Module 9: Airport Operations and Radio Communication Procedures
Airports concentrate exactly the kind of risk Part 107 is most worried about: manned aircraft operating at low altitude, in a predictable but tightly packed pattern, sharing the same airspace an sUAS is most likely to also occupy. This module covers ACS Tasks V.A and V.B — recognizing the physical layout and traffic flow of an airport environment, and understanding the radio communication procedures that support situational awareness around one, even though Part 107 itself does not require a remote pilot to carry or use a radio.
Learning outcomes
- Explain 14 CFR 107.43's prohibition on interfering with airport operations and traffic patterns, and 14 CFR 107.37's right-of-way and collision-hazard rules, in full.
- Recognize standard runway and taxiway markings and airport signage, and explain why that recognition supports safe sUAS operation near an airport.
- Describe the standard rectangular traffic pattern — its legs, altitude, and direction — at both towered and non-towered airports.
- Read and use standard aviation radio phraseology, including the phonetic alphabet and position-report structure.
- Explain what CTAF is, how to find it, and how monitoring it supports a remote pilot's situational awareness.
- Identify when direct communication with ATC is actually required for a Part 107 operation, and how to conduct that communication correctly.
Two Part 107 regulations do almost all of the legal work in this module: 14 CFR 107.43, which prohibits operating a small unmanned aircraft in a way that interferes with operations and traffic patterns at any airport, heliport, or seaplane base, and 14 CFR 107.37, which requires a small UAS to yield the right of way to all other aircraft and prohibits creating a collision hazard. Everything else in this module — markings, traffic patterns, radio phraseology, CTAF, and ATC communication — is knowledge that makes it possible to actually comply with those two regulations near a real, active airport, rather than complying with them by accident or by staying far enough away that the question never really comes up.
The module builds in a deliberate order: it opens with the airport environment broadly, then narrows into the specific visual language of an airport (markings and signage) that helps a remote pilot read what's happening on the ground and in the pattern. It then explains the standard traffic pattern structure that governs where and how manned aircraft move around an airport, at both towered and non-towered fields. The final three lessons build the radio literacy that supports all of the above — standard phraseology, the CTAF frequency used at non-towered airports, and the specific, limited circumstances under which a Part 107 operation actually requires direct communication with air traffic control.
One theme runs through the whole module and is worth stating plainly up front: Part 107 does not require a remote pilot to carry or use two-way radio equipment. The radio-related lessons here build situational awareness and support compliance with the right-of-way and no-interference rules — they are not describing a separate equipment mandate.
14 CFR 107.43 and 107.37 in full, and why airport environments concentrate collision risk.
Reading runway/taxiway markings and standard airport signage to build situational awareness.
The standard rectangular traffic pattern, its legs, and how entry differs by airport type.
Standard aviation phraseology and the phonetic alphabet, and when a radio is and isn't required.
What CTAF is, how to find it, and how monitoring it supports right-of-way decisions.
The specific circumstances that require direct ATC contact, and how to conduct that call correctly.