If you’re a drone pilot right now, you’ve likely found yourself wondering, what am I supposed to do if my Part 107 license expires and the testing centers are closed due to COVID? Well have no fear, the FAA has issued what it calls a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) dealing with renewing your Part 107 license during COVID.
If you already have your Part 107 license and just need to complete a recurrent exam, you will be allowed to complete an online test through the FAA, which will extend your current license for 6 months. The specific language in the SFAR states (Link to FAA SFAR):
Under the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak, eligible remote pilots who would normally establish recency of knowledge in accordance with § 107.65(a) or (b) may complete online training as an alternative if required to establish recency between April 2020 and June 2020. The remote pilot may complete the FAA-developed initial or recurrent online training courses at www.faasafety.gov one time to establish knowledge recency for six calendar months.
RELATED: Part 107 Renewal: What to Expect
Now, keep in mind, this is NOT your actual renewal exam. Instead, this SFAR provides you the ability between April 2020 and June of 2020 to take the FAA’s online training courses at www.faasafety.gov. You can do this one time, and it will extend the expiration date of your license for six months.
For context, this option is usually reserved for Part 61 pilots for manned aircraft, but given the circumstances, the FAA has determined that shut fill the gap due to the shutdown of testing centers because of COVID.
In fact, this is how I first got my Part 107 license. Since I already had a current Part 61 pilot’s license when Part 107 was introduced, I was able to simply take the Part 107 exam on my computer at home.
Another important thing about this extension is that it is free to take the test online. I’ll say it again, it’s free.
In order to do this, there is a very short course on faasafety.gov that you’ll need to complete and then you can complete the exam on your computer. This is a pretty simple (and I’ll say it again, FREE) way to stay current.
For anyone that has a license expiring soon, I highly recommend going this route. Take the test online, print out your results and add it to your flight bag. If nothing else, it will at least buy you some time before you have to sit for your recurrency exam.