Get Paid to Fly a Drone Legally? Where Do I Sign Up?
Originally published January 6, 2021
If 80 percent of success in life is just showing up, I’d say at least 10 percent is signing up. After all, knowing how to sign up for your drone license gives you a shot to show up in the first place. I did it today, and now you can cheat off this post to get all the links you need to do it too.
I took RJ’s advice to sign up at Drone Zone, but it turns out I already had a login since I have registered my drones there in the past. Even if you aren’t getting a commercial license, you should register your drones here for recreational use to comply with the FAA Part 48 regulations.
But I’m not interested in recreational flight anymore — I wanted to take my Part 107 certification exam. (FAA refers to a license as a certification). If you want to do this too, you’ll need to complete the Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA). ← Bookmark that site, because you’ll need to go there in two years to renew (or upgrade) your airman certificate. I signed up and received my eight-digit FTN number. You need that before you apply to anything else with the FAA, so it’s best to do this first.
From there I was able to fill out the profile details for my official application, but the bureaucratic hoops began already. I was unable to proceed because my home address couldn’t be validated. There’s an option to register your address online by creating an Airman Services Account, but you can’t do that without already possessing an airman certificate. I eventually figured out I had to go to google maps, put in my address, and then paste the web address of that google page in the box where it says “Post directions or a map of your house.”
I was shocked that it worked, but it brought me to the official application page. This is where you sign up to get your license — but you can’t actually complete this page until you’ve finished your test. So you have to sign up at this exam signup page to take your test.
The biggest decision to make on the exam signup page was whether to take the UAG or the UGR test. If you’ve never had a Part 107 certificate before, you need to sign up for the UAG — “Unmanned Aircraft General — Small” test (After two years, when you’re renewing, you would take the UGR — “Unmanned General — Recurrent” exam).
The next weird question is what kind of authorization you need. You must choose between a “Signed Score Report” or “None.” They make a really big deal about this and the test is non-refundable, so the question gave me some anxiety, but you don’t have to worry because I got it right and I’ll explain it here. A signed score report is only if you’ve already taken the test and need to get a higher score. I chose “none” and I was able to schedule my test right away. I was amazed to see there was a lot of test availability pretty much right away in my area. I had expected it would take a few months to get an appointment. Now I had to decide how soon I really wanted to take this test. Obviously I have a lot to learn, because I know nothing about topographical maps. But my workload is pretty light right now — I’m on a break from grad school, and Pix 11 just got bought by Nexstar so I don’t think there’ll be much overtime at work for me this month. If I fail, I only have to wait 30 days to take the test again. So, I signed up for January 21. That means I have 15 days to prepare. I’ll make sure to take off Jan. 20 from work so I can cram if I need to, and I’ll start hitting the books this week. I paid the $96 fee, and saved the receipt for tax purposes.
