The Part 107 test changes on 26 October: chart questions that aren't in the supplement

If you're sitting the FAA's Part 107 knowledge test soon, check the date. From 26 October 2026, the test will include chart questions built from images that aren't in the testing supplement. Here's what the FAA has said, what it hasn't, and how to prepare. Everything here is correct as of 12 October 2026.

Which test this is

To fly under Part 107 you need a Remote Pilot Certificate. For a first-time pilot, the FAA's become a drone pilot page sets out the route: book a slot at an FAA-approved knowledge testing centre and pass the initial aeronautical knowledge test, Unmanned Aircraft General, Small. The FAA calls it UAG for short, and it is the test this change is about.

What changes on 26 October

The FAA announces test changes in its Airman Testing Community Advisory. The August 2026 edition and the September 2026 Special Edition both say that from 26 October 2026, the UAG test and the Instrument Rating Airplane test "will include image-based questions not found in the test supplements".

The supplement is the printed book of charts and figures you can refer to during the test. The UAG test already has some questions with an image built into the question. What's new is where the images come from: the FAA says they will be clearer, up-to-date images from its current charts, sourced from its VFR and IFR low altitude chart series. For a drone pilot, that means sectional charts.

The advisories include two sample UAG questions, and both use an excerpt of a real sectional:

• One uses the Washington sectional. It asks what type of airspace is associated with Millville Municipal (MIV), and whether you need ATC authorisation to fly a small drone there.
• The other uses the Las Vegas sectional. It asks which frequency to use as the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency at Grand Canyon National Park (GCN) when the control tower isn't operating.

Both excerpts come from chart editions dated June to August 2025.

Both advisories mark 26 October as a correction to an earlier edition's date, so if you've seen another date elsewhere, 26 October is the current one.

What doesn't change yet

The supplement stays for now. The September advisory says the date for removing testing supplements from test centres "has not yet been set", and that the public will get plenty of notice before it happens. Until then, you keep access to the supplement for your test.

Tools will be provided where a question needs them. The FAA accepts that some questions "may require specific measuring tools", and says applicants "will have the tools they need". It can't yet say how any on-screen tools will work.

Who it affects

• Anyone sitting the initial UAG test on or after 26 October 2026. If you sit the test before that date, the advisories describe no change to it.
• Not the Part 61 route. The FAA's page says pilots who already hold a Part 61 certificate, with a flight review in the previous 24 months, take the online Part 107 Small UAS Initial course (ALC-451) rather than the UAG test.
• Not your currency, as far as these advisories go. The same FAA page says certificate holders stay current with a free online recurrent course every 24 calendar months (ALC-677, or ALC-515 for Part 61 pilots with a current flight review). The advisories don't mention it.

How to prepare

Practise on real sectionals, not only the supplement. The new questions use chart excerpts you won't have seen before, so practise reading charts you don't know. The FAA's VFR raster charts page lists every current sectional as a free PDF download, with no account needed. Both sample sectionals are there, in editions dated 3 September 2026, with the next editions due on 29 October. Expect large files: over 100 MB each.

Rework the FAA's samples from the chart. Find MIV on the Washington sectional and GCN on the Las Vegas sectional, and answer both questions from the chart and its legend alone.

Drill the same questions on any airport. Pick a few airports on a sectional you haven't studied. For each one, work out the class of airspace around it, whether a drone flight there would need ATC authorisation, and which frequency is its CTAF.

Practise measuring off the chart. Get comfortable with the chart's scale and its latitude and longitude lines, so whatever tool you're given, you know what you're measuring.

Check the advisory again before test day. The FAA says significant changes and any new electronic tools will be announced there well in advance. The advisories also suggest using the sample questions on the test provider PSI's site to get used to the new format.

Where to read more

• FAA: Airman Testing Community Advisory, August 2026 (PDF)
• FAA: Airman Testing Community Advisory, September 2026 Special Edition (PDF)
• FAA: Become a drone pilot
• FAA: VFR raster charts

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