When you need an authorization, and when you need a waiver

3.5

Authorization vs waiver

This whole chapter has been about authorization — permission to enter controlled airspace and fly there under the ordinary rules. A waiver, introduced in Chapter 2 and taught in full in Chapter 8, is a different instrument answering a different question. Under § 107.200 the FAA may issue a certificate of waiver authorizing a deviation from a regulation on the § 107.205 list, if it finds the operation can still be conducted safely. Put plainly: an authorization is permission to be somewhere; a waiver is permission to do something the rules otherwise forbid. Confusing the two — which Chapter 1 warned is one of the most common mistakes in commercial work — is what this section exists to prevent.

There is a twist that trips people up: § 107.41, the airspace rule itself, appears on the § 107.205 list of waivable regulations, at paragraph (h). So airspace can, in principle, be handled two ways. The ordinary way is an authorization — you accept the normal rules and get cleared into the controlled airspace. The rare way is a waiver of § 107.41 — permission to deviate from the airspace rule itself, for an operation that cannot fit the normal authorization model at all. For almost every job the authorization is the right and available tool; when all you need is to enter controlled airspace and fly normally, you want an authorization, not a waiver.

Airspace authorization

Answers one question: may I enter this airspace? It is permission to operate in Class B, C, or D — or a surface-area Class E — under § 107.41, while you follow every ordinary Part 107 rule unchanged.

It is the routine instrument, obtained the ordinary way covered earlier in this chapter. It grants entry to specific controlled airspace and nothing more.

Certificate of waiver

Answers a wider question: may I deviate from a rule? Under § 107.200 the FAA may authorize a deviation from a regulation on the § 107.205 list — the operating limitations, flight over people, visual line of sight, even § 107.41 airspace itself — where it finds the operation can still be conducted safely.

It is the exceptional instrument: a request with a complete description and a safety justification, the full process covered in Chapter 8. Once issued, you may deviate only to the extent it specifies and must meet its conditions and limitations.

Key terms

Airspace authorizationCertificate of waiverDeviationList of waivable rulesSafety justification

In review

§ 107.41 requires prior ATC authorization only in Class B, C, and D and in surface-area Class E designated for an airport — everything outside those designations is uncontrolled, where the rule asks nothing of you.
Reading the airspace over your exact site is a required preflight step under § 107.49(a)(2), not a courtesy — boundaries are invisible from the ground, so you read current information for the coordinates you will fly.
LAANC, the FAA’s UAS Data Exchange, returns near-real-time authorization up to the altitude pre-approved on the UAS Facility Maps; above that ceiling — or at a 0-foot grid — the request goes to “further coordination” and must be filed at least 72 hours ahead, while the FAADroneZone is the manual route.
§§ 107.43, 107.45, and 107.47 bind you no matter the airspace class — airport traffic patterns, prohibited and restricted areas, and NOTAM restrictions are each a separate obligation an airspace authorization does not satisfy.
An authorization is permission to be somewhere; a waiver under § 107.200 is permission to deviate from a rule on the § 107.205 list — § 107.41 itself is waivable (paragraph (h)), but for ordinary controlled-airspace flight the authorization, not a waiver, is the right tool.