Staying current

Part 107 Recurrent Training: How to Stay Current

✓ Reviewed against current FAA sources on September 27, 2026

A remote pilot certificate does not expire. The privilege to use it does. Section 107.65 (opens in a new tab) requires that within the previous 24 calendar months you have done one of three things before you act as remote pilot in command, and almost all of the confusion about Part 107 recurrent training comes from not knowing which of the three applies to you.

The three routes in 107.65

The regulation lists them in this order, and any one of them makes you current.

• Passed the initial aeronautical knowledge test covering the areas in 107.73. If you took the initial knowledge test less than 24 calendar months ago you are already current and there is nothing to do.
• Completed recurrent training covering the areas in 107.73. This is the free online course, and it is the route almost every certificate holder uses.
• Completed training covering 107.74, which is open only to a person who holds a pilot certificate other than a student pilot certificate issued under Part 61 and who meets the flight review requirement of 61.56.

There is a fourth paragraph worth knowing about. Section 107.65 (opens in a new tab)(d) provides that a person who passed a recurrent aeronautical knowledge test, or satisfied the 107.74 training, before April 6, 2021, and within the previous 24 calendar months is treated as compliant. That paragraph is the bridge from the old in-person recurrent test to the online course that replaced it.

The free online courses, and which one is yours

Recurrent training is online and free on the FAA Safety Team website, FAASafety.gov. The FAA made it available in April 2021, replacing the in-person recurrent knowledge test. Three course numbers matter, and the third is the one people pick by mistake.

• ALC-677, Part 107 Small UAS Recurrent, Non-Part 61 Pilots. Any Part 107 certificate holder, whatever your Part 61 status. If you are not a crewed-aircraft pilot, this is your course.
• ALC-515, Part 107 Small UAS Recurrent. For holders who are also Part 61 certificated and current under 61.56.
• ALC-451, Part 107 Small UAS Initial. Not a recurrent course at all. It is the initial route into Part 107 for a current Part 61 certificate holder under 107.74, which is why it keeps being started by people who only needed recurrent training.

Save the completion certificate. It is your proof of currency, and no new card is issued to you.

How the 24 calendar months actually work

Calendar months run to the end of the month, which buys you time rather than costing it. Training completed on March 10, 2026, keeps you current through March 31, 2028, not through March 10. The same counting appears throughout Part 61 and Part 107, and the test asks about it directly.

What the course covers: the thirteen areas of 107.73

Both the initial knowledge test and recurrent training are built from the same list. Section 107.73 (opens in a new tab) names thirteen areas of knowledge:

• applicable regulations covering small UAS rating privileges, limitations and flight operation;
• airspace classification, operating requirements and flight restrictions;
• aviation weather sources and the effects of weather on small unmanned aircraft performance;
• small unmanned aircraft loading;
• emergency procedures;
• crew resource management;
• radio communication procedures;
• determining the performance of the small unmanned aircraft;
• physiological effects of drugs and alcohol;
• aeronautical decision-making and judgment;
• airport operations;
• maintenance and preflight inspection procedures;
• operation at night.

The last one is there because night operations stopped requiring a waiver in 2021. Anyone whose knowledge predates that change has a gap exactly where the current operating rules moved.

The shorter list for Part 61 pilots: 107.74

If you take the 107.74 route, the training covers eight areas rather than thirteen: regulations, the effects of weather on performance, loading, emergency procedures, crew resource management, determining performance, maintenance and preflight inspection, and operation at night.

The five areas it leaves out are instructive, because they are the ones a current Part 61 pilot has already demonstrated elsewhere: airspace classification, radio communication procedures, the physiological effects of drugs and alcohol, aeronautical decision-making and airport operations. Weather is also narrower, covering the effect on performance rather than the weather sources themselves.

What happens if you fall behind

Complete the online course before your next flight. You do not retake the in-person knowledge test, and nothing is revoked: the certificate itself is unaffected, because what lapsed is the recency in 107.65 and not the certificate under Subpart C. Flying a Part 107 operation while out of recency is still a violation, so set a reminder a month before your due date rather than relying on remembering.

One practical note. Because recency and the certificate are separate, a lapse does not interrupt anything else you hold. Your registration under Part 48 runs on its own three-year clock, and your Remote ID obligation does not pause.

Sources: 14 CFR 107.65 (opens in a new tab), 107.73 (opens in a new tab), 107.74 (opens in a new tab); 14 CFR 61.56 (opens in a new tab); FAA Safety Team courses ALC-451, ALC-515 and ALC-677.