Operations over people: Part 107 categories 1 to 4 explained
Can you fly over the guests at an event or the neighbors at a listing? The four Part 107 categories, what each requires and how the test asks about them.
Say you’re shooting a listing on a Saturday morning. The agent is in the driveway, a neighbor is walking a dog past the house, and a family is loading a car across the street. The question comes up fast on a job like that, and it comes up even faster at an event: can you fly over those people? Part 107 answers with a default rule plus four categories, and each category trades how risky the aircraft is against where you’re allowed to fly.
These rules joined the knowledge test on April 6, 2021, and the FAA says the questions were drafted from the rule itself. That’s why this guide sticks close to the regulation text in subpart D of part 107 (read it here), which helps whether you’re studying for the test or planning a real shoot.
The default: no flight over people
Under §107.39, you may not fly a small unmanned aircraft over a person unless that person is:
- directly participating in the operation,
- under a covered structure, or inside a stationary vehicle, that offers reasonable protection, or
- in an operation that meets one of the subpart D categories.
The first two cases don’t need any special aircraft. A crew member holding the camera case is directly participating. A family sitting inside a parked car is in a stationary vehicle. The neighbor walking down the sidewalk is neither, and that’s when the categories start to matter.
In practice, this is why a lot of the planning for a job happens before you ever take off. If you can pick a flight path that keeps the drone off to the side of people who aren’t part of the shoot, the default rule is easy to follow.
The four categories side by side
| Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft test | 0.55 lb or less, including attachments | Injury below an 11 ft-lb transfer from a rigid object | Injury below a 25 ft-lb transfer | Airworthiness certificate under part 21 |
| Exposed rotating parts | None that would lacerate skin | None that would lacerate skin | None that would lacerate skin | Not addressed in §107.140 |
| Declaration of compliance | Not required | Required | Required | Not applicable |
| Label | Not required | Category 2 label | Category 3 label | Not applicable |
| Sustained flight over open-air assemblies | Only with Remote ID compliance | Only with Remote ID compliance | Never | Only with Remote ID compliance |
| Where over people | Anywhere the rules allow | Anywhere the rules allow | Restricted site with notice, or no sustained flight over non-participants | As operating limits allow |
“Remote ID compliance” here means meeting §89.110 (a standard Remote ID aircraft) or §89.115(a) (a broadcast module).
Category 1
The aircraft weighs 0.55 pound or less at takeoff and throughout the flight, counting everything on board or attached. AC 107-2A equates that to 250 grams. It also can’t have exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin.
Weight is where people get caught out. Adding a light, a payload mount or a bigger battery can push an aircraft that was under 0.55 pound out of Category 1 for that flight, even though it’s the same drone you flew yesterday.
Category 1 doesn’t need a declaration of compliance or a label, but sustained flight over an open-air assembly still requires Remote ID compliance.
Category 2
Category 2 is defined by injury potential rather than weight. The aircraft must not cause injury equal to or worse than the injury from a transfer of 11 foot-pounds of kinetic energy from a rigid object. It must have no exposed lacerating rotating parts and no safety defects.
It also has to be listed on an FAA-accepted declaration of compliance and carry a Category 2 label. Before you fly over people, your preflight has to confirm the aircraft meets the category’s requirements.
Category 3
The injury threshold rises to 25 foot-pounds, with the same rules on rotating parts, safety defects, declaration of compliance and labeling.
The higher threshold comes with tighter operating limits. Category 3 may never fly over an open-air assembly. It may fly over people only:
- within or over a closed- or restricted-access site where everyone inside has been told a small UA may fly over them, or
- when there is no sustained flight over anyone who isn’t directly participating, under cover or in a stationary vehicle.
A test question might describe a construction site with controlled access and posted notice. That fits the first Category 3 condition, and it’s also the kind of site where a builder might hire you for progress photos.
Category 4
Category 4 aircraft hold an airworthiness certificate issued under part 21. They have to follow the operating limitations in the flight manual approved for that aircraft, and those limitations must not prohibit flight over people.
Maintenance is part of the rule too. The aircraft must be maintained under §107.140(c), maintenance records are kept for 1 year, and records of life-limited parts, airworthiness directives and inspection status transfer with the aircraft. The FAA’s sample question 45 asks which category requires an airworthiness certificate, and §107.140 settles it: Category 4.
Labels that get damaged
If a Category 2 or 3 label is damaged, destroyed or missing, the remote PIC (the pilot in command) must attach a legible, prominent label in English before flying over people.
Over people in moving vehicles
People inside moving vehicles get their own section, §107.145. Think of a shoot next to a busy road. The flight must meet a Category 1 to 4 rule, and for Categories 1 to 3 it must also either:
- stay within or over a closed- or restricted-access site where people in the vehicles have notice, or
- make no sustained flight over moving vehicles.
Category 4 needs its airworthiness certificate and operating limitations that allow the operation.
Before every flight over people
The preflight rule in §107.49 includes a specific item: for flights over people, confirm the aircraft meets the requirements of the category you’re using. We’d put it on your checklist right after checking that attached objects are secure, since a new attachment can change the category.
Waivers
Operation over people (§107.39) and operations over moving vehicles (§107.145) are both on the list of rules the FAA can waive under §107.205. A waiver request has to fully describe the operation and show it can be conducted safely.
How the test asks
Practice answering from a single fact, the way the rule is written. Try these:
- An aircraft under 0.55 pound with guarded props: which category?
- Which category needs an airworthiness certificate?
- Which category can never fly over an open-air assembly?
- What must a pilot do if a Category 2 label is missing?
The foot-pound thresholds are easy to swap under pressure: 11 for Category 2, 25 for Category 3. Tie them to the category number in whatever way sticks for you, and keep practicing until you stop mixing them up.
These rules connect to Remote ID through the open-air assembly condition, covered in Remote ID for Part 107 pilots. Every related limit is in the Part 107 rules cheat sheet.
Check yourself
Take the free 20-question practice test. You get a score by area, so you can see how you’re doing on regulations like these before test day. When you’re ready for the full course, Liftoff is $49 once with lifetime access, and every answer cites its FAA or eCFR source. You can see what’s included.
If you’ve just passed, what to do after you pass Part 107 covers registration, insurance and a 30-day plan.
If you’re still working out whether paid drone work is for you, start with how to become a drone pilot, or check whether you need a drone license for the flying you have in mind.