Part 107 Waivers: When You Need One and How to Start

A Part 107 waiver is an official FAA document that authorizes a deviation from certain small UAS operating rules. Under 14 CFR § 107.200, the Administrator may issue a certificate of waiver authorizing a deviation from any regulation specified in § 107.205 if the Administrator finds that the proposed small UAS operation can safely be conducted under the terms of that certificate. This article restates that framework and the FAA’s current Part 107 Waivers process page. It is a law explainer, not legal advice. Confirm the live eCFR text and the FAA page before you treat any summary as the rule for a specific job.

You do not need a waiver to fly when the operation complies with all of part 107. The FAA’s waivers page states that directly. A waiver is for the listed deviations you cannot meet as published.

What a certificate of waiver is—and is not

Section 107.200(b) requires a request to contain a complete description of the proposed operation and a justification that establishes that the operation can safely be conducted under the terms of a certificate of waiver. Section 107.200(c) allows the Administrator to prescribe additional limitations. Under § 107.200(d), a person who receives a certificate of waiver may deviate from the regulations of part 107 only to the extent specified in the certificate, and must comply with any conditions or limitations specified in it.

That last sentence is the operating rule after approval. The certificate is not a general “advanced ops” card. It is a scoped deviation. If the special provisions require a visual observer, a restricted-access site, or lighting you described in the application, those terms are part of the authorization you fly under.

A waiver is also not an airspace authorization. Routine access to Class B, C, D, or surface-area Class E under 14 CFR § 107.41 is a separate authorization process. The FAA’s waivers page currently states that the Part 107 airspace authorization application process remains in the FAADroneZone system until further notice. Many low-altitude requests at participating facilities go through LAANC, which DroneLaws.us covers in How LAANC Authorization Works on a Part 107 Job. Do not treat a LAANC approval as a waiver, or a waiver as a LAANC approval.

Which Part 107 rules § 107.205 will even consider

Section 107.205 is the list. A certificate of waiver issued under § 107.200 may authorize a deviation from:

• § 107.25 — operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft (with a stated limit: no waiver of that provision will be issued to allow carriage of property of another by aircraft for compensation or hire)
• § 107.29(a)(2) and (b) — anti-collision light required for operations at night and during civil twilight
• § 107.31 — visual line of sight (same carriage-of-property-for-hire bar as § 107.25)
• § 107.33 — visual observer
• § 107.35 — operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems
• § 107.37(a) — yielding the right of way
• § 107.39 — operation over people
• § 107.41 — operation in certain airspace
• § 107.51 — operating limitations for small unmanned aircraft
• § 107.145 — operations over moving vehicles

If the limitation you want to leave is not on that list, § 107.200 is not the path as written. The FAA’s waivers page maps common operational goals onto several of those sections: moving-vehicle operations in populated areas (§ 107.25), night or twilight without anti-collision lighting (§ 107.29), beyond the remote pilot’s unaided ability to determine position, altitude, attitude, and movement (§ 107.31), visual-observer deviations (§ 107.33), one remote pilot flying multiple small UAS (§ 107.35), flight over a person who is not covered by operational categories 1–4 (§ 107.39), speed, altitude, visibility, and cloud-clearance limits in § 107.51, and flight over moving vehicles outside categories 1–4 (§ 107.145).

Night is a frequent mix-up. Part 107 night operations with anti-collision lighting are addressed in Part 107 night operations. The waivable pieces listed in § 107.205(b) are the anti-collision-light paragraphs, not a blanket “night requires a waiver.” Operations over people have a category path under Subpart D; see Part 107 operations over people. A waiver of § 107.39 is a different request from flying a category-eligible aircraft as published.

Although § 107.205(h) lists § 107.41, the FAA’s current waivers page still treats airspace authorization as a DroneZone process and tells applicants who want to fly in controlled airspace to read § 107.41 and the agency’s flying-near-airports guidance. Follow the live FAA pages for which portal takes which request. This summary does not merge them.

How the FAA currently says to start

The FAA’s Part 107 Waivers page, last updated June 22, 2026 as displayed on that page, states that the operational-waiver application process has transitioned to the Aviation Safety Hub. Previously submitted waivers continue to be processed in FAADroneZone. New operational-waiver applications go through Aviation Safety Hub. Airspace authorization remains in FAADroneZone until the FAA says otherwise.

The same page’s application guidance tells you to determine which listed regulation you cannot meet, then complete a Waiver Safety Explanation that describes the proposed operation, identifies operational risks, and explains mitigations. The FAA states that if the application does not identify operational hazards and propose risk-mitigation strategies, the agency will not be able to complete a safety analysis and will disapprove the application based on insufficient information. Section 107.200(b)’s “complete description” and “justification” language is the regulation behind that intake.

The FAA also publishes operational-detail prompts on that page: where you plan to operate, maximum altitude, whether controlled airspace is involved, what kind of area you will fly over, aircraft type and performance, containment, personnel experience and training, and how you will handle unusual circumstances. Those prompts are guidance for the safety explanation. They are not a substitute for the certificate you hope to receive.

You do not need to register a drone to request a waiver, the FAA notes, but you must register prior to any operation. If you intend to use the waiver during civil twilight or at night, the FAA currently tells you to include details for how you will mitigate additional risk, or you may be restricted to daylight operations only.

Review, RFIs, and what “approved” still means

The FAA’s waivers page states that the agency will do its best to review and approve or disapprove waiver requests within 90 days of submission, and that processing times vary with complexity and the completeness of the initial application. If additional information is needed, the FAA will contact the responsible person listed on the application through Aviation Safety Hub. If you do not respond to a request for information within 30 days, the FAA currently states that the application will be canceled and you will have to resubmit.

Those timing figures are the FAA’s published process targets and RFI clock. They are not a promise that a given request will be approved, and this article invents no civil-penalty amounts. The FAA’s waivers page does state that failure to adhere to the terms of a waiver may result in a violation of the regulation being waived. Under § 107.200(d), you may deviate only as far as the certificate specifies.

An issued waiver is also limited to its own conditions: aircraft, locations, times, personnel, and operating limitations as written. Read the certificate before the job, carry it as the FAA and the certificate require, and log which flight used it. A PDF in email is not compliance by itself.

Practical takeaway for commercial remote pilots

Map the job to the published rule first. If the operation fits part 107 as written—including night with the required lighting, operations over people under a listed category, or controlled airspace with a proper authorization—do not file a waiver for theater. If you cannot meet a listed section in § 107.205, use Aviation Safety Hub for the operational-waiver request, write the safety justification § 107.200(b) requires, and file any airspace authorization in the portal the FAA currently names for that request.

Official sources: 14 CFR § 107.200, 14 CFR § 107.205, and the FAA Part 107 Waivers page. Confirm those texts before relying on this summary. This article is not legal advice.

If you already fly commercial Part 107 work and need the waiver, the authorization, and the flight to live in one ops record, Pilot Ledger is built for that kind of shopkeeping. The regulation still sits in the eCFR, not in the software.