Part 107 Ground School

Lesson

M7 Operations (airports, radio, emergencies, CRM, ADM, physiology, maintenance)

3:00-4:00 (60 min), break 4:00-4:10, mock exam at 4:10

Runways

  • Number is the magnetic heading divided by 10, rounded (Runway 27 points about 270 deg)
  • Opposite ends differ by 18 (9 and 27)
  • L, C, R for parallel runways

Traffic pattern

  • Standard pattern uses left turns
  • Legs: departure, crosswind, downwind, base, final
  • Right traffic is marked on the chart as "RP" in the airport data

Radio

  • CTAF: common frequency at non-towered airports; UNICOM: non-government ground station
  • Drone pilots are not required to talk, but should listen
  • Position report format: who you are calling, who you are, where, what you are doing, airport name again

Phonetic alphabet and numbers

  • Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, through Zulu
  • Numbers spoken individually; "niner" for 9
  • Altitudes in thousands and hundreds ("one thousand five hundred")

Lost link and flyaway

  • Know your drone's lost link behavior (return to home, hover, land) before flight
  • Set RTH altitude above obstacles
  • Flyaway: try to regain control, notify ATC if it may enter controlled airspace

Lithium batteries

  • Store and charge per manufacturer, never unattended
  • Do not use swollen or damaged batteries
  • Battery fire: thermal runaway can spread cell to cell and reignite; follow manufacturer guidance, keep a fire-safe container and extinguisher at the site

CRM

  • Use all resources: crew, equipment, information
  • Brief roles and emergency procedures before flight
  • Effective communication between RPIC, person manipulating controls, VO

ADM tools

  • DECIDE: Detect, Estimate, Choose, Identify, Do, Evaluate
  • PAVE: Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures
  • IMSAFE: Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion (or Eating)

Hazardous attitudes and antidotes

  • Anti-authority: "Follow the rules. They are usually right."
  • Impulsivity: "Not so fast. Think first."
  • Invulnerability: "It could happen to me."
  • Macho: "Taking chances is foolish."
  • Resignation: "I'm not helpless. I can make a difference."

Physiology

  • Fatigue, dehydration, heat stroke, hyperventilation, stress
  • Over-the-counter and prescription drugs can impair; check labels
  • Alcohol: 8 hours and under 0.04, and not impaired

Scanning

  • Short, regularly spaced eye movements
  • Each movement no more than 10 deg, at least 1 second per segment (AIM 8-1-6; the Study Guide describes a different version, below)
  • Eyes need time to focus; a sweep without stops sees little

Maintenance

  • Follow manufacturer schedule; inspect before each flight
  • Keep records of maintenance, repairs, part replacements
  • Records help identify trends and support airworthiness

Drill

Incident narratives (2)

Questions for each:

  1. Which hazardous attitude (or attitudes) shows up, and what is the antidote?
  2. Where was the last point someone could have broken the error chain?

Narrative 1: The last shot

A pilot finishes a paid roof inspection on a cold, gusty afternoon. The batteries have been sitting in the truck and the drone flags a low-temperature warning, but the client asks for "one more pass" over the far side of the building. The pilot says, "It's fine, I've flown this drone in worse." Gusts are now hitting 25 kt. Partway through the pass the drone drops to 15% battery, triggers return-to-home, and climbs into the wind. It cannot make headway and lands short in a neighbor's yard, clipping a parked car's mirror.

Narrative 2: Two people, one plan

A pilot and a friend acting as visual observer film a lakeside event. They never brief who calls traffic or what happens if the link drops. Mid-flight the VO turns to answer a guest's question. A news helicopter approaches low along the shoreline. The pilot, eyes on the screen, does not see it. The VO turns back, shouts, and the pilot descends hard, landing the drone in shallow water. Afterward the pilot says, "Nothing we could have done. Helicopters show up out of nowhere."

Check for understanding

  1. A pilot says "we've done this a hundred times, nothing will go wrong." Attitude and antidote?

    Reveal answer

    Invulnerability. "It could happen to me."

  2. What does PAVE stand for?

    Reveal answer

    Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures.

  3. An aircraft reports "left base, runway 27." Which direction is it flying?

    Reveal answer

    North (heading about 360 deg), perpendicular to the runway. Downwind was east, left turn to base heads north, left turn to final heads west (270).