Passed Part 107? What to do this week and this month
The FAA paperwork in the right order, what clients ask for on insurance, what can safely wait, and a 30-day plan from passing to your first paid job.
You walked out of the test center with a passing score, and now you’re wondering what happens next. It’s one of the most common questions new pilots post: “Passed the test today, what now?”
Here’s the short answer. This week is paperwork: apply for your certificate in IACRA, wait for the TSA check, print your temporary certificate, then register your drone for Part 107 and sort out Remote ID. This month is about getting paid: pick one kind of work, shoot five photos you’re proud of, set a price and start messaging people who might hire you.
One line from the community is worth keeping in your head while you do all of it: “Part 107 is a credential, not a business. The cert makes you legal. It doesn’t give you customers.” The paperwork makes you legal, and the 30-day plan below is how you go looking for customers.
Today: get your certificate moving
Your passing score doesn’t turn into a certificate on its own. You apply for it on FAA Form 8710-13 inside IACRA, the FAA’s online certification system, and you’ll need the 17-digit Knowledge Test Exam ID from your test report.
If IACRA can’t find your test yet, don’t panic. The FAA says it “may take up to 48 hours from the test date for the knowledge test to appear in IACRA.” Once it shows up, fill in the application, sign it electronically and submit.
Then the TSA runs a background check. When it’s done, the FAA emails you instructions for printing your temporary certificate from IACRA. The plastic card comes later by mail, once the FAA finishes its internal processing. Pilots on Reddit have reported waiting about 33 to 35 days for the card, though that’s two people’s experience and not an FAA promise.
Apply online, too. If you apply on paper and don’t already hold a manned pilot certificate, you don’t get a temporary certificate at all.
Can you do jobs with a temporary certificate?
This question comes up constantly, word for word: “Can I do jobs with a temporary airman certificate?” The rule that creates the temporary certificate, 14 CFR 107.64, gives it an expiration and nothing else. It’s issued for up to 120 calendar days and ends on the date printed on it, when your permanent certificate arrives, or if the FAA denies or revokes it. So you don’t have to wait for the card in the mail.
Whichever one you have, carry it with you whenever you fly under Part 107, along with ID. You have to show both if the FAA, the NTSB, the TSA or a police officer asks. A printed copy in your drone case is the easy way to never forget it.
This week: make your drone legal for paid work
Register it for Part 107
Register the drone in FAA DroneZone under Part 107. It costs $5 per drone and lasts three years. If you registered it earlier as a recreational flyer, that registration doesn’t carry over, because the FAA doesn’t let a registration move between recreational and Part 107.
Put the registration number on the outside of the drone before you fly. It has to be legible and securely attached.
Small drones catch a lot of new pilots here. The rule that lets drones of 0.55 pounds (250 grams) or less skip registration only covers recreational flying. Fly that same small drone for a client and it needs a Part 107 registration and Remote ID like any other.
Sort out Remote ID
Since September 16, 2023, a drone that’s registered or required to be registered has to meet Remote ID. You have three options: fly a drone with standard Remote ID built in, attach a broadcast module, or fly only inside an FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA). The FAA’s Declaration of Compliance lookup tells you whether your drone or module is on its accepted Remote ID list.
On the Part 107 side of DroneZone, each Remote ID drone or broadcast module is registered separately and gets its own registration number, and you’ll enter its Remote ID serial number. Our Remote ID guide for Part 107 pilots walks through the three options in detail.
Two small rules that trip people up later
If you move, tell the FAA your new mailing address within 30 days. Miss that and you’re not allowed to use your certificate until you do.
If a job is near an airport, you may be in controlled airspace. LAANC lets Part 107 pilots request authorization to fly at or below 400 feet there and often get it in near real time, through LAANC apps run by companies the FAA has signed up as suppliers. You still have to check NOTAMs and weather yourself. The airspace classes and LAANC guide explains which spots need it.
Insurance: what clients ask for, and what it costs
Nothing in Part 107 makes you buy insurance, but the people who hire you often will. An insurer’s guide says real estate firms and construction clients commonly ask for at least $1 million in liability coverage (some want $2 million), a certificate of insurance before you fly, and often to be named as an additional insured on your policy. An aviation insurance broker says the same thing more briefly: “Many contracts require at least $1M in liability coverage.”
As for price, remember that the people publishing these numbers sell the policies. BWI, a broker, puts liability-only coverage at around $600 to $1,200 a year for $1 million, and around $300 a year for $500,000. SkyWatch, an insurer, says $1 million for new Part 107 pilots “starts around $750-1,500 annually.” A real estate photography company puts it at $450 to $750 or more a year.
New pilots also ask this one: “Can I buy temporary insurance on jobs without an open business?” Short-term, on-demand policies exist for exactly this, and SkyWatch’s own advice is that “If you only fly occasionally, paying for annual coverage doesn’t make sense.” For your first few jobs, on-demand coverage is a reasonable way to say yes to a client who wants a certificate of insurance without paying for a full year up front. Get quotes from two or three providers and compare the limit, not just the price.
LLC, DBA or nothing yet?
Plenty of new pilots ask, the week they pass, “should I open an LLC right away?” Our view, as general information and not legal advice: you usually don’t need one before your first job.
According to the SBA, if you start doing business without registering anything, you’re automatically a sole proprietor. The SBA calls that a good fit for low-risk businesses and for testing an idea before you form something more formal, and you can still get a trade name (a DBA). An LLC can protect your personal property from lawsuits, but the SBA adds that “that protection has limits,” and business insurance fills the gaps. For a new drone pilot, the insurance policy a client asks for tends to matter more in the first month than the paperwork behind your business name. Talk to an accountant or attorney in your state before you decide, especially if you already own a business.
Taxes do start early, though. The IRS requires self-employment tax once your net earnings from self-employment reach $400 or more in a year, and the rate is 15.3%. Keep receipts for the drone, insurance and mileage from day one.
Is your drone enough?
Another common one: “is the mini 3 enough for basic stuff or do I really need to go up a notch?” We can’t answer that for every job, but we can tell you how to find out without spending money. Shoot a real practice job with the drone you already own, like your own house or a friend’s, and look at the photos on a laptop screen. If you can get five shots you’d put in front of a client, the drone is enough to start.
That’s the same bar one part-time real estate photographer used. He worked full time as a software engineer, and he didn’t go to market “until I had at least five shots I was genuinely proud of.” Upgrade once a paying client needs something your drone can’t do, like thermal images for roofs.
If you’re worried about DJI: DJI was added to the FCC’s Covered List in December 2025, and the reporting we’ve seen says that blocks new models from being authorized while drones people already own stay legal to fly. We’d treat that as secondhand until the FCC says more, and it’s no reason to hold off on your first job with a drone you already have.
The next 30 days: from licensed to first paid flight
Here’s the plan we’d follow if we’d passed this week.
Week 1: pick one lane. A lane is one kind of drone work, like real estate listings, roofs or construction progress. Pick the one closest to a business you already know. As one real estate photographer put it, “Drone needs to be an add-on to your normal photography.” If you’re unsure, our free quiz matches you to a lane in a couple of minutes.
Week 2: shoot your five shots. Fly your own property, a friend’s roof or a local business that says yes. Keep only the five best. Five strong photos show a client more than thirty average ones.
Week 3: set a price. Ranges vary a lot. One real estate photography company reports beginners charging $75 to $150 per property and intermediate photographers $150 to $300. One pilot’s rate card lists roofs at $150 to $400 and insurance claim photos at $250 to $500. A review of one gig platform shows residential roof missions paying $175 to $275, and says about 40% of scheduled missions were being hit by weather cancellations. These are ranges people report, not what you’ll earn. Our drone pricing calculator helps you turn your own costs into a price, and our guide to how much drone pilots make shows where each number comes from. For the math behind a first quote, see how much to charge for drone work.
Week 4: message 20 people. Real estate agents who post a lot of listings, two or three local roofers, a builder with a project going up. The software engineer above messaged top local realtors offering a free collab shoot for his portfolio. Keep your first message short: who you are, one photo and a simple offer.
Stay legal: recurrent training every 24 months
Your certificate doesn’t expire, but your right to use it does if you let your knowledge lapse. To fly under Part 107, you need to have passed the test or completed recurrent training within the previous 24 calendar months. The FAA’s recurrent course (ALC-677) is online and free.
The 24 months run to the end of the month. If you passed on September 13, 2026, you’re good through September 30, 2028. Put a reminder in your phone today. Our recurrent training guide covers what the course includes.
Get the 30 days in your inbox
If you’d rather not piece this together yourself, the free course sends these steps one email a day for a week, from picking a lane to sending your first client message. If real estate is your likely first lane, starting real estate drone photography goes deeper on that one.
Get the free 7-day First Paid Flight course
If you’d rather have everything at once, Liftoff Pilot includes the First Paid Flight kit for $49 once, lifetime access. You can see what’s included.
Liftoff is an independent school with no connection to the FAA.