Commercial drone pilots in North Dakota

What this site covers, and the one line behind it

A Part 107 remote pilot certificate belongs to the person flying, never to the company. Most confusion in this trade starts when the pilot and the business get mixed up.

You hold the certificate, the registration and the recurrent training clock. The business, if you form one, holds the contracts, the bank account and the insurance policy. Each page here sits on one side of that line or says where it falls. Start with the pilot-and-company split if you are deciding how to set up.

Getting certified and staying current

The certificate comes first, because nothing else in the trade works without it.

The certification guide walks through the knowledge test, the IACRA application and the TSA check. Registering your drone covers the $5 federal filing and the marking rule. Keeping current explains the free online training due every 24 calendar months.

What the federal flight rules allow

Three rules decide most commercial flight days: night work, broadcast equipment and the preflight check.

Flying at night explains what replaced the old waiver, and the categories for flying over people. Remote ID sets out what your drone must broadcast in flight. The preflight checklist collects the documents and checks every paid flight needs.

The business around the flying

A drone business can stay a sole proprietorship or become a North Dakota LLC. Either way, the certificate stays yours.

The setup guide gives the order, from structure to EIN to insurance. The structure comparison weighs the options with a pilot's costs in mind. The formation services page lists each service's own published prices next to the $135 file-it-yourself route.

Cost and cover

Federal fees are small. The aircraft, the insurance and the aircraft you crash are where the real budget lives.

The cost breakdown separates the $5 registration and the state filings from what the market sets. Drone insurance explains liability against hull, the $1M many clients ask for, and hourly cover.

What North Dakota adds

North Dakota runs no drone registration of its own and points pilots at the FAA for the flight rules. It does license one branch of the work.

The North Dakota page covers the aerial application licence, the surveillance rules that matter if a public agency hires you, and the state filings behind the business.

How do I get certified to fly?

• Getting an FAA remote pilot certificate — The steps to a Part 107 remote pilot certificate, from the Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test to the IACRA application and the TSA check.
• Registering a commercial drone with the FAA — How Part 107 drone registration works, from the $5 fee and three-year term to marking the aircraft and the Remote ID serial number.
• Keeping your remote pilot certificate current — The Part 107 recurrent training rule: the free ALC-677 course due every 24 calendar months, the night-operations half, and what lapsing actually costs you.

What do the flight rules allow?

• Flying drones at night under Part 107 — What changed on April 21, 2021, from night flights and flights over people without a waiver to the lighting rule and the four over-people categories.
• Remote ID rules for commercial drones — The Remote ID rule in plain terms, what a drone in flight must broadcast, the three ways to comply, and how Part 107 registration ties into it.
• A preflight checklist for commercial drone flights — What to carry and check before every paid Part 107 flight, from the certificate and registration to Remote ID and the airspace authorization.

Pilot or company: who holds what?

• The pilot holds the certificate, not the company — Part 107 attaches to the person flying, never to the business: what the company can hold, what it cannot, and how hiring pilots works around one FAA rule.
• Sole proprietorship or LLC for a drone business — Sole proprietorship against LLC for a North Dakota drone pilot, what each costs to file, the $135 articles and the registered agent rule.
• Setting up a drone service business in North Dakota — The order to set up a North Dakota drone business, from certificate and structure to the $135 LLC, registered agent, EIN, trade name and insurance.
• LLC formation services for commercial drone pilots — Formation services for a North Dakota drone business LLC, each one's own published prices and registered agent handling, plus the DIY filing route.

What does it cost and cover?

• What a commercial drone business costs in North Dakota — The fixed fees for a Part 107 certificate, the $5 drone registration and the $135 North Dakota LLC, plus the market-priced aircraft and insurance on top.
• Drone insurance, liability and hull cover — What aviation cover for a drone business contains, liability against hull, the $1M many clients require, and hourly policies North Dakota law allows.

What does North Dakota add?

• North Dakota drone laws beyond the FAA rules — What North Dakota regulates for drone pilots, from no state registration to the licensed spraying route, surveillance rules and the sales tax detail.

Questions