Registration, Reporting, and Preflight Rules

Registration and incident reporting sound like the least interesting parts of Part 107 to study, right up until an exam question hinges on the exact dollar threshold or the exact number of days a rule allows, and "I know I have to register it" turns out not to be enough.

Registration is aircraft-specific, not pilot-specific

14 CFR §107.13 requires small unmanned aircraft used under Part 107 to be registered, and the registration attaches to the specific aircraft, not to the pilot flying it. A remote pilot certificate doesn't substitute for registering each aircraft operated commercially under it, and flying an unregistered aircraft is a registration violation independent of whatever else about the flight was compliant.

Safety event reporting has a real dollar figure attached

14 CFR §107.9 (the rule formerly framed purely as "accident reporting," now covering safety event reporting more broadly) requires a report to the FAA within 10 calendar days of an operation that involves serious injury, loss of consciousness, or property damage at or above a set dollar threshold.

A scenario that describes minor property damage below that threshold, or an injury that doesn't rise to the serious-injury standard, isn't a reportable event under this rule, even though it might still be worth documenting for the operator's own records. The exam tends to test the exact boundary, not the general instinct that "something bad happened, so report it."

Preflight isn't just "check the battery"

14 CFR §107.49 requires the remote pilot in command to become familiar with the operating area, check weather, airspace, and NOTAMs relevant to the operation, ensure the aircraft is in a condition for safe operation, and brief anyone else involved in the operation on their role, before every flight. It's a checklist with specific, named categories, not a general instruction to "be careful," and exam scenarios that skip one specific category (airspace check done, NOTAM check skipped, for example) are testing whether the candidate notices the gap.

Why these three belong in one place

Registration, reporting, and preflight requirements don't share a dramatic theme, but they share a pattern: each has a specific, checkable number or category attached (the aircraft that needs registering, the dollar threshold that triggers a report, the categories preflight has to cover), and losing points here usually means missing the specific detail, not misunderstanding the general idea.

More detail and drills for this area are in the handbook.