Regulations

Part 107 Waivers and Accident Reporting

Nine rules can be waived and several cannot. And when something goes wrong, two thresholds decide whether you owe the FAA a report.

Jordan Reed·August 25, 2026·7 min read

Key takeaway

A safety event report is due within 10 calendar days for serious injury, any loss of consciousness, or property damage above $500 — and damage to your own aircraft never counts toward that threshold.

Two things sit at the edges of Part 107: permission to depart from a rule before you fly, and the obligation to report after something goes wrong. They are unrelated mechanisms that get confused with one another constantly.

What can be waived

Section 107.200 lets the FAA issue a certificate of waiver permitting deviation from certain rules, if it finds the proposed operation can be conducted safely under the terms of that certificate. Section 107.205 lists exactly which rules qualify:

Section	Rule
107.25	Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft
107.29(a)(2) and (b)	Anti-collision lighting for night and civil twilight
107.31	Visual line of sight aircraft operation
107.33	Visual observer
107.35	Operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft
107.37(a)	Yielding the right of way
107.39	Operation over human beings
107.41	Operation in certain airspace
107.51	Operating limitations (speed, altitude, visibility, cloud clearance)

Two carry a restriction written into the list itself. Neither 107.25 nor 107.31 will be waived to allow the carriage of another person's property for compensation or hire — which closes the obvious drone-delivery case at the regulation level, not at the discretion of whoever reviews the application.

What cannot be waived

Everything not on that list. The ones that matter most in practice:

107.12 — the requirement to hold a remote pilot certificate
107.15 — condition for safe operation
107.17 — medical condition
107.19 — remote pilot in command responsibilities
107.23 — careless or reckless operation
107.27 — alcohol and drugs
107.49 — preflight familiarization and inspection
Registration and Remote ID, which live in parts 48 and 89 rather than 107 and are outside the waiver mechanism entirely

Waiver is not authorization

These are different applications for different things, and mixing them up wastes weeks.

	Waiver	Airspace authorization
What it does	Permits deviation from a rule	Permits entry into controlled airspace
Basis	14 CFR 107.200 and 107.205	14 CFR 107.41
How	FAA DroneZone	LAANC, or DroneZone where unavailable
Speed	Weeks to months	Often seconds

If an operation needs both — flying beyond visual line of sight inside Class D, say — you apply for both, and both go through DroneZone rather than a LAANC app.

Writing an application that works

The FAA is not assessing whether you want the thing. It is assessing whether the proposed operation can be conducted safely under the terms of a certificate. Applications fail because they describe a need rather than a mitigation.

What a strong application contains:

A specific, bounded operation. Defined geographic area, defined altitudes, defined times, defined aircraft. "Nationwide BVLOS" is not an application; a named corridor with surveyed obstacles is.

A hazard analysis that names the failure modes. What happens on lost link, on a motor failure, on an intruding aircraft, on a person entering the area. Then what you have done about each.

Mitigations that are verifiable. Ground-based observers at named positions, an aircraft with demonstrated performance, a lost-link procedure that descends rather than climbs, a published NOTAM, a physical cordon.

Personnel and procedure. Who is doing what, what the crew brief covers, what stops the operation.

Apply early. Processing takes considerably longer than most people plan for, and a waiver that arrives after the job is worth nothing.

Safety event reporting

Section 107.9 is short, and the numbers in it are heavily tested.

A report is due no later than 10 calendar days after an operation involving at least:

(a) Serious injury to any person, or any loss of consciousness. Note the second half — a loss of consciousness is reportable regardless of whether it meets the definition of serious injury.

(b) Damage to any property other than the small unmanned aircraft, unless either:

The cost of repair, including materials and labor, does not exceed $500; or
The fair market value of the property does not exceed $500 in the event of total loss

The two details that decide most exam questions

Your own aircraft never counts. Paragraph (b) says "other than the small unmanned aircraft." Destroy a $4,000 drone in an empty field and nothing is reportable. The threshold is about what you hit, not what you were flying.

Read the two $500 tests as alternatives, not a formula. If the item can be repaired, the test is repair cost. If it is a total loss, the test is fair market value. A twelve-year-old fence panel that costs $700 to replace but was worth $200 is assessed on the $200 if it is destroyed.

Where it goes, and what else may apply

Reports go to the FAA through DroneZone or the local Flight Standards District Office.

Separately, the NTSB has its own reporting requirements under 49 CFR part 830, which apply to unmanned aircraft above certain weight and severity thresholds. The two regimes are independent — satisfying one does not satisfy the other, and a serious event may require both.

The emergency deviation, which is not a waiver

There is a third mechanism people conflate with both of the above. Section 107.21 lets a remote pilot in command deviate from any rule of Part 107 to the extent necessary to meet an in-flight emergency.

No application, no certificate, no advance permission. It applies in the moment, and it is deliberately the widest provision in the regulation, because an emergency does not wait for paperwork.

The condition attached: upon request from the Administrator, you must send a written report of that deviation. So the sequence is act first, justify afterward — the reverse of a waiver, which is justify first, act afterward.

Three points worth being clear on. It covers an in-flight emergency, not an inconvenience or a schedule problem. It permits deviation only to the extent necessary to meet that emergency. And invoking it invites scrutiny of why the emergency arose, which is why the preflight duties in 107.49 matter so much: an emergency traceable to a skipped preflight is a poor position to explain from.

Inspection, records and falsification

Section 107.7 requires the remote PIC, owner, or person manipulating the controls to present — on request from the Administrator — the remote pilot certificate and any other document, record or report required to be kept. In practice: have your certificate accessible, and be able to produce your registration and any waiver or authorization covering the flight.

Falsification no longer lives in part 107. Section 107.5 was reserved and the rule consolidated into 14 CFR part 3, subpart D in September 2025, which now covers every part the FAA administers rather than each one separately. A great deal of Part 107 material still cites 107.5; it is a dead section.

Section 3.403 prohibits three things in any document submitted to show compliance: a fraudulent or intentionally false statement, a reproduction or alteration made for a fraudulent purpose, and — this is new — the knowing omission of a material fact. Any of the three is a basis for denying, suspending, modifying or revoking a certificate or authorization, or for a civil penalty.

Section 3.405 goes further than the old rule did. An incorrect statement or omission that was material to the issuance of a certificate can support suspension or revocation even without fraud. Carelessness on a form is now exposed in a way it previously was not.

The practical point is unchanged and worth stating plainly: a late report is a minor matter, and a fabricated one ends a career.

Frequently asked questions

Which Part 107 rules can be waived?

Nine sections are listed in 14 CFR 107.205: operation from a moving vehicle, night anti-collision lighting, visual line of sight, visual observer, multiple aircraft, yielding right of way, operation over human beings, operation in certain airspace, and the operating limitations in 107.51.

What cannot be waived under Part 107?

Anything not listed in 107.205, including the requirement to hold a remote pilot certificate, condition for safe operation, medical condition, remote pilot in command responsibilities, careless or reckless operation, alcohol and drugs, and preflight duties. Registration and Remote ID sit outside Part 107 and cannot be waived through this mechanism.

When must a drone accident be reported to the FAA?

Within 10 calendar days, where the operation involved serious injury to any person, any loss of consciousness, or damage to property other than the aircraft exceeding $500 in repair cost or $500 in fair market value if totally destroyed.

Do I have to report damage to my own drone?

No. Section 107.9 covers damage to property other than the small unmanned aircraft. Destroying your own aircraft, with no other injury or property damage, triggers no FAA reporting requirement.

What is the difference between a waiver and an airspace authorization?

A waiver permits deviation from an operating rule such as visual line of sight or flight over people. An airspace authorization permits entry into controlled airspace. They are separate applications, and an operation requiring both must obtain both through FAA DroneZone.

How long does a Part 107 waiver take?

Considerably longer than an airspace authorization, typically weeks to months depending on complexity. Applications succeed on the strength of their described mitigations rather than the operational need, so apply well before the work is scheduled.

Waivers and reporting are firmly inside Regulations, now 48 percent of the current exam. Check where you stand with the free readiness assessment.

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Editorial note: FAA rules and guidance may change. Confirm current operational requirements with official FAA resources before every flight. Updated August 25, 2026.