A remote pilot plans a 22-minute flight. The battery is rated for 25 minutes in ideal conditions, and the temperature is near freezing with a 12-knot wind. What does the preflight power requirement demand?

Part 107 requires the remote pilot to determine before flight that the aircraft has enough power to complete the intended operation and to operate safely to a landing — not merely enough to reach the end of the planned flight time. The numbers here fail that test twice over. A 25-minute rating is achieved in ideal conditions, and near-freezing temperatures reduce a lithium battery's usable capacity materially while a 12-knot wind increases the power required throughout, so realistic endurance is well below the rating. Against that, a 22-minute plan leaves no reserve at all, let alone a margin for the approach and landing or for a contingency such as a diversion or a hold. The correct response is to revise the plan: shorten the flight, split it across batteries, or reposition to reduce transit time. Automatic return-to-home at a low threshold is a safety net rather than a plan, and relying on it is exactly the reasoning the rule exists to prevent.

The rule requires enough power for the intended operation plus a safe landing, and derated endurance in cold and wind leaves a 22-minute plan without reserve, so the plan must be revised.

Part 107 requires the remote pilot in command to determine before flight that there is enough available power to operate for the intended operational time and to land safely. Cold reduces usable battery capacity and wind increases power required.

Enough to Fly and to Land. The rating is a laboratory number; the cold and the wind are the real ones.

Treat return-to-home as a safety net, never as planned reserve. Options that lean on it are testing exactly that confusion.

• •Comparing plan time against the ideal-condition rating
• •Counting automatic return-to-home as reserve
• •Ignoring the additional power required for the landing phase