Flying a Drone at Night: Rules and Requirements

Night flight was once the most commonly requested Part 107 waiver in the country. The rule change that took effect in April 2021 removed that paperwork: under 14 CFR 107.29, a remote pilot may operate at night without any waiver, as long as two conditions are satisfied — the aircraft is lit, and the pilot has been trained on night operations.

The lighting requirement

The aircraft must be equipped with anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles, flashing at a rate sufficient to avoid a collision. The rate that compliant products are built around, and the figure quoted throughout the industry, is 100 to 400 flashes per minute.

Two details matter more than pilots expect. First, the built-in LEDs on a consumer drone are almost never sufficient — they are position and orientation aids visible for a few hundred feet, not a 3-mile anti-collision beacon. Second, the requirement is about being seen by other aircraft, so the strobe needs to be mounted where it is not shadowed by the airframe or the gimbal. Many pilots fit one on top and one underneath.

The training requirement

Part 107 pilots must have completed the updated knowledge test or the online recurrent training that includes the night operations material. Anyone who earned their certificate before the rule change and has since completed recurrent training satisfies this; anyone still relying on pre-2021 knowledge alone does not.

Recurrent training is free, online, and required every 24 calendar months in any case. Complete it, keep the completion record, and the night requirement is handled.

What this means for recreational flyers

Recreational flyers operate under the statutory exception rather than Part 107, and must follow the safety guidelines of a community-based organization. Those guidelines call for anti-collision lighting at night, and the practical standard the community has settled on is the same 3-statute-mile strobe. Treat 107.29's equipment requirement as your baseline whether or not it applies to you by letter — it is what an FAA inspector or a police officer will expect to see.

Recreational flyers should also complete the TRUST test, which is required for all recreational flight regardless of the time of day.

Night, civil twilight and the clock

"Night" in aviation terms is the period between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight — roughly 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. Civil twilight itself is a separate window with the same lighting requirement, so in practice: if the sun is down, the strobe goes on. Check the actual civil twilight times for your location and date rather than estimating, because they shift substantially with latitude and season.

Everything else is unchanged

Night authorization is narrow. It removes the waiver requirement for darkness and nothing else:

• The 400-foot ceiling still applies, and grid ceilings in controlled airspace still apply.
• Visual line of sight is still mandatory — which is harder at night and is where most pilots quietly go out of compliance.
• Controlled airspace still needs a LAANC authorization; see the LAANC guide.
• Temporary flight restrictions, national park bans and the DC restricted airspace are all unaffected.
• Flight over people still depends on your operations-over-people category.

Practical night flying

The most common night incident is not an airspace violation but a collision with something the pilot could not see. Scouting the site while it is light, memorizing obstacle heights, and setting a return-to-home altitude above the tallest tree in the area prevent nearly all of them.

Registration first

None of this matters if the aircraft is not registered. Any drone over 250 grams needs an FAA registration marked on the outside, valid for three years. We handle the filing and deliver the certificate within 24 hours, and the expiration checker will tell you whether an existing certificate is still current.