Part 107 Test Changes on October 26, 2026: Sectional Chart Images
Last updated October 4, 2026
Beginning October 26, 2026, the FAA’s Part 107 knowledge test (Unmanned Aircraft General - Small, code UAG) will include image-based questions that are not in the printed testing supplement. The images are clearer, up-to-date excerpts from current FAA sectional charts, shown on screen inside the question. The printed supplement stays available at the test center until a removal date the FAA has not yet set, and the FAA has announced no change to the test’s content, length, time limit or passing score.
There is also a separate, older change that is easy to miss: Regulations is now nearly half the test. The current test specification from PSI, the FAA’s testing vendor, gives Regulations 48% of the questions, about 29 of 60 (PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, effective September 29, 2025, p. 4). Everything here is as of October 2026.
What the FAA announced
The announcement is in the FAA’s Airman Testing Community Advisory (ATCA). It appears in the August 2026 edition and again, with the same wording, in the September 2026 Special Edition.
| Item | What the FAA said | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Start date | October 26, 2026 | ATCA September 2026, p. 6 |
| Tests affected | Instrument Rating Airplane (IRA) and Unmanned Aircraft General - Small (UAG) | ATCA September 2026, p. 6 |
| What is new | Image-based questions “not found in the test supplements” | ATCA September 2026, p. 6 |
| Where the images come from | FAA VFR charts and IFR Low Altitude charts; for Part 107, that means sectional charts | ATCA September 2026, p. 6 |
| Printed supplement | Still available at the test center until a removal date that has not been set; the public will get “ample notice” | ATCA September 2026, p. 5 |
| Can you see the real images in advance? | No. Images in active questions cannot be previewed | ATCA September 2026, p. 5 |
| Measuring tools | Applicants “will have the tools they need” for questions that require them | ATCA September 2026, p. 5 |
If you saw a different date in an earlier FAA notice, both the August and September advisories mark October 26 as a corrected date (ATCA September 2026, p. 6).
The FAA’s sample questions
The advisory includes two Part 107 sample questions so you can see the new format (ATCA September 2026, pp. 9-10). Each one shows a small piece of a sectional chart, with a caption naming the chart and its dates (for example, a Washington sectional dated June 12, 2025 to August 7, 2025). One sample asks you to name the airspace around an airport and say whether you need ATC authorization to fly there. The other asks which frequency to use as the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) when the airport’s control tower is closed.
These are ordinary chart-reading skills the test already covers. Note too that the sample images came from 2025 charts, so the image you see on test day may not match the edition current that week. Answer from what the image shows.
The change is part of the FAA’s Graphics Conversion Project, which aims to embed images directly in test questions, “eliminating the need for printed test supplements” (ATCA September 2026, p. 5). Unmanned Aircraft is already on the FAA’s list of exams with embedded images, so this is a new kind of image question, not the first one.
What the FAA has not said yet
As of October 2026, the advisories leave several things open:
- When the printed supplement goes away. “The date for removing testing supplements from test centers has not yet been set” (ATCA September 2026, p. 5). The FAA’s testing supplements page (updated September 29, 2026) still lists the current supplement, FAA-CT-8080-2H.
- What the on-screen tools look like. The FAA “cannot provide details” yet and will announce new tools well in advance (ATCA September 2026, p. 5).
- How many image questions you will get. The advisories do not give a number.
- Which sectional charts or areas of the country. The advisories do not say. The two samples used the Washington and Las Vegas sectionals (ATCA September 2026, pp. 9-10).
If you read a firmer claim on any of these points, check whether it cites a newer FAA advisory.
What has not changed
The October 26 advisories announce no change to what is tested. The test is still built on the Airman Certification Standards (ACS), FAA-S-ACS-10B, the current edition as of October 2026. Sources for the table: ACS, Appendix 1, pp. A-1 and A-2; the FAA’s Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix, revised September 25, 2026, p. 15; PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, p. 4.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 60 scored, plus 5 unscored trial questions |
| Time allowed | 2 hours |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Minimum age to test | 14 |
| Retest after a failure | Wait 14 days (14 CFR 107.71) |
The area weights: Regulations is now nearly half the test
The share of questions from each area is set in the test specification from PSI, the FAA’s testing vendor (ACS, Appendix 1, p. A-2). PSI says the shares were “determined by the industry-wide job task analysis study completed in 2025” (PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, effective September 29, 2025, p. 4).
| Area | Share of questions | About how many of 60 |
|---|---|---|
| I. Regulations | 48% | about 29 |
| II. Airspace Classification and Operating Requirements | 20% | about 12 |
| III. Weather | 5% | about 3 |
| IV. Loading and Performance | 2% | about 1 |
| V. Operations | 25% | about 15 |
The ACS appendix still prints older ranges (Regulations 15-25%, Weather 11-16%, Operations 35-45%, and so on) (ACS, Appendix 1, p. A-1). Do not study from those: the bulletin is the current specification. Put most of your time into the Part 107 rules, and do not overspend on weather or loading, which together are only about 4 questions.
The question style is unchanged: multiple choice, one correct answer, each question independent of the others (ACS, Appendix 1, p. A-1). For more, see our guide to the Part 107 test format and passing score.
If you test before October 26
Nothing in the FAA’s advisories changes your test. You will use the printed supplement, FAA-CT-8080-2H, whose sectional legend is Legend 1 and whose chart excerpts include Figures 20 to 26 (FAA-CT-8080-2H, Legend 1 and Appendix 2). Practicing with those figures is still worth your time.
If you fail, you must wait 14 days before retesting (ACS, Appendix 1, p. A-2). So if you test on or after October 12 and fail, your retest will be under the new format.
If you test on or after October 26
Expect some chart questions with a sectional chart excerpt built into the question, one you have probably never seen before. The printed supplement will still be there for the questions that use it (ATCA September 2026, p. 5).
If you studied by remembering what is on Figure 20 or Figure 26, that memory will not help with a new image. If you learned to read any sectional chart from the legend, it will.
How to prepare: a short study plan
The skill being tested is reading an unfamiliar chart. The best tool for that is the FAA’s Aeronautical Chart Users’ Guide (edition effective July 9, 2026), which explains sectional symbols from p. 10 and has symbol tables from p. 23.
- Get current charts. The FAA publishes sectionals free on its VFR charts page (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 6), updated every 56 days (p. 23). Download one for your area and one for a busy city you do not know.
- Learn the airport symbols first. Airports with a control tower are printed in blue; all others are in magenta (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 15). In the airport data block, a star means the tower operates part time, and the frequency that follows a “C” symbol is the CTAF (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 15).
- Learn the airspace lines. Class B is shown in solid blue, Class C in solid magenta, Class D with a blue dashed line, and a Class E surface area with a magenta dashed line (Chart Users’ Guide, pp. 16-17 and 26-27). Class D ceilings are in hundreds of feet MSL, so 30 means 3,000 feet MSL (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 27). A magenta vignette (a soft shaded band) marks Class E that starts at 700 feet above the ground (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 17).
- Tie each symbol to the rule. You need prior ATC authorization to fly in Class B, C or D airspace, or inside the surface area of Class E airspace designated for an airport (14 CFR 107.41). Many airspace chart questions come down to that one sentence.
- Drill with random airports. Pick five airports you have never heard of. For each, say: towered or not, what airspace, what ceiling, CTAF, and whether you need authorization. Check yourself against the legend.
- Read the caption. The FAA’s sample images name the sectional and its dates (ATCA September 2026, pp. 9-10). Read that line first.
Chart reading is only part of the test. Once you can read a chart, spend most of your remaining time on the rules in 14 CFR part 107, since Regulations is 48% of the questions (PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, p. 4).
Our airspace topic page has practice questions on chart symbols and authorization, the regulations topic page covers the rules, and the operations topic page covers airport data such as CTAF and towers.
Try one (our own example)
You see a sectional excerpt. An airport and its data are printed in blue. A blue dashed line circles the airport, and the figure 30 is printed inside it. You plan to fly your small drone at 200 feet above the ground over the airport. Which is correct?
- A. The airport has no control tower, so you can fly without asking anyone.
- B. This is Class D airspace from the surface to 3,000 feet MSL, and you need prior ATC authorization.
- C. This is Class E airspace starting at 700 feet above the ground, so you are below it and need no authorization.
Answer: B. Blue airport data means a control tower (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 15). A blue dashed line is Class D (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 16), and its ceiling is shown in hundreds of feet MSL (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 27). Class D starts at the surface, so 200 feet is inside it, and 14 CFR 107.41 requires prior ATC authorization. A confuses blue with magenta; C describes the magenta vignette, a different symbol.
Common mistakes
- Memorizing supplement figures. The supplement’s sectional excerpts are a fixed set (FAA-CT-8080-2H, Appendix 2). New images make memorizing them a weak plan.
- Mixing up blue and magenta. The color tells you whether there is a control tower and helps you tell Class D from Class E. Check it on every question.
- Reading a ceiling number as feet above the ground. Class D ceilings are MSL, in hundreds of feet (Chart Users’ Guide, p. 27).
- Studying from the old area weights. The ACS appendix makes Operations the biggest area. Under the current specification, Regulations is 48% and Operations 25% (PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, p. 4).
- Waiting for tool details before studying. Chart reading is the same skill whatever the on-screen tools look like.
Common questions
Is the Part 107 test harder after October 26, 2026?
The FAA has announced no change to what is tested on October 26. As of October 2026, the ACS, the 60 questions, the 2-hour limit and the 70% pass mark are unchanged (ACS FAA-S-ACS-10B, Appendix 1; Testing Matrix, p. 15). What changes is that some chart images will be new to you. Separately, PSI’s specification in effect since September 29, 2025 puts 48% of questions on Regulations (PSI UAG Applicant Information Bulletin, p. 4).
Will I still get the printed testing supplement?
Yes, until the FAA sets a removal date and gives notice. As of October 2026, no date has been set (ATCA September 2026, p. 5).
Can I see the real chart images before the test?
No. The FAA says previewing them would compromise the test, and points candidates to PSI’s sample questions instead (ATCA September 2026, p. 5).
Will there be an on-screen ruler or plotter?
The FAA says you will have the tools you need for questions that require measuring, but has not described them yet. New tools will be announced in its advisory well in advance (ATCA September 2026, p. 5).
Should I move my test date?
The FAA’s notices give no reason to. The content is the same either way, and learning to read any sectional chart prepares you for both formats.