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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1176476
Hitting the Books Here, we can start out with some good news. A lot of the materials you'll want to study are available free online from the FAA (faa.gov/uas), along with a good deal of other information you'll want to look over. There are a few commercial websites that o¬er sample exam questions for free, as well. Our choice was 3dr. com/faa/drone-practice-tests. However, when you're studying for your exam, having at least one commercial study guide and hardcopies of some resources from the FAA will be very helpful. ASA's Remote Pilot Test Prep, updated annually, not only has test questions, answers and explanations, but a lot of useful information about the test itself. If you can't find a good exam prep class in your area, this book (along with some serious studying should get you a passing grade. When you take the computer- based exam, you'll be using an FAA workbook called Airman Knowledge Testing Supplement for Sport Pilot, Recreational Pilot, Remote Pilot, and Private Pilot. (Don't worry, there's enough exam time to read the title.) A PDF version is available as a free download, but you'll find that having a paper copy, available from a number of publishers, is extremely helpful, especially with the map-reading questions. In fact, even though free PDF's are available from the FAA (and they're huge), it's really useful to have a real paper VFR Sectional (a map made for flying under visual flight rules) for your area, or anywhere you expect to fly regularly, on hand. Frankly, learning how to read one of these is no easy task and, as pilot in command, you're responsible for knowing about any restrictions on where you're planning on flying. The Need to Know You may be a bit surprised at the amount of information you're expected to know to fly a drone commercially and to pass the test to do so. The way the F.A.A. sees it, you're sharing the same airspace, albeit a good deal lower, in most cases, with human-carrying machinery, and subject to many of the same issues like weather, pilot judgement, and aerodynamics. Even though you won't be flying in and out of airports, you may be near enough to them to have to know how they operate. As you may expect, there will be a lot to know about rules and regulations, all the things you can and can't do flying a drone: no flying over people or at night, and who has the right of way (just about everything else in the air). You'll also learn how to get some of those rules temporarily waived. One of the more complicated topics is the national airspace system. This includes understanding airport classifications and their various restrictions and how to read and understand low-altitude aviation charts called "sectionals" (each covers a specific section of the U.S.). Even though there are some great apps to tell you about where you're flying like AirMap or the F.A.A.'s own B4UFLY, you're still required to know how to figure things out for yourself. You'll even to learn about aviation radio communications. Even though drone pilots can't talk, there are times when it's helpful to listen if you're operating in one's area.