The over-people rules are the single most frequently missed topic on the FAA Part 107 exam — and the part everyone skips is who is responsible for the Declaration of Compliance when you build or modify your own drone. Seven questions to lock it down.
The Four Over-People Categories (14 CFR Part 107, Subpart D)
| Category | Core requirement | DoC? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ≤ 0.55 lb (250 g) and no exposed rotating parts that could lacerate skin | No |
| 2 | Won't cause injury ≥ 11 ft-lb of kinetic energy; no lacerating parts; no safety defect | Yes |
| 3 | Won't cause injury ≥ 25 ft-lb; no open-air assemblies; only over closed/restricted sites with notice | Yes |
| 4 | Holds an airworthiness certificate (Part 21); flown per its approved flight manual | No (uses the cert) |
The key nuance: the Declaration of Compliance follows whoever designed, produced, or modified the aircraft — not the brand on the box. Build your own drone or materially modify one, and you must establish an FAA-accepted means of compliance and submit the DoC before flying it over people under Category 2 or 3.
Topic: —
Based on 14 CFR 107.3, Part 107 Subpart D (107.110–107.140), and AC 107-2A §8.9. Content is for study only; confirm current regulations at faa.gov before flying.
Most study guides teach the four over-people categories and stop there. The exam pushes one step further: when you build or modify the aircraft yourself, the responsibility for the Declaration of Compliance shifts to you. You can't borrow a manufacturer's DoC for a drone you designed, assembled from a kit, or materially changed.
That single distinction — producer-vs-manufacturer responsibility — is where the national miss rate climbs above 75%. It's also one of the easiest points to lock in once you've seen it framed correctly, which is exactly what this lesson does.
The DroneReady 6-Week Bootcamp drills every ACS knowledge area this way: not just the definitions, but the exact nuance each code is written to catch.
The DroneReady Bootcamp pairs targeted lessons like this one with the complete Part 107 question bank across all 14 ACS topics.
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