One aircraft per person, and the crew waivers

10.5

One at a time

§ 107.35 draws a hard line on how far one person can stretch across a crew: a person may not manipulate the flight controls, or act as a remote pilot in command, or serve as a visual observer in the operation of more than one unmanned aircraft at the same time. Notice that it names all three roles. You cannot split your attention across two aircraft in any capacity — not on the sticks, not in command, not as the observer. At any given moment, it is one person to one aircraft, whatever role you are filling.

That single rule is why crew size scales with the number of aircraft. An operation flying two aircraft at once needs enough people to cover each aircraft’s roles separately — there is no lawful way to have one remote pilot in command of two simultaneous flights, or one observer watching two aircraft. The quiet assumption running under all of Part 107 is one aircraft per person per role, and § 107.35 is what turns that assumption into an enforceable limit.

It is worth being precise about what “at the same time” reaches, because the limit is drawn per person and per moment, not per job. Nothing in § 107.35 stops one pilot from flying two aircraft in sequence across an afternoon — land the first, launch the second, and the rule is never engaged. What it forbids is holding roles on two aircraft simultaneously, which is exactly the arrangement an efficiency-minded operator reaches for: one certificated pilot nominally in command of two flights while a helper stands at each. That crew is unlawful on § 107.35 alone, before anyone asks who is certificated or who is supervising whom — and it fails whether the second aircraft is a hundred feet away or a mile, because the rule counts aircraft and people, not distance.

Like the other crew rules in this chapter, § 107.35 can be waived. It sits on the § 107.205 list beside visual line of sight (§ 107.31) and the visual observer requirement (§ 107.33) — the crew-related deviations the FAA can authorize. Chapter 8 covered how a certificate of waiver works from application to grant; the crew-specific point is what each of these unlocks. A § 107.35 waiver is precisely how one remote pilot may lawfully operate more than one aircraft at once — the regulatory basis for a coordinated drone show. A § 107.31 waiver is how a crew flies beyond visual line of sight. Each is a crew rule from this chapter, lifted by the machinery of the last.

Key terms

One aircraft per personMultiple aircraft§ 107.35Crew waivers§ 107.205

In review

An operation has exactly one remote pilot in command at any moment, designated before or during the flight (§ 107.19) — the single final authority, directly responsible that the flight complies with every rule and poses no undue hazard, no matter how many people are involved; FAA guidance allows that designation to pass between certificated remote pilots by positive communication, but never to be held by two at once.
A Part 107 crew divides into three roles — the remote PIC, the person manipulating the controls, and the visual observer — differing in who must be certificated, who holds authority, and what each must do.
Only the remote PIC must be certificated for the role; § 107.12 lets an uncertificated person work the controls, but only under a remote PIC’s direct supervision, with the remote PIC able to immediately take direct control.
Visual line of sight is a crew function — § 107.31 requires the aircraft be seen throughout the flight, exercised by the flying pair or a visual observer; when a visual observer is used, § 107.33 demands effective communication, that the observer can see the aircraft, and coordinated scanning. A visual observer relocates who satisfies line of sight, it does not waive it.
§ 107.35 bars any one person from covering more than one aircraft at a time in any role, so crew size scales with aircraft count — and the crew rules (§§ 107.31, 107.33, 107.35) are all waivable through the Chapter 8 process, which is how one pilot may lawfully run several aircraft at once.