been flying my mavic for like two years just for fun, never made any money from it. a buddy of mine is always saying i should get the 107 anyway because it opens up airspace and whatever but im not sure if thats actually true for recreational flyers or if hes just repeating something he heard. also the studying looks like a lot of work and im not trying to memorize weather charts if i dont have to.

so i guess my question is does having the 107 actually give you any real advantages if you have zero intention of doing commercial work, or is it kind of pointless in that situation

yeah your buddy is a little mixed up on that. part 107 is a commercial certificate, it doesnt change your recreational flying privileges in any meaningful way. recreational flyers are under a totally different set of rules now (the FRIA and trust program stuff). that said some people get the 107 just to have the option open in case they ever want to make a dollar off footage, because once money changes hands even theoretically you need it. if thats not on your radar at all then no, its probably not worth the time unless you just want to learn the material for your own knowledge.

the airspace access thing ? LAANC authorization works for both recreational and 107 pilots so thats not really a differentiator either.

I got my 107 even though I fly mostly for fun and honestly I dont regret it. The studying was annoying but I feel like I actually understand what Im doing now, like the airspace stuff just makes more sense when you've had to actually learn it properly. I wouldnt say its worth it for everyone but it wasnt as painful as I expected either, took me maybe 3 weeks of studying on and off. Passed with an 87.