Passing the Part 107 exam is your Golden Ticket to being able to fly drones for commercial purposes (that means making money). But the test is far from just a common sense test — it’s not an easy test for people unfamiliar with aeronautics, weather and mapping.
And if you’re like me and have trouble committing to — and understand — a book, then reading the FAA’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge may not be enough. There are a number of online and in-person Part 107 training courses to help you learn what you need to know
I tried out the MzeroA Remote Pilot 101 course, which consists of more than three hours of training videos, as well as 9 practice quizzes to cap the end of each section and one final exam at the end.
The course is put together by Jason Schappert. Schappert is a pilot, author of 8 aviation flight training books and flight instructor. MzeroA offers variety of manned flight training courses, though this is the company’s first foray into drone training.
The course is broken up into nine sections: rules & regulations, airspace, UAS weather and weather sources, UAS loading and performance, crew resource management, airport/field operations, radio communications, emergency procedures and preflight & maintenance.
It’s the topics that crossover into manned aircraft operations, like radio communications and airport/field operations that Schappert’s expertise really shines through.
I like how Jason discusses both the real world applicability of some of these topics as well as what you need to know to pass the test. This is one of the most important factors about Part 107 training for me. While of course we all want to pass, it’s important that we really understand why answers are right or wrong.
The course is an online website accessible via your individual login. The site is extremely easy to use. One featured I liked was the ability to “Mark Complete” each video. There were some videos that I watched, but since I was multi-tasking and cooking dinner or got distracted by Facebook, I didn’t give that lesson the full attention it deserved. I opted to not mark those lessons complete so I would give them a second listen.
I also like how in some of the videos, Schappert goes through practice questions on screen. He reads the question, then typically eliminates one, talking through why that answer is incorrect. Then he gives you the correct answer and explains why — aiding my understanding of why something is correct rather than just knowing what to mark correctly on the test.
The online course is $149 and comes with lifetime access.
MzeroA, of course, is not the only Part 107 training course out there. I personally passed based on study guides from Drone Pilot Ground School., though their course is more expensive at $299 (however, use the DRONEGIRL50 coupon code at checkout to save $50). Another popular online Part 107 study guide is Drone Launch Academy. Their price tag is a lower $199, but you can use the DRONEGIRL50 coupon code at checkout to bring your price down to match MzeroA’s $149 price. What’s interesting is that if you fail your in-person exam, Drone Launch Academy will pay for you to retake it,
Regardless, considering the fee to take the test is $150, I find it worth it to pay for a training course where I’ve had access to at least one practice test to ensure I don’t need to retake the FAA’s $150 test purely on time alone.
Good luck, and happy flying!
FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.