Study guide
This chapter gathers the operational knowledge that keeps a flight safe once the aircraft is airborne and the crew is working together: what to do when something goes wrong, how a small crew coordinates, how pilots talk to each other and to manned traffic, how the human body and mind affect flying, and how good habits and good maintenance prevent problems before they start.
Emergency Procedures: Lost Link, Flyaway, and Loss of GPS
A lost link occurs when the control station loses its command-and-control connection to the aircraft; most small UAS are programmed to respond automatically, commonly by attempting to return to a home point, hold position, or land in place, and a remote pilot should know their specific aircraft's lost-link behavior before flying it, since that behavior varies by manufacturer and by user configuration. A flyaway is a more serious event in which the aircraft does not respond to control inputs and moves in an uncommanded, unpredictable way, which may result from a lost link that fails to trigger the expected fail-safe, a compass or GPS malfunction, or interference; in a flyaway, the priority is protecting people and property on the ground, which may mean deliberately terminating the flight into an open, unpopulated area rather than continuing to chase an aircraft that is not responding. Loss of GPS reduces the aircraft's ability to hold position and navigate precisely, and many small UAS shift into a more manual, attitude or atti flight mode that requires active pilot input to maintain position; a pilot should practice this mode before it is needed in an emergency, not discover it for the first time during one. Section 107.9 obligates reporting a qualifying accident within 10 calendar days, and separately, in a genuine in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the remote pilot in command may deviate from any rule in Part 107 to the extent necessary to meet that emergency, provided that upon request the pilot submits a written report of the deviation to the FAA.
Crew Resource Management (CRM)
Even a small UAS crew benefits from clear role separation and communication discipline, a philosophy borrowed from manned aviation and called crew resource management (CRM). The remote pilot in command holds ultimate responsibility for the safety of the flight, even when someone else is physically manipulating the controls; that person manipulating the controls must be a certificated remote pilot or be directly supervised by one who is immediately available to take over. A visual observer's role is to watch the airspace and the aircraft and communicate hazards clearly and promptly, freeing the person controlling the aircraft to focus on flight path and mission tasks. Good CRM means establishing a shared plan and communication loop before the flight — for example, agreeing that the visual observer calls out a specific description such as traffic at ten o'clock and descending rather than a vague warning like plane — and using closed-loop communication, where an instruction is acknowledged back to confirm it was heard correctly. Consider a two-person crew: Marcus flies the aircraft while his colleague Aiko serves as visual observer; when Aiko calls out that the aircraft is losing altitude faster than planned, Marcus should read back what he heard and what he intends to do, closing the loop rather than assuming the message landed as intended. Task delegation, mutual monitoring, and a habit of speaking up about a developing problem, rather than waiting to be certain, are the practical heart of CRM.
Radio Communication Near Airports
At an airport without an operating control tower, manned aircraft self-announce their position and intentions on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), and a remote pilot operating nearby benefits from monitoring that frequency with a handheld aviation radio to build situational awareness of manned traffic in the pattern, even though Part 107 does not require radio equipage. Standard phraseology matters because it is brief, unambiguous, and expected by other pilots: a typical self-announce format states the airport name, the aircraft's position or intentions, and the airport name again, for example: Fairview traffic, Skyhawk 4-2-Quebec, ten miles south, inbound for landing, Fairview. A remote pilot who wants to make a courtesy announcement about a drone operation follows a similar pattern, stating the location and nature of the operation so manned pilots have situational awareness, while remembering this is a courtesy and does not grant right-of-way — 107.37 already requires the small UAS to yield to manned aircraft regardless of any radio call. Standard phonetic alphabet and numbers-and-letters conventions reduce the chance of a callsign or runway number being misheard, which matters most exactly when workload and stress are highest.
Physiological Factors Affecting the Remote Pilot
Although a remote pilot's feet stay on the ground, the body and mind still shape flight safety, and the exam tests awareness of several factors. Hypoxia, a deficiency of oxygen reaching body tissues, is a limited concern for most Part 107 operations conducted at low altitude, but a pilot who has been at high elevation, has a respiratory illness, or is otherwise oxygen-compromised should be aware that judgment and reaction time degrade before obvious symptoms appear. Dehydration and fatigue both slow reaction time and degrade decision-making and visual scanning, which matters directly for a task, VLOS, that depends on sustained visual attention; a pilot who has been working outdoors in heat for hours, or who has had poor sleep, should treat that as a real risk factor, not a minor inconvenience. Medications, including many common over-the-counter drugs, can cause drowsiness or impaired judgment, and a pilot should check any medication's effects, and consult a physician when uncertain, before flying while taking it — a caution that supplements, not replaces, the 107.27 alcohol and drug prohibition. Vision limitations matter because VLOS depends on the pilot's unaided (or corrected-to-normal, with ordinary glasses or contacts) eyesight; a pilot whose vision is degraded, whether by uncorrected refractive error, glare, or eye fatigue from staring at a bright screen, may lose track of the aircraft or nearby traffic sooner than expected. This educational overview is not medical guidance, and any pilot with a genuine health concern about fitness to fly should consult a qualified medical professional.
Aeronautical Decision-Making, Airports, and Maintenance
Aeronautical decision-making (ADM) is the structured process of recognizing risk, evaluating options, and choosing the safest course, and one common memory aid is the 5 P's: Plan, Plane, Pilot, Passengers (or crew/people involved), and Programming (or process), a checklist prompting the pilot to reassess each category before and during flight as conditions change. A risk assessment matrix pairs the likelihood of a hazard against its severity to produce an overall risk level, helping a pilot decide whether a flight should proceed as planned, proceed with mitigation, or be scrubbed. Good ADM also means recognizing hazardous attitudes — anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation — and external pressures, such as a client deadline or a paying customer waiting, that can push a pilot toward an unsafe decision; naming the pressure out loud is often enough to counteract it. Airport operations knowledge for a remote pilot includes recognizing runway and taxiway markings well enough to avoid ground conflicts during takeoff and landing operations of a small UAS near an active airport, staying aware of the traffic pattern manned aircraft fly around an airport (a rectangular path at a set altitude used for approach and departure), and giving wide berth to aircraft on final approach or just after departure, when they are at their most vulnerable and least maneuverable. Finally, maintenance and preflight inspection responsibilities under 107.15 and 107.49 and the maintenance practices referenced in the ACS call for a documented inspection routine before each flight, a schedule of manufacturer-recommended scheduled maintenance (such as motor, propeller, and battery replacement intervals), prompt unscheduled maintenance when a defect is found, and record-keeping of inspections, repairs, and component life so a pilot or organization can demonstrate the aircraft has been kept in a safe, airworthy condition over time.
Key terms
- Lost link
- — Loss of the command-and-control connection between control station and aircraft, typically triggering an automatic return-to-home, hover, or landing behavior.
- Flyaway
- — An event in which the aircraft does not respond to control inputs and moves unpredictably, requiring the pilot to prioritize ground safety over recovering the aircraft.
- Crew resource management (CRM)
- — A coordination philosophy for allocating tasks and maintaining clear communication among the remote PIC, the person manipulating controls, and visual observers.
- Closed-loop communication
- — A communication practice where the receiver repeats back an instruction or report to confirm it was heard and understood correctly.
- CTAF
- — Common traffic advisory frequency, used by pilots to self-announce position and intentions at airports without an operating control tower.
- Hypoxia
- — A deficiency of oxygen reaching body tissues that impairs judgment and reaction time, generally a limited concern at low sUAS operating altitudes but relevant to pilot fitness.
- 5 P's
- — An aeronautical decision-making checklist covering Plan, Plane, Pilot, Passengers/People, and Programming/Process.
- Hazardous attitudes
- — Patterns of thinking — anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation — that degrade safe decision-making.
- Risk assessment matrix
- — A tool that combines the likelihood and severity of a hazard to produce an overall risk rating guiding go/no-go decisions.
- Traffic pattern
- — The standard rectangular path manned aircraft fly around an airport for approach and departure, a zone requiring extra sUAS caution.
- Scheduled maintenance
- — Manufacturer-recommended, time- or cycle-based replacement or servicing of components such as motors, propellers, and batteries.
- Preflight inspection
- — The pilot's required check, under 107.49 and 107.15, of the airframe, control links, propulsion, and communication link before every flight.
Exam tips
- Know your specific aircraft's lost-link behavior before flying it — the exam expects you to distinguish a controlled automatic response (lost link) from an uncommanded flyaway.
- Match each crew role to its limits: only a certificated remote pilot (or someone directly supervised by one) may manipulate controls; a visual observer watches but never flies the aircraft.
- Radio calls at a non-towered airport are a courtesy and situational-awareness tool — they never override the standing duty to yield right-of-way to manned aircraft.
- For ADM questions, look for the option that names and counters a hazardous attitude or external pressure rather than the option that just presses ahead with the original plan.
- Maintenance questions tie back to 107.15 and 107.49: preflight inspection is required every flight, and records of scheduled/unscheduled maintenance support demonstrating airworthiness.