A production company assigns a camera operator to control the gimbal while the certificated remote pilot flies. How should responsibilities be briefed?

Part 107 recognizes exactly one person with authority over a flight: the remote pilot in command. A crew may include a visual observer and, as here, a separate camera operator, but adding people does not divide the authority — it only adds tasks that must be briefed. The camera operator manipulating a gimbal is not manipulating the flight controls, so no certificate is required for that role. What the arrangement does create is a coordination risk: two people are watching different things through different displays, and the person framing a shot is not the person watching for a hazard. The briefing exists to resolve that in advance by fixing who calls an abort and what words trigger it.

The remote pilot in command retains sole authority for the flight and briefs the crew on hazards and on the calls that will stop the operation. That structure keeps decision-making with the certificated pilot while giving the camera operator a defined way to raise a problem.

Under Part 107 the remote pilot in command is directly responsible for and is the final authority on the operation. Additional crew such as visual observers and payload operators support the flight but hold no independent authority, and the remote PIC must brief them before the operation.

One Aircraft, One Commander. Extra hands are crew, not co-pilots. The gimbal is a payload; the sticks are the aircraft.

Crew questions reward the answer that pre-assigns roles. If one option describes a briefing that covers abort calls and hazards, it is very likely correct.

• •Requiring a remote pilot certificate for payload-only roles
• •Letting command authority follow whoever is holding a controller
• •Treating a crew member as a second pilot in command