If your agency is choosing between Part 107 and public aircraft operations, the decision is not the one it was two years ago. In April 2025 the FAA stood up an expedited Part 91.113 Certificate of Waiver/Authorization for public-safety agencies: 48 months of validity, observed processing of two to three days, no NOTAM requirement, no monthly reporting, and visual observers "encouraged but not required." A Part 107-only program that made sense in 2023 may now be leaving its most valuable capability on the table.
The framing that gets agencies into trouble is treating these as two flavors of the same rule. Part 107 is a civil rule built on an individual airman certificate — the FAA certificates your pilot and polices the operation. Public aircraft operations are a statutory status under 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41) and § 40125, where the agency self-certifies airworthiness, pilot certification, qualification, and medical standards, and, per AC 00-1.1B, PAO "create a significant transfer of responsibility to the contracting government entity, and that most FAA oversight ceases." You are not buying more privileges. You are accepting a different allocation of legal responsibility. Filing mechanics live in the Part 91 COA and waiver guide; this guide is about which regime you belong in.
Part 107 and public aircraft operations are two different legal regimes
Part 107 is certificate-based. A person passes the Unmanned Aircraft General exam, holds a remote pilot certificate, keeps knowledge recency current every 24 calendar months, and flies within Part 107's limits — 400 ft AGL, 3 statute miles visibility, within visual line of sight — unless the FAA grants a waiver under 107.205. Privileges attach to the person, and the FAA retains full oversight.
Public aircraft status attaches to a flight. § 40125(a)(2) enumerates the qualifying governmental functions: national defense, intelligence missions, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement including prisoner transport, aeronautical research, and biological or geological resource management. AC 00-1.1B says PAO "may self-certify standards for unmanned aircraft (UA) airworthiness as well as pilot certification, qualification, and medical standards."
The core distinction. Part 107 privileges belong to a certificated person. Public aircraft status
belongs to an individual flight and must be determined flight by flight — AC 00-1.1B says the status
"is not automatic." An agency does not "become" a public aircraft operator once and for all.
The three-part test for public aircraft operations
Every qualifying flight clears three gates. Fail one and that flight was not a public aircraft operation, whatever your declaration letter says.
1. A qualifying entity
§ 40102(a)(41)(C) covers aircraft owned and operated by the government of a State, the District of Columbia, a territory or possession of the United States, or a political subdivision. That last phrase is where programs die. AC 00-1.1B states that political subdivision status is "determined by the Attorney General of the State" — not by the FAA, and not by your city attorney's confidence.
The entities that most often fail are special districts, volunteer fire companies, campus departments, and nonprofit search-and-rescue organizations; volunteer organizations typically do not qualify. If you are not unambiguously a unit of state or local government, get a written determination from your state Attorney General's office first.
2. Owned or exclusively leased for 90 continuous days
The aircraft must be owned by the qualifying entity, or under § 40102(a)(41)(D) exclusively leased for at least 90 continuous days. Both words carry weight. A short-term rental, a shared aircraft, a two-week manufacturer loaner, or a drone-as-a-service arrangement where the vendor retains use of the airframe between missions does not satisfy this. § 40125(d) provides one narrow FAA waiver of the 90-day requirement, for search and rescue under extraordinary circumstances.
3. A governmental function, determined flight by flight
The mission must be on the § 40125(a)(2) list, and the determination is made per flight. An agency flying overwatch on a barricaded subject is conducting a public aircraft operation. The same agency, pilot, and drone shooting footage for a recruitment video is not. The common gray area is training: many agencies fly non-mission proficiency work under Part 107 because the flight-by-flight test makes a training sortie's status arguable. That is prevailing practice, not an FAA-published rule.
The commercial-purpose trap that nullifies public aircraft status
From the FAA's own public aircraft checklist, verbatim: "Operating for a commercial purpose, such as seeking reimbursement for operations from another agency, nullifies Public Aircraft Operations." § 40125(a)(1) defines commercial purposes as transportation of persons or property for compensation or hire; § 40125(b) provides that a government aircraft loses public status when used for them.
The classic failure mode is mutual aid. You fly a mapping mission for a neighboring jurisdiction after a storm, invoice them under an existing cost-recovery agreement, and have converted a public aircraft operation into something the FAA does not recognize — a flight already flown under self-certified airworthiness and self-certified pilot standards.
The trap. Cost recovery is the quietest way to lose public aircraft status. Fly the mutual-aid
mission and eat the cost, or fly it under Part 107. Do not invoice for a flight you flew as a public
aircraft operation.
Note the asymmetry, which runs opposite to intuition: a government entity may pay a private contractor to conduct a public aircraft operation on its behalf. The prohibition runs against the government entity receiving compensation. Contracting out is a live option; billing out is not.
The two declaration documents agencies constantly conflate
Two distinct documents are both called "the declaration letter," and packages get returned because the wrong one was submitted.
| Document | When it is required | Who it goes to |
|---|---|---|
| § 40125 written declaration | Only when a civil contractor operates on behalf of the government entity | Provided in advance to the contractor; a copy goes to the responsible FSDO |
| Public Declaration Letter | Always — the agency's own certification of governmental status, signed by legal counsel | Submitted inside the COA or 91.113 waiver package |
The FAA imposes no format requirement on the § 40125 declaration but recommends it identify the operator's name, aircraft type and registration, contract dates, first proposed PAO flight date, the government entity's name, and the declaring official's details. The Public Declaration Letter is your counsel's statement that your agency is what it says it is, filed alongside FAA Form 7711-2, your PSO/PAO certification letter, your ConOps, and your initialed checklist.
Why the answer changed in April 2025
Before April 2025, choosing PAO meant the legacy COA framework: blanket Public Safety COAs for nationwide Class G at or below 400 ft AGL, or jurisdictional COAs covering any weight of aircraft in a defined area including controlled airspace. Both are VLOS-only, both run no more than 24 months, and both require NOTAMs and monthly reporting. Many agencies reasonably concluded Part 107 was simpler.
The expedited Part 91.113 CoW/A changed the arithmetic. It is processed by AFS-750 in Flight Standards rather than the Air Traffic Organization, with applications emailed to 9-AVS-AFS-750-91.113Waivers@faa.gov. It runs 48 months. Observed processing is two to three days — Noblesville PD's approval reportedly came back in 23 hours and 47 minutes, per Police1. It carries no NOTAM requirement and no monthly reporting. And visual observers are "encouraged but not required," which removed the dominant recurring cost from drone-as-first-responder programs. As of the FAA's 31 July 2026 page update, 985 Part 91.113 waivers had issued — more between April 2025 and February 2026 than in the preceding seven years combined, with over 1,000 agencies holding them as of February 2026 per an EFF FOIA release.
Read anything older than April 2025 with suspicion. Guidance written against Tactical BVLOS and
First Responder BVLOS COAs describes instruments the FAA no longer renews at expiration. If a
comparison does not mention the 91.113 CoW/A, it describes a world that no longer exists.
One thing the waiver does not do: its airspace half is capped at the UASFM grid altitude or 200 ft AGL, whichever is lower. Anything above that needs a separate ATO COA through CAPS, filed after the waiver issues and at least 60 business days ahead.
Part 107 vs. PAO with a 91.113 waiver, side by side
| Dimension | Part 107 | PAO + Part 91.113 CoW/A |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot certification | FAA remote pilot certificate; UAG exam; recency every 24 calendar months | Agency self-certifies certification, qualification, and medical standards |
| Airworthiness | No FAA airworthiness standard, but every airframe must be registered | Agency self-certifies airworthiness |
| Night | Permitted since April 2021 with 3 SM anti-collision lighting; no waiver | Permitted; 3 SM lighting required at all times, day or night — "lights out" prohibited |
| BVLOS | 107.31 waiver required; most-applied-for, lowest approval rate | Included: 200 ft AGL shielded in Class G, or 100 ft above an obstruction not to exceed 400 ft; 400 ft with compliant DAA |
| Visual observers | Not required for standard VLOS flight; BVLOS relief typically leans on them unless 107.33 is also waived | Encouraged but not required |
| Over people / moving vehicles | Subpart D categories 1–4, kinetic-energy thresholds, means and declarations of compliance | Addressed in the waiver package; the ConOps must state the circumstances requiring it |
| NOTAMs | Not required by rule; the FAA still directs you to check NOTAMs before every flight | Not required under the CoW/A; still required under legacy COAs |
| Routine reporting | 107.9 safety-event reports within 10 calendar days | No monthly reporting; NTSB Part 830, 500-ft proximity events, loss of control, and flight time records survive |
| Duration | Certificate never expires; currency lapses every 24 calendar months | Waiver valid 48 months; legacy COAs 24 months |
| Latency to authority | FAA target of 90 days; 30-day mandatory response window on RFIs | 2–3 days observed |
| Training flights | Unambiguously covered — just another Part 107 flight | Status arguable; the governmental-function test applies to each flight |
| Emergency authority | SGI amendment on the strength of the certificate | SGI amendment on the strength of the COA; no TFR operations under the waiver itself |
Two rows deserve emphasis. SGI is an amendment to authority you already hold, not a standalone authorization — an agency with neither a Part 107 certificate nor a COA cannot use it. And the reporting row is where agencies overestimate what the waiver buys: monthly reporting goes away, safety reporting does not.
What choosing public aircraft status actually costs you
The self-certification that makes PAO attractive is what makes it expensive.
- Liability shifts to you. With the agency certifying airworthiness and pilot qualification, no FAA standard stands between it and a bad outcome.
- Status is determined flight by flight. Someone must make and document that call every time, and defend it later.
- A named Responsible Person. The waiver requires a senior official — "Chief, Assistant Chief, Chief Pilot, or other senior level person" — who accepts direct responsibility for safety of operations and initials the checklist box by box.
- The reporting that survives. NTSB reporting under 49 CFR Part 830 is not waived. Report any event where the aircraft came within 500 ft vertically or horizontally of another aircraft, with closest-point-of-approach measurements, and any loss-of-control event. Retain flight time records including monthly totals, available to the Administrator on request. Pilot Records Database requirements under 14 CFR Part 111 still apply.
- A pre-flight hazard assessment within 1 statute mile, covering low-level helicopter and airplane operations, helipads, grass strips, airports, MOAs below 500 ft AGL, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and the highest obstruction, briefed to all flight personnel.
- Your application becomes part of the certificate. The ConOps is binding. Aspirational language you cannot staff is a compliance exposure, not a negotiating position.
The record-keeping is the real cost. Flight time totals available on request, per-flight
governmental-function determinations, Part 111 pilot records, currency, and hazard assessments cannot
be reconstructed after an incident. Decide where they live before you file.
If your agency fails the PAO test: Part 107 PSO Shielded Operations
The FAA's Public Safety BVLOS/OOP/OOMV Waiver Flow Chart, current 28 January 2026, says flatly: "Many Public Safety Do NOT Qualify." That is not a warning about paperwork quality. Volunteer fire departments, SAR teams, 501(c)(3)s, and some special districts are not public aircraft operators.
The fallback is real. Part 107 PSO Shielded Operations grants BVLOS to 200 ft AGL, or 100 ft above an obstruction not to exceed 400 ft, in Class G only, night permitted with appropriate lighting. Submit through AVSHub; the FAA calls it a "near equivalent." Class G is the meaningful limit: if your service area sits under a Class C or D shelf, this path will not cover your primary response zone.
Note also that 91.113 eligibility is a dual test. An applicant must be both a public aircraft operator under § 40102(a)(41) and a Public Safety Organization under 49 U.S.C. § 44806(e), added by Public Law 118-63 § 926 — "an organization that primarily engages in activities related to the safety and well-being of the general public." Passing the PAO test alone is not enough. See the Part 107 guide for certification and waiver mechanics.
Holding both authorities without operating under both at once
An agency can hold Part 107 certificates for every pilot and a 91.113 CoW/A at the same time. What it cannot do is operate a single flight under both. Each flight is either a public aircraft operation or a civil operation, and the pilot must know which before takeoff, because that determination sets the airworthiness standard, the operating rules, and the reporting obligations.
Mature programs run dual status deliberately: governmental-function missions as public aircraft operations under the waiver, and everything else — community events, recruitment media, contract work for other jurisdictions, often routine proficiency training — under Part 107. Keeping every pilot certificated also preserves the SGI pathway independent of the COA. The discipline this requires is a pre-flight declaration of which authority applies, recorded with the flight. If your log cannot answer "under what authority was this flown," you do not have dual status. You have ambiguity.
A decision framework: which authority should your agency fly under
Work these in order. The first "no" routes you.
- Is your organization unambiguously a state or local government unit, or has your state Attorney General determined it is a political subdivision? If no, take the Part 107 PSO Shielded path.
- Do you own the aircraft, or exclusively lease it for 90 or more continuous days? If no, fix the acquisition structure or fly Part 107.
- Do you primarily engage in public-safety activity under § 44806(e)? You need this and PAO status for the 91.113 waiver.
- Will you ever invoice another agency for flight operations? If yes, those flights are not public aircraft operations. Separate them explicitly in policy.
- Do you need BVLOS, or operations over people or moving vehicles? If no, Part 107 plus LAANC may be sufficient, and you avoid the self-certification burden entirely.
- Is your response area Class G? If yes, PSO Shielded Operations is a genuine near-equivalent. If your calls fall under controlled airspace, the 91.113 CoW/A is the stronger instrument.
- Can you name a Responsible Person at chief or assistant-chief level who will sign? If no, the waiver is not filable regardless of everything above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Part 107 and Part 91 public aircraft operations for drones?
Part 107 is a civil rule built on an individual FAA remote pilot certificate, with the FAA setting and enforcing the limits. Public aircraft operations are a statutory status under 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41) and § 40125 in which a qualifying government entity self-certifies airworthiness, pilot certification, qualification, and medical standards, and under AC 00-1.1B most FAA oversight ceases. Part 107 is held by a person; public aircraft status attaches to each flight.
Does every government agency automatically qualify for public aircraft operations?
No. AC 00-1.1B states that public aircraft status "is not automatic," and the FAA's public-safety waiver flow chart, current 28 January 2026, says "Many Public Safety Do NOT Qualify." Political subdivision status is determined by the Attorney General of the state, and volunteer organizations typically do not qualify. Special districts, volunteer fire companies, campus departments, and nonprofit search-and-rescue groups frequently fail this test.
Can my agency charge another agency for drone flights under mutual aid?
Not if you want to keep public aircraft status for those flights. The FAA's checklist states that "operating for a commercial purpose, such as seeking reimbursement for operations from another agency, nullifies Public Aircraft Operations," and 49 U.S.C. § 40125(b) provides that a government aircraft loses public status when used commercially. Note the asymmetry: a government entity may pay a contractor to conduct a public aircraft operation, but may not receive compensation for one.
How long does a Part 91.113 waiver take compared to a Part 107 waiver?
The expedited Part 91.113 Certificate of Waiver/Authorization, processed by AFS-750 since April 2025, has been observed processing in two to three days, with one documented Noblesville PD approval in 23 hours and 47 minutes as reported by Police1. Part 107 waivers carry an FAA target of approval or disapproval within 90 days, and the Aviation Safety Hub guide recommends a requested start date at least 90 days out. The 91.113 waiver runs 48 months.
Can an agency hold both Part 107 and public aircraft authority?
Yes, and mature programs deliberately do. What an agency cannot do is operate a single flight under both at once. Each flight is either a public aircraft operation or a civil operation, and that determination must be made before takeoff, because it sets the airworthiness standard, the operating rules, and the reporting obligations. Keeping pilots Part 107 certificated also preserves an independent path to Special Governmental Interest emergency authority.
Do visual observers still have to be used for public safety BVLOS?
Under the Part 91.113 CoW/A, visual observers are encouraged but not required. That change is the single largest reason drone-as-first-responder programs became economically viable at scale, because visual observer staffing was the dominant recurring cost. Under Part 107, relief from visual line of sight requires a 107.31 waiver, and unless 107.33 is separately waived, visual observers remain part of the operation.
What reporting survives a Part 91.113 waiver?
Monthly reporting goes away; safety reporting does not. NTSB reporting under 49 CFR Part 830 is not waived. Report any event in which the aircraft came within 500 feet vertically or horizontally of another aircraft, including closest-point-of-approach measurements, and any loss-of-control event. Flight time records including monthly totals must be retained for the Administrator on request, and 14 CFR Part 111 pilot records requirements still apply.
Where this leaves you
If your agency is unambiguously a unit of state or local government, owns its aircraft, and does public-safety work, the Part 91.113 CoW/A is almost certainly the right instrument and there is little reason to wait. Get the political-subdivision question answered in writing, name your Responsible Person, and write a ConOps specific enough to survive becoming part of the certificate.
If you fail the entity test — and a meaningful share of public-safety organizations do — file for Part 107 PSO Shielded Operations through AVSHub and plan your response zones around the Class G constraint. Either way, keep every pilot Part 107 certificated. Testing runs roughly $175 per pilot, it preserves your SGI pathway, and it gives you somewhere to fly the missions that are not governmental functions. Whichever path you take, the per-flight authority determination, flight time totals, currency dates, Part 111 pilot records, and incident documentation have to live somewhere retrievable, because the one thing both regimes share is that the records are what you will be asked for first.