The pilot holds the certificate, not the company

The FAA certifies people, not businesses

No. A Part 107 remote pilot certificate is issued to a named person, and a business cannot hold one, apply for one, or inherit one. The rule that decides this is short.

Under 14 CFR 107.12, no person may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft system unless that person holds a remote pilot certificate, or flies under the direct supervision of a certificated remote pilot in command who can immediately take direct control. The certificate requirement follows the hands on the controller.

That is why the certificate travels with a pilot through job changes, and why a company cannot "qualify" itself no matter how much aircraft it owns. The pilot and the company split the trade down a clean line: you bring the certificate, the company brings everything else.

14 CFR 107.12Under 14 CFR 107.12, no person may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft system unless that person has a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating. — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, retrieved 2026-09-29

No person may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft system unless that person has a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating issued pursuant to subpart C of this part and satisfies the requirements of 107.65.

What a company CAN hold in this trade

The company side is real paperwork, just not flight paperwork. A business can hold the contracts, the bank account, the insurance policy, the aircraft registry entries and, in a useful quirk, airspace paperwork.

The FAA itself draws the line on airspace authorizations. In a Part 107 airspace application, the responsible party does not have to be the pilot, is not required to hold a remote pilot certificate, and is held responsible for the safety of the operation and for documenting the pilots and the aircraft used.

So a North Dakota LLC can hold the airspace authorization, the insurance policy that names its pilots, and the FAADroneZone registrations for its fleet. What it cannot do is fly. Every flight still needs a certificated person at the controls, or a certificated pilot supervising someone who is not.

The FAA states the responsible party on a Part 107 airspace authorization need not hold a remote pilot certificate, and is responsible for the safety of the operation and for documenting the pilots. — Federal Aviation Administration, retrieved 2026-09-29

Part 107 pilots must register each individual drone separately in their FAADroneZone inventory, and each device receives its own registration number. — Federal Aviation Administration, retrieved 2026-09-29

Where the company paperwork starts

If you want a company around the flying, the wall between pilot and business is a state filing, and it is cheap in North Dakota.

An LLC is created by filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State for $135, with a $50 annual report due November 15. The filing creates the company that holds the contracts. It does nothing to the certificate, which is exactly the point: the FAA side of the trade never moves.

You can file yourself through the FirstStop Portal, or have a formation service do the typing for the same state fee. Either way, the order is the same and the setup guide walks it step by step, from certificate to EIN to insurance.

$135A North Dakota LLC is created by filing articles of organization at $135, and its annual report of $50 is due November 15. — North Dakota Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

How a business actually scales beyond one pilot

The supervision clause in 107.12 is the mechanism a growing company works through. Every flight needs a certificated remote pilot in command, but not every person touching the controls needs their own certificate.

An uncertificated camera operator or trainee may manipulate the flight controls under the direct supervision of a certificated remote pilot in command, provided the certificated pilot has the ability to immediately take direct control of the flight. That is the whole arrangement, and it is what makes a two-person inspection crew legal with one certificate.

Growth beyond that means more certificates, full stop. A company bidding a job promises that each flight will carry a current certificated pilot, and the currency clock is per person, every 24 months. The currency guide covers the training each pilot tracks separately.

14 CFR 107.12Under 14 CFR 107.12, a person may manipulate the flight controls under the direct supervision of a remote pilot in command who can immediately take direct control of the flight. — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, retrieved 2026-09-29

24 calendar monthsCertificate holders must complete online recurrent training every 24 calendar months to maintain aeronautical knowledge recency under Part 107. — Federal Aviation Administration, retrieved 2026-09-29

Insurance and clients follow the same split

Insurers mirror the FAA split: the policy belongs to the business, the certificate belongs to the pilot, and the price follows both.

One drone insurance specialist states that its carriers will not quote operators who do not hold a Part 107 license, and that many commercial operators carry $1M in liability coverage because it is a common contract requirement. The company buys the policy. The pilot's certificate is what makes it quotable at all.

That has a planning consequence. If you intend to hire pilots, each hire's certificate affects the insurance you can buy, before any of them flies a job. The cover details, from liability limits to hull and hourly policies, are on the insurance page.

$1MBWI states its carriers will not quote operators without a Part 107 license, and many commercial operators choose $1M in liability coverage as a common contract requirement. — BWI drone insurance page, retrieved 2026-09-29

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