so my brother in law has been pushing me to get part 107 certified because i do some photography on the side and hes convinced theres money in real estate drone work. i have a mini 4 pro and i fly recreationally now, registered and everything. but im looking at the study material and it seems like a LOT of stuff that has nothing to do with taking pictures of houses, like runway incursion stuff and airport operations and whatever. is all that actually on the test or is it more skimmable than it looks? and is the real estate drone market even still good or did everyone and their cousin already figure that out

yeah all that stuff is on the test, you cant really skip it. the FAA doesnt care that youre not landing at airports, the knowledge requirement is the knowledge requirement. that said its not as bad as it looks when you first open the material. most people can get through it in 4-6 weeks of studying a couple hours a week. the sectional chart reading is probably the steepest part of the learning curve.

on the real estate question thats kind of a seperate conversation but the market is definitely more saturated than it was like 4-5 years ago. that doesnt mean theres no work, just means you actually have to hustle for clients and probably have other services to offer besides just flying around a house for 20 minutes

honestly the cert is worth it just for peace of mind even if the money doesnt materialize. flying for any kind of compensation without it is technically illegal and the fines are not something you want to mess with. i know a guy who got a nastygram from the FAA over instagram posts that made it look commercial and it was a whole thing.