FAA Part 107 to Your First Civilian Drone Job (Veterans)

You passed the FAA Part 107 test. The certificate is sitting in your email. And your job search still feels like shouting into an empty hangar.

Nobody tells you this before you pay for the exam. The Part 107 card is only a legal gate. It lets you fly a drone for money. It does not, on its own, get you hired.

But you have something most people chasing drone work do not. You flew, fixed, or fed data to real aircraft in uniform. Army 15W operators, Air Force RPA crews, imagery analysts, aviation maintainers. That experience is the part civilian hiring managers cannot buy off a weekend course.

This guide walks the whole pipeline. How to get the Part 107 cert with no degree. How your military time actually maps to the job. And how to write the resume so a hiring manager sees a pilot, not a hobbyist.

What Is the FAA Part 107 Certificate, and Why Do Drone Jobs Require It?

Part 107 is the FAA rule for flying small drones commercially. Any time you fly a drone for work, you need it. That covers inspecting a cell tower, mapping a job site, or shooting a real estate listing.

The credential itself is called the FAA Remote Pilot Certificate. It carries a small unmanned aircraft systems rating. People shorthand it as "the Part 107" or "a Part 107 license."

Here is what trips up a lot of veterans. Your military drone hours do not give you this cert. Flying a Gray Eagle or feeding an MQ-9 sensor for four years does not transfer over. The FAA treats civilian commercial flight as its own thing. You still test in.

The one exception is if you already hold a civilian FAA pilot certificate under Part 61. Most transitioning drone operators do not. So plan on testing.

How Do You Actually Get Your Part 107 Certificate?

The path is short and cheap compared to most licenses. No degree. No flight school. No four-figure tuition. You study, you test, you apply.

The FAA sets the eligibility rules in 14 CFR 107.61. You need to be at least 16 years old. You need to read, speak, write, and understand English. You need to be in a physical and mental condition to fly safely. Then you pass the knowledge test.

The knowledge test

The exam is 60 multiple-choice questions. You need 70% or higher to pass. You take it in person at an FAA-approved testing center.

The questions cover airspace, weather, sectional charts, drone rules, and flight safety. A lot of it will feel familiar if you worked around aviation. If you did not, a prep course fills the gaps fast.

There is a fee to sit the test, and the testing provider sets it. Check the current amount before you book. Do not trust an old number you saw on a forum.

Register, test, and stay current

Before you test, get an FAA Tracking Number through the FAA's IACRA system. You bring that to the testing center. The FAA lays out the full step-by-step on its become a drone pilot page.

After you pass, you apply for the certificate through IACRA. The TSA runs a security background check. You get a temporary cert fast, then the permanent one by mail.

One rule to know for the long haul. You have to stay current every 24 calendar months, under 14 CFR 107.65. The FAA now handles that with a free online training course, not another proctored test.

Some veterans use the GI Bill or Military COOL funds to cover an approved prep course. Do not assume it is covered. Check your branch COOL portal and confirm the school is approved before you pay a dime. Our GI Bill for certifications guide walks through how that funding works.

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Does Your Military UAS or ISR Experience Count Toward a Drone Job?

On the cert, no. On the resume, it is your whole edge.

Think about who else applies for these jobs. A lot of them are hobbyists who bought a drone and passed the test. They have never flown a mission with real stakes. You have.

If you were an Army 15W, you ran launch and recovery, mission planning, and payload operations under pressure. That maps straight to commercial flight ops. Our 15W civilian career guide breaks down where that experience lands.

Air Force RPA crews carry the same weight. If you worked the sensor ball as a 1U0X1 RPA sensor operator (the Air Force retired 1U0X1 in 2024; sensor operators are now 1A1X4 Multi-domain Operations Aviators), you know how to run a camera payload and read a scene. If you flew the aircraft as a 1U1X1 RPA pilot, you have logged flight decision-making no civilian applicant can match on day one.

Imagery folks fit too. A 35G geospatial imagery analyst already turns aerial data into a product. Mapping and survey drone work is that same skill in a business suit.

Aviation maintainers have a lane too. Companies that run drone fleets need people who understand airframes, batteries, and preflight checks. Your wrench time counts as a real hiring point.

Navy and Coast Guard veterans, do not count yourself out either. If you stood watch on aviation systems, ran surveillance gear, or supported flight ops afloat, that work translates. The job cares that you operated in a real airspace and safety culture. It does not care which branch trained you.

Why Won't the Cert Alone Get You Hired?

Because a cert is a checkbox. The work behind it is the proof.

When a company reviews resumes, a recruiter scans fast. About six seconds on the first pass. Part 107 gets you into the stack. It does not move you to the top of it. What moves you up is evidence you can do the job.

An applicant tracking system ranks candidates by how well they match the posting. It does not reject you for missing one word. But it ranks a resume with flight ops, payload work, and a cert far above a resume that just says "Part 107 certified."

So build proof while you job hunt. Log real flight hours. Shoot clean footage or build a mapping sample. Pick a sector and learn its rules. A drone pilot for a survey firm needs different skills than one shooting weddings.

I went through this myself after I left the Navy. The certifications I earned opened doors, but they never landed the job on their own. The projects I built and the way I framed them on paper did. Part 107 works the same way.

What Civilian Drone Jobs Can You Actually Get?

The work is broader than most people think. Drones are not just for photographers anymore. Whole industries fly them daily.

Pay swings a lot by sector and region. Infrastructure and survey work tends to pay more than media gigs. For real numbers on related fields like surveying, check the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Do not trust a figure a prep course tries to sell you.

Federal and defense contractors also hire drone operators. Your clearance and military record are worth real money in that lane. If you held a clearance, keep it active and lead with it.

How Do You Write a Resume for Your First Drone Job?

This is where a lot of veterans lose the job before the interview. They list military duties in military words. The hiring manager cannot map it to the drone role.

Fix it by translating the work into civilian flight-ops language. Lead with the cert, then back it with mission-grade experience the job actually wants.

See the difference? The second version uses words a civilian recruiter searches for. Flight hours. Mission planning. Payload operations. It also puts the cert up front where the scan catches it.

Do not drop your service. Quantify it. How many flight hours? What platforms? What did your sensor or map product enable? Numbers make a hiring manager believe you. If you need help converting terms, our military-to-civilian glossary is a fast reference.

This is exactly what the BMR Resume Builder does for you. Paste the drone job posting. It tailors your military UAS or ISR experience to that role and formats it so an applicant tracking system ranks it high. Built by veterans who have sat on both sides of the hiring desk.

How Long Does It Take to Go From Test to Hired?

Faster than most career pivots. The cert itself is a matter of weeks, not years. The job hunt takes as long as any job hunt does.

Most people study two to four weeks for the knowledge test. If you worked around aviation, you may need less. If charts and airspace are new, give it the full month. Do not rush the study and burn a test fee.

Once you pass, the certificate side moves quick. You apply through IACRA, clear the TSA check, and get a temporary cert. Then the clock shifts to the part you control least, which is landing the role.

A simple plan keeps you moving on all fronts at once.

Run these at the same time. Do not wait for the cert to arrive before you fix the resume. The veterans who land fast are the ones who study, build, and apply in parallel.

What Should You Do Next?

Run the pipeline in order and it stops feeling like guesswork. First, book and pass Part 107. It is the legal key to the door.

Second, build proof while you wait for callbacks. Start by logging flight hours and building a footage or mapping sample. Then pick your sector and learn how it hires. Part 107 is a strong first step, but pair it with the other certifications that get veterans hired in your target field.

Third, fix the resume. Translate the military words. Put the cert up top. Quantify the flight time. That is the piece that turns a cert into an interview.

You already did the hard part in uniform. You flew real missions with real stakes. Now line up the cert, the proof, and the resume so a civilian company can finally see it. Start your tailored drone-job resume free at the BMR Resume Builder.