part 107 waiver cover?

14 CFR §107.200 sets the general waiver policy: the FAA may issue a certificate of waiver authorizing a deviation from specific regulations, if the applicant demonstrates the operation can be conducted safely under the terms of that waiver. The key word is specific. There's no general-purpose "waiver from Part 107" that clears every provision at once; each waiver is tied to the exact sections it covers.

Which rules can never be waived?

14 CFR §107.205 enumerates which sections a waiver can actually apply to, and the list is deliberately bounded. Operating rules like the requirement for a remote pilot certificate, aircraft registration, and the prohibition on careless or reckless operation aren't on the waivable list at all; no waiver process removes them. The current list is short enough to read in full, and the table below is what §107.205 says today.

Notice what is missing: the certificate requirement, registration, and the prohibition on careless or reckless operation. Those cannot be waived. The §107.51 entry covers both the 400-foot altitude limit and the cloud clearance minimums. The §107.29 entry is only the lighting, during night and the fixed 30-minute civil twilight window, not the night training requirement. The moving-vehicle and VLOS carve-outs on carrying another's property for hire come up again in the post on dropping or carrying objects.

Demonstrating safety is the actual work

Getting a waiver approved isn't a matter of asking. Under §107.200(b), the request must contain a complete description of the proposed operation and a justification that establishes it can safely be conducted under the waiver's terms. The FAA can add limitations it considers necessary, and the holder must follow every condition in the certificate. A request that just states "we need to fly beyond visual line of sight" without explaining how the risks are handled isn't demonstrating anything the FAA can approve.

Why this shows up on the exam at all

Part 107 candidates aren't expected to file a waiver application, but they are expected to know the difference between an operation that's simply not permitted under the base rule, one that could become permitted through a waiver, and one that's never eligible for a waiver at all, regardless of the safety case made. Scenario questions on this topic usually test exactly that three-way distinction rather than any specific waiver's paperwork.

Two rules on the waiver list are the ones people ask about most: visual line of sight and night operations. The proposed BVLOS rule would change part of this list, as explained in Part 108 vs Part 107. Flying over people has its own category system rather than a single waiver, covered in Operations Over People.

The full policy language and current waivable-sections context are in the handbook.

One limit no Part 107 waiver can change is weight: aircraft of 55 pounds or more need an exemption, as the 55-pound post explains.

Waiver plus airspace authorization goes through DroneZone; the further coordination post explains when LAANC is enough.