A remote pilot buys a 240-gram aircraft for paid real estate photography. What are the registration requirements?

The 250-gram threshold is real, but it belongs to recreational flying, not to Part 107. Under Part 107 every small unmanned aircraft must be registered before it operates, regardless of weight — the exemption for aircraft under 250 grams applies only to aircraft flown exclusively under the recreational exception. Paid real estate photography is commercial work, so it is a Part 107 operation, and the weight becomes irrelevant to the registration question. Registration under Part 107 is also per aircraft rather than per pilot, so each airframe in a fleet has its own certificate and its own registration number displayed on the exterior. The trap in this question is well-designed: it presents a genuine rule and a weight that sits just under the genuine threshold, and relies on the candidate not noticing that the operation's purpose has moved it out of the rule's scope.

The sub-250-gram exemption applies only to aircraft flown exclusively under the recreational exception. Paid work is a Part 107 operation, and all aircraft operated under Part 107 must be registered regardless of weight.

Aircraft flown under Part 107 must be registered regardless of weight, per aircraft, with the registration number displayed on the exterior. The sub-250-gram exemption applies only to aircraft flown exclusively under the recreational exception.

The Exemption Is Recreational Only. Fly it for money and the 250-gram line stops applying to you.

Part 107 registration is per aircraft; recreational registration covers all of a pilot's aircraft under one number. That distinction is tested on its own.

• •Applying the 250-gram threshold to commercial operations
• •Assuming registration follows the pilot rather than the aircraft under Part 107
• •Thinking the payload determines the requirement