Can You Fly a Drone at Night? Part 107 Night Rules Explained

Real estate agents want twilight shots. Event clients want the drone up after dark. Construction sites run past sunset half the year. Sooner or later every commercial pilot needs the actual answer to the night question, and the internet is full of outdated ones. Here is the current rule, straight, with the test angle for students and the operational angle for working pilots.

Quick answer: yes, Part 107 pilots can fly at night without a waiver. Since the rule change that took effect in 2021, night operations are allowed for certificated pilots who took the initial knowledge test or completed recurrent training under 14 CFR 107.65 after April 6, 2021, flying an aircraft with anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles. All other Part 107 rules still apply after dark.

The old rule is dead

Before 2021, flying at night commercially required a Part 107 waiver, and the FAA granted them slowly. That is why so much stale advice says night flight is forbidden or waiver-only. The Operations Over People and Night rule changed that: night flight became a normal part of the certificate, with training and lighting requirements instead of a waiver application. If a website tells you that you need a waiver for night flight, check its publication date before you believe it.

Night versus civil twilight: the distinction the test loves

The FAA splits low light into two buckets, and the test exploits the difference relentlessly.

Civil twilight, for the Part 107 lighting rule, is a fixed window: 30 minutes before official sunrise and 30 minutes after official sunset (14 CFR 107.29(c)). Alaska is the exception and uses the Air Almanac. Flying in that window is allowed with the anti-collision light on. Night is defined separately in 14 CFR 1.1 as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac, converted to local time.

Why does the split matter? Because the two windows carry different requirements. Night flight (107.29(a)) needs the lighting plus an initial knowledge test or training under 107.65 taken after April 6, 2021. The civil twilight window (107.29(b)) needs the lighting only. The classic exam question gives you a sunset time and a proposed flight 20 minutes later and asks what the rule requires. Inside the 30 minute window, the answer is anti-collision lighting. Memorize the 30 minute figure, and remember that Alaska is the exception.

The equipment requirement, in practice

The rule requires an anti-collision light visible for at least 3 statute miles. That is a real number, not a suggestion, and many built-in drone lights do not meet it. The practical answer is an add-on strobe that mounts on top of your drone and weighs very little. Check the maker’s stated visibility range against the 3 statute mile requirement before you buy, because not every hobby light meets it. Mount it where it is visible from above and the sides, because a manned aircraft above you at pattern altitude is exactly who needs to see it.

One nuance worth knowing: the pilot in command may reduce the intensity of the anti-collision light, but may not turn it off, if operating conditions make that safer. The default answer, on the test and in the field, is lights on for twilight and night, period.

What does not change after dark

Everything else. The 400 foot ceiling, visual line of sight, airspace authorizations, yielding to manned aircraft, the prohibition on careless operations: all identical at 2 PM and 10 PM. Night does not relax anything. It adds the lighting and training requirements and removes nothing.

And a working-pilot note: night makes some rules harder to follow, not just darker. Judging distance to your aircraft against ground lights is genuinely difficult. Obstacles that are obvious in daylight, like power lines and tree tops, disappear. The pilots who fly night jobs well scout the site in daylight first, fly higher than the obstacles they cataloged, and keep the flight plan simple.

Where night work actually makes money

Twilight real estate photography is the obvious one, and a common add-on in residential aerial work. Event coverage, emergency response support, thermal inspection of roofs and solar arrays (which often works better after sunset when surfaces cool), and security patrol work all run after dark. If you skipped night training in your studying because it seemed like trivia, reconsider: it is a service category, and some clients will pay for a pilot who can legally fly it. If your certificate dates from before April 2021, see our recurrent training guide for how the free online renewal works.

Common questions

Can Part 107 pilots fly at night?

Yes. Since April 2021, certificated remote pilots can fly at night without a waiver, as long as the aircraft has anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles and the pilot took the initial knowledge test or completed recurrent training after April 6, 2021.

What counts as night under FAA rules?

Night is the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight. For the Part 107 lighting rule, civil twilight is the 30 minutes before official sunrise and after official sunset (Alaska differs). You can fly in it with the anti-collision light on, and it is treated separately from full night.

What lights does my drone need for night flight?

An anti-collision strobe visible for at least 3 statute miles, mounted so it is visible from all directions. Many drones need an add-on strobe to meet this. Navigation lights are separate and do not substitute for the anti-collision light.

Do recreational flyers have the same night rules?

Recreational flyers follow different rules and should check their community-based organization’s guidelines, but as a practical matter the same lighting equipment makes any night flight safer and more visible to other aircraft.