so ive been flying for about two years now, mostly recreational stuff in my backyard and at the park near my house, but ive been getting more requests from people wanting me to shoot their events and stuff and i guess i need to actually get licensed if i want to charge money for it. a coworker mentioned part 107 but honestly i dont really know what that involves or how hard the test is. i did okay in school but im not like a great studier or anything and i havent taken a formal test in probably ten years. is the studying really intense or can you like knock it out in a few weeks if you focus? and do i need to know actual aviation stuff like about airspace and all that because that part sounds pretty intimidating ngl

yeah the airspace stuff is actually the biggest chunk of what you need to know, like sectional charts and reading them, class B C D airspace, that whole thing. its not as bad as it sounds though once it clicks. i used the Sporty's free course online and supplemented with some youtube videos from a guy called Tony Northrup who breaks it down pretty well for drone people. took me about 3 weeks studying maybe an hour a day after work and i passed first try. the practice tests are really key, like just do a ton of those until you're consistently getting 80s and 90s and you should be fine on the real thing. weather stuff trips a lot of people up too so dont sleep on that section.

honestly the test isnt that bad but i will say the sectional chart questions are genuinely confusing if you have zero aviation background. i had to look at those things like 50 times before they made any sense to me. get a printed practice sectional chart if you can, staring at it on a laptop screen is annoying. also the real test center feels very DMV-ish, bring water, the one i went to was freezing cold for some reason and i was distracted the whole time lol