Operators often describe a Part 107 waiver as permission to "fly outside the rules." The regulation is narrower and more precise than that. A waiver is issued under 14 CFR 107.200, which lets the FAA grant a certificate of waiver authorizing a deviation from certain provisions of Part 107 if the applicant demonstrates the proposed operation can be safely conducted under the terms of that certificate. Crucially, the waiver only reaches the rules that Part 107 has pre-designated as waivable — and those are enumerated, by section number, in a single companion provision.

That provision is 14 CFR 107.205, "List of regulations subject to waiver." It states that a certificate of waiver "may authorize a deviation from the following regulations of this part," and then lists them: section 107.25 (operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft), 107.29(a)(2) and (b) (anti-collision lighting at night and twilight), 107.31 (visual line of sight), 107.33 (visual observer), 107.35 (operation of multiple small UAS), 107.37(a) (yielding the right of way), 107.39 (operation over people), 107.41 (operation in certain airspace), 107.51 (the operating limitations), and 107.145 (operations over moving vehicles). That list is the full universe of waivable Part 107 rules.

A certificate of waiver issued pursuant to § 107.200 may authorize a deviation from the following regulations of this part: ... (c) Section 107.31—Visual line of sight aircraft operation. ... (g) Section 107.39—Operation over people. ... (i) Section 107.51—Operating limitations for small unmanned aircraft.— 14 CFR 107.205, source

What the closed list means in practice

Because 107.205 is a closed list, it does two jobs at once. It tells operators which barriers they can ask to move — and it tells them which they cannot. The single most consequential entry is 107.31, visual line of sight: a waiver of 107.31 is the regulatory door to beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations, which is why BVLOS approvals historically flowed through this mechanism. A waiver of 107.51 can authorize flight above 400 feet or at higher speed; a waiver of 107.39 can authorize flight over people beyond the standard categories; a waiver of 107.41 can authorize operations in controlled airspace beyond what an airspace authorization alone covers.

The regulation also writes in explicit limits on its own waivers. The entry for 107.25 (operation from a moving vehicle) adds that "no waiver of this provision will be issued to allow the carriage of property of another by aircraft for compensation or hire," and the entry for 107.31 carries the same carve-out. In other words, even within the waivable list, the FAA has fenced off certain combinations — you cannot use a moving-vehicle or visual-line-of-sight waiver to run a for-hire delivery operation. Those qualifications are part of the rule text, not separate policy.

The boundary the list draws

The flip side of a closed list is that anything absent from it is, by definition, not waivable under 107.205. Part 107's pilot-certification requirements, its registration and marking requirements, and its core eligibility provisions are not on the list, so a 107.205 waiver cannot reach them. This is what gives the waiver process its shape: it is a controlled relaxation of named operating limitations, conditioned on a safety case, not a general dispensation from Part 107 as a whole. An applicant builds the safety case to the specific section being waived, and the certificate's terms and conditions are tailored to that deviation.

The full enumerated list

It is worth reading 107.205 in full, because the value of a closed list is in its exact membership. The certificate of waiver "may authorize a deviation from the following regulations of this part": section 107.25, operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft; 107.29(a)(2) and (b), the anti-collision light required for operations at night and during periods of civil twilight; 107.31, visual line of sight; 107.33, the visual observer; 107.35, operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems; 107.37(a), yielding the right of way; 107.39, operation over people; 107.41, operation in certain airspace; 107.51, the operating limitations; and 107.145, operations over moving vehicles. Ten provisions, each named by section number — that is the entire reach of the waiver mechanism.

Two entries on the list carry the same explicit carve-out, and it is the only conditional language in the section. Both 107.25 and 107.31 are followed by the sentence that "no waiver of this provision will be issued to allow the carriage of property of another by aircraft for compensation or hire." The FAA thus pre-closed the combination of a moving-vehicle or beyond-visual-line-of-sight waiver with for-hire cargo carriage. The restriction is in the regulation itself, so it binds the agency as much as the applicant — these are deviations the certificate is not permitted to grant in the first place.

The list also records its own regulatory history in the source note. Section 107.205 traces to Docket FAA-2015-0150, Amendment 107-1, published at 81 FR 42209 on June 28, 2016, "as amended by Amdt. 107-8, 86 FR 4387, Jan. 15, 2021." That January 2021 amendment is the same rulemaking that built out the operations-over-people categories, which is why 107.39 sits on the waivable list alongside the operating limits — the waiver framework and the over-people categories were revised together.

The practical takeaway for anyone planning an advanced drone operation is to start at 107.205 and read which section their plan conflicts with. Flying past the horizon implicates 107.31. Flying over a crowd implicates 107.39. Flying above 400 feet or faster than 100 mph implicates 107.51. Flying at night without the required lighting implicates 107.29. Each of those is on the waivable list, so each is a candidate for a certificate of waiver under 107.200 — provided the operator can show the FAA the operation is safe under the conditions the certificate would impose. The regulation makes the path legible: identify the section, confirm it is on the 107.205 list, and build the safety case to it.