Part 107 Renewal & Recurrent Training (2026): The Free ALC-677 Course Every 24 Months

Holding an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate under 14 CFR Part 107 is what lets you fly small drones for commercial purposes in the United States. But the certificate comes with an ongoing condition: currency. To exercise the privileges of your certificate, you must have completed an initial or recurrent training (or knowledge test) within the previous 24 calendar months.

Recurrent training is how you renew that currency. It's a free online refresher course hosted by the FAA that revisits the core knowledge areas — regulations, airspace, weather, operating rules, loading and performance, and emergency procedures — and incorporates any rule updates since you last trained. It's self-paced, takes most pilots a couple of hours, and ends with a completion certificate you keep as proof.

The critical distinction to understand up front: recurrent training is not the same as the initial knowledge test you took to get certified, and it's not a return trip to a PSI testing center. It also is not a renewal of the certificate itself — your physical certificate doesn't expire. What you're renewing is your legal ability to fly under Part 107. Most operators pair the cycle with an airframe refresh too — recent recurrents often coincide with upgrading to a current-spec drone like the DJI Mavic 3 Pro that already meets Remote ID requirements out of the box.

This is the single most important thing to know, because so much older advice online is now wrong. Effective April 6, 2021, the FAA eliminated the recurrent knowledge test and replaced it with free online recurrent training. The change came as part of the same rulemaking package that introduced Operations Over People, Operations at Night, and Remote ID requirements.

Before that change, staying current meant returning to a testing center every 24 months and paying for and passing a recurrent knowledge exam — much like the initial test. The FAA recognized this was costly and created friction without meaningfully improving safety for pilots who had already demonstrated competency, so it moved recurrency to a no-cost, online, self-paced training model.

The rule is stated in terms of 24 calendar months. "Calendar month" matters: currency is measured to the end of the month, not the exact day. In practice, you remain current as long as you completed initial or recurrent training within the previous 24 calendar months.

A simple way to think about it: the clock starts from your most recent qualifying training event. If you passed your initial knowledge test in, say, June 2025, you're current through roughly June 2027, and you'd complete recurrent training before then to extend it another 24 months. Each completed recurrent course resets the 24-month window.

For remote pilots who do not hold a current Part 61 pilot certificate, the recurrent training course is ALC-677, "Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Recurrent." It lives on the FAA's FAASTeam training site (faasafety.gov). Here is how to complete it:

Suppose life got busy and your recurrent training slipped past the 24-month mark. What now? The key reassurance: a lapse does not invalidate your certificate and does not force you back to the in-person initial test.

Because recurrent training is self-administered online, the burden of proof shifts to you. The FAA expects remote pilots to maintain documentation showing they completed initial or recurrent training within the prior 24 calendar months and to be able to present it on request.

The whole point of the 2021 change was to make staying current painless. Here's a simple, repeatable routine that keeps you compliant with essentially zero stress:

• Set a 22-month reminder. As soon as you finish a training event, schedule a calendar alert ~2 months before the 24-month deadline.
• Refresh before you train. Spend an hour on airspace, weather, and the regs so the course is a quick confirmation rather than relearning. The Part 107 cheat sheet has every number with its 14 CFR rule.
• Complete ALC-677 early. Finishing the free course a few weeks early never hurts your currency and removes any risk of an accidental lapse.
• File the completion certificate. Save it the moment you get it, and log the new completion date.
• Repeat. Two years later, do it again. That's the entire maintenance cycle.