okay so ive been flying my mini 3 for about 6 months now and i thought i understood the rules but apparently not. i got LAANC authorization through aloft for a spot near a small regional airport, got the green check and everything, flew for like an hour, no issues. but then someone in another group told me LAANC doesnt count for certain types of flights and i might have needed a part 107 waiver on top of that? i wasnt doing anything commercial, just messing around getting some footage of a lake nearby. the airport itself is pretty small, maybe regional commuter traffic, nothing major. am i missing something or was i actually fine

if you were flying recreationally and got LAANC approval you were almost certainly fine. LAANC covers you for the altitude and location you requested, thats the whole point of it. the part 107 waiver stuff comes into play if youre doing something that falls outside the standard rules ? flying over people, flying at night before the newer regs, that kind of thing. recreational flyers using LAANC are operating under the community based organization rules not part 107 so a waiver wouldnt even be the right instrument for you anyway. sounds like whoever told you that was maybe mixing up recreational and commercial frameworks, happens all the time honestly

yeah i was confused about the same thing for forever. i think the short answer is LAANC = you have permission to be in that airspace up to the altitude they approved. it doesnt give you permission to do things that are otherwise against the rules, like if you were flying commercially without a 107 cert that would still be a problem regardless of LAANC. but just flying for fun near a small airport with auth? you were good dude. the person who told you otherwise might have been thinking of a different scenario