The drone licence question
A drone licence is not a thing the United Kingdom issues, and the search term describes two separate identifiers that the Civil Aviation Authority scheme does issue: one that attaches to whoever is responsible for the aircraft, and one that attaches to the person flying it. Neither is a licence in the sense a driving licence is, because neither is a permission to fly granted after an examiner has watched you fly. One is a registration number marked on the airframe. The other is a record that a person has passed a theory test. A single household can need both, one, or neither, and which of the three it is depends on the weight of the machine and on whether it carries a camera.
Two identifiers, and why "licence" is the wrong word for them
The two identifiers are the operator identifier and the flyer identifier, and the difference between them is the difference between a thing and a person. The operator identifier belongs to whoever is responsible for the aircraft, is issued once to that person or organisation, and is written on every aircraft they are responsible for. The flyer identifier belongs to whoever is at the controls, is earned by passing an online theory test, and travels with that person to any aircraft they fly. One number can sit on four machines. One person can fly four machines belonging to four different operators.
The word licence misleads in three separate ways. It suggests a practical test, and there is none for this kind of flying: the flyer identifier is won by answering questions, not by demonstrating a landing. It suggests a single document, and there are two identifiers that answer to different questions. And it suggests that holding it is what makes a flight permissible, when in fact the height ceiling of 400 feet, the separation distances and the airspace restrictions apply to the flight whether or not anybody holds anything. An identifier is an accounting record, not a permission slip.
Who each identifier falls on
Each identifier falls on a role rather than on a fixed person, and a great many people are in both roles at once without noticing. The person who bought the drone, keeps it in the cupboard and is answerable for it is the operator. The person holding the controller is the flyer. A parent who buys a machine for a teenager is usually the operator while the teenager is the flyer, and the scheme is built to allow exactly that split: the operator has to be an adult, and a younger person can hold the flyer identifier in their own name.
The aircraft then decides which of the two is actually required. Weight is the first test and the boundary is 250 grams. Whether the machine carries a camera is the second test, and it bears on the operator side rather than the flyer side, which is why the lightest camera machines are not in the same position as the lightest machines without a lens. The exact combination is published by the CAA and it has been revised before, so the table below describes the shape of the test rather than standing in for the current wording of it.
| Attribute | Operator identifier | Flyer identifier |
|---|---|---|
| What it attaches to | The person or organisation responsible for the aircraft | The person at the controls |
| How it is obtained | Registration with the CAA scheme, for a charge | An online theory test, passed |
| Where it lives | Marked on the airframe of every aircraft covered | Held by the person, not the aircraft |
| Minimum age | Adult | Lower, so a young flyer can hold one |
| What triggers it | Weight at or above the boundary, or a camera on board | Weight at or above the boundary |
What getting them actually involves, in order
Getting either identifier involves a short sequence, and the order matters because one step produces the number the next step needs. Nothing in the sequence requires a flight, an instructor or an appointment.
- Weigh the aircraft as it flies, with the battery, propellers and any guards or payload fitted, and note whether it is above or below 250 grams.
- Decide which role each person in the household is in, since the operator and the flyer can be two people or the same person twice.
- Register as the operator with the CAA scheme, which involves supplying contact details and paying a charge that the CAA publishes and reviews.
- Mark the operator identifier on the airframe so that it is legible without tools, on a part of the aircraft that stays with it rather than on a battery that gets swapped.
- Take the online theory test for the flyer identifier, which can be repeated and which draws its questions from published material on airspace, weather, safety and the height ceiling.
- Renew the identifiers when the scheme asks for renewal, since both run for a fixed period rather than for life.
Cost is the part readers most want a figure for, and it is the part most likely to be out of date by the time it is read. The shape is stable even when the amounts are not: the flyer identifier is obtained by passing the test, the operator identifier is obtained by registering, and whatever charge or interval attaches to either is published by the CAA. There is no fee for a practical assessment because there is no practical assessment. Registering a drone sets out the administrative side of this in detail, and the current amount and interval are published by the CAA.
Where the identifiers do not apply
The identifiers do not apply to every machine that flies. An aircraft below the weight boundary and carrying no camera is the ordinary case where neither identifier is triggered, which is the whole reason the lightest class has become the default first purchase. Toys sold for indoor use frequently fall here, as do the smallest outdoor machines with no lens.
Nor do the identifiers reach the requirements that govern the flight itself. Holding both numbers does not raise the 400 foot ceiling, does not shorten a separation distance, does not open a flight restriction zone around an aerodrome and does not permit a flight beyond the range of your own eyesight. Those requirements sit on the flight, not on the paperwork. Insurance is a separate matter again, and holding an identifier is not cover.
The identifiers are also strictly a United Kingdom scheme. A registration issued in another country does not carry over, and the reverse holds equally: a UK operator identifier means nothing at a field in France, Canada or the United States, each of which runs its own arrangement with its own weight boundaries. The UK rules, in order, describes how the identifiers sit alongside the rest of the requirements.
The three things people get wrong
The first misreading is that one number covers a household. It does not: the operator identifier covers aircraft, the flyer identifier covers a person, and a family with two flyers and three machines needs the operator side registered once and the test passed twice. The second is that the flyer identifier is the harder of the two to obtain, presumably because a test sounds harder than a form. In practice the test is repeatable and answerable from the published material, while the operator side is the administrative one, with the CAA publishing whatever charge applies, and it has to be physically marked on the aircraft.
The third is the belief that a machine under 250 grams is outside the scheme entirely. Weight settles the flyer side. It does not by itself settle the operator side, because a camera bears on that question, and the lightest camera drones are the most common machines in the country. Assuming exemption on the strength of a weight figure alone is the single most frequent error on this subject.
Does your own aircraft call for either identifier?
To work out which identifiers an aircraft calls for, run three checks in order. Put it on a kitchen scale exactly as it flies and read the figure against 250 grams. Look at it and establish whether it has a camera or any other sensor capable of recording a person. Then decide whether you are the person answerable for the machine, the person flying it, or both, because those two roles are what the two identifiers are counting.
Those three checks tell you which questions to ask. They do not tell you the answer for your particular aircraft, and this page does not interpret the requirements for any individual case or offer legal advice. The Civil Aviation Authority publishes the drone and model aircraft registration requirements, the CAA changes them as the class markings and the camera test are revised, and the current version on the CAA's own pages is the one that applies to a flight made today.