Does the Part 107 cloud clearance requirement apply to a scattered layer, or only to a ceiling?

Part 107 states its cloud clearance requirement without qualification as to cloud type or coverage: the aircraft must remain 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally from any cloud. Scattered layers are clouds, so the requirement applies to them. The reason is collision avoidance rather than the pilot's own visibility — a manned aircraft can emerge from a cloud with no warning, and the clearance distances exist to give both parties time to see and avoid. Scattered layers deserve particular attention precisely because they feel benign: a mostly clear sky with a few cumulus at 700 feet AGL still constrains an unmanned operation, since 500 feet below that base leaves only 200 feet of usable altitude. The requirement also cannot be waived away by low operation or uncontrolled airspace, and it applies equally at night. Reading the reported cloud bases against the intended altitude is the preflight step that catches this.

The requirement applies to any cloud regardless of coverage, so a scattered layer constrains the operation just as a ceiling does.

Part 107 requires a minimum flight visibility of three statute miles from the control station and cloud clearances of 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally from any cloud, regardless of coverage or airspace class.

Any Cloud Is a Cloud. Scattered, broken or overcast — five hundred below and two thousand across.

A scattered layer at 700 feet AGL leaves only 200 feet of usable altitude. Low bases bind the operation long before the 400-foot ceiling does.

• •Applying the requirement only to ceilings
• •Assuming Class G airspace relaxes the clearance
• •Overlooking that low bases can bind harder than the altitude ceiling