Canadian drone exam questions, answered
Candidates paste exam questions into search engines word for word, options and all, and mostly land on pages that repeat the question back at them. These are the ones that come up most, answered properly — with the reasoning, and with why each wrong option is wrong. Written by a Transport Canada-recognised flight reviewer.
A note on how to use this. Memorising an answer key gets you through a multiple-choice exam and leaves you unable to plan a flight. Every answer below explains the reasoning, because the flight review tests whether you understood it, and a reviewer can tell within about ten minutes which kind of preparation you did.
Anytime a small RPA is flown in uncontrolled airspace, the maximum altitude it is permitted to fly to is…
400 feet AGL
122 m (400 ft) above ground level. That limit is set by the Canadian Aviation Regulations and applies to small RPAs of 250 g to 25 kg, under both a Basic and an Advanced certificate.
This question is testing one thing, and it is not the number. It is AGL versus ASL. Every plausible-looking wrong answer in the set swaps the reference datum.
- AGL — above ground level. Measured from the terrain directly beneath the aircraft. This is the datum the RPAS rules use.
- ASL — above sea level. Measured from mean sea level, and the datum used for most aviation charting.
The distinction matters in the field, not just on the exam. Fly from a hilltop 300 ft above sea level and a 400 ft ASL ceiling would leave you 100 ft of usable height. The rule gives you 400 ft measured from the ground under the aircraft, wherever that ground happens to sit.
There is one exception worth knowing, because it appears as its own exam question: within 61 m (200 ft) horizontally of a building or structure you may instead fly up to 30 m (100 ft) above that structure — which in practice means whichever of the two permits the greater altitude, so a 350 ft tower can legally be overflown to 450 ft.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- 200 feet AGL
- 400 feet ASL
- 300 feet ASL
How close to an uninvolved person may you fly on a Basic certificate?
More than 30 m (100 ft) horizontally, and never directly overhead
A Basic certificate requires you to stay more than 30 m (100 ft) horizontally from any person not involved in the operation, and never to fly directly overhead. Distances are measured horizontally.
Closer than that moves you into Advanced territory, and the certificate alone is not enough:
- Less than 30 m but more than 5 m — Advanced certificate plus a manufacturer safety assurance declaration.
- Less than 5 m, or directly overhead — Advanced certificate plus a safety assurance declaration.
The trap is assuming the certificate does it. It does not — the aircraft model has to be declared for that operation too.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- More than 5 m
- More than 15 m
- There is no distance limit under Basic
How far must a Basic operation stay from a certified airport?
More than 5.6 km (3 NM) from the centre of the airport
More than 5.6 km (3 NM) from the centre of a certified airport, and more than 1.9 km (1 NM) from the centre of a heliport. Both are Basic-operation limits.
The commonly confused figure is 5.6 km (3 NM) around a military aerodrome, inside which you need DND permission regardless of certificate. Note also that 9.3 km (5 NM) is the aerodrome standoff for lower-risk BVLOS, not for Basic — that number circulates in question banks and belongs to a different operation entirely.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- More than 1.9 km
- More than 9.3 km
- More than 3 km
When does a drone have to be registered with Transport Canada?
At 250 g and above
Any remotely piloted aircraft with an operating weight of 250 g or more must be registered, marked with its registration number, and flown by a certified pilot. Purpose is irrelevant — Canadian rules are risk-based, not commercial-versus-recreational.
Registration is per aircraft and does not expire. On a sale the buyer must re-register and pay the fee, though the registration number stays with the aircraft.
Operating weight means everything attached at takeoff: batteries, camera, filters, prop guards, payload. The controller does not count. This is what catches out owners of aircraft marketed as being just under 250 g.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- At 1 kg and above
- Only for commercial use
- Only for Advanced operations
What are the pass conditions for the Small Basic exam?
35 questions, 90 minutes, 65% to pass, minimum age 14
35 multiple-choice questions, 90 minutes, 65% pass mark, minimum age 14. No flight review is required for the Basic certificate.
The numbers most often swapped in are the Advanced ones. Keeping them straight is worth a mark or two on its own — see the next question.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- 50 questions, 60 minutes, 80%
- 35 questions, 60 minutes, 80%
- 50 questions, 90 minutes, 65%
What are the pass conditions for the Advanced exam?
50 questions, 60 minutes, 80% to pass, minimum age 16
50 multiple-choice questions, 60 minutes, 80% pass mark, minimum age 16, written online through Transport Canada's Drone Management Portal.
Note the time: the Advanced exam gives you fewer minutes for more questions than Basic — 60 minutes for 50, against 90 minutes for 35. Candidates who prepare on Basic timings get caught out.
The Advanced certificate also requires an in-person flight review with a Transport Canada-recognised reviewer. A 24-hour wait applies between failed exam attempts; there is no cap on the number of attempts.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- 50 questions, 90 minutes, 80%
- 35 questions, 90 minutes, 65%
- 50 questions, 60 minutes, 65%
A safety assurance declaration covers…
The aircraft model, not the pilot
It is a declaration by the manufacturer that a particular aircraft model meets a specific RPAS standard for a specific type of operation — flight near people, over people, in controlled airspace, and so on.
This is the single most commonly misunderstood item in the Advanced syllabus. Holding an Advanced certificate does not authorise you to fly near or over people. The aircraft has to be declared for it as well. Both conditions must be met, and it is worth checking the model before quoting a job that depends on it.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- The pilot's competence
- The specific flight
- The operator's insurance
Do FPV goggles or binoculars satisfy visual line of sight?
No — VLOS means unaided visual contact
Visual line of sight means unaided visual contact with the aircraft at all times. Corrective lenses are fine. Binoculars, telescopes and FPV goggles are not — on their own.
That last qualifier is the part worth getting right, because the regulations do not ban FPV. CARs 901.38 permits flying with a first-person view device provided a visual observer maintains unaided visual contact with the airspace beyond what the device shows you. So "can I fly in goggles?" and "do goggles count as VLOS?" have different answers. The goggles never satisfy the requirement; a visual observer alongside them can.
Ways to operate beyond your own unaided sight, each with its own conditions:
- FPV with a visual observer under CARs 901.38 — available to any certificate holder, no manufacturer declaration needed.
- EVLOS — extended visual line of sight using a trained visual observer, small aircraft, uncontrolled airspace, within 3.7 km (2 NM).
- Sheltered operations around a building or structure, without a visual observer.
- Lower-risk BVLOS, which needs a Level 1 Complex certificate and an RPAS Operator Certificate.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- Yes, goggles count as visual line of sight on their own
- Yes, under an Advanced certificate
- Yes, below 400 ft AGL
How often must a certificate holder complete recurrent training?
Every 24 months
Canadian drone pilot certificates do not expire. What does lapse is recency: you must complete a qualifying recurrent training activity every 24 months and retain proof for 24 months.
Recency is also a condition of most insurance policies, so letting it slide has consequences beyond the regulatory ones. Which activities qualify is set out here.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- Every 12 months
- Every 5 years
- Certificates must be renewed annually
What are the limits of a sheltered operation?
30 m above the structure, within 61 m of it, within 3.7 km of the pilot
Sheltered operations let a small drone fly around a building or structure without direct sight of it and without a visual observer. The limits:
- 30 m (100 ft) maximum height above the structure
- 61 m (200 ft) maximum horizontal distance from the structure
- 3.7 km (2 NM) maximum range from the pilot
- 30 m minimum from uninvolved people
- Small aircraft only
Sheltered operations came into force for Advanced certificate holders on 4 November 2025, alongside EVLOS and medium RPAS privileges. In controlled airspace a sheltered operation also needs a Standard 922 manufacturer declaration; in uncontrolled airspace no declaration is listed for one.
Commonly offered alternatives that are wrong:
- 400 ft AGL anywhere near a structure
- No limit if the structure shields the aircraft
- Within 200 m of the structure
Where these answers come from
Everything above reflects the Canadian Aviation Regulations as amended by the RPAS Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight and Other Operations amendments, in force in two phases on 1 April 2025 and 4 November 2025. Every number on this page is consolidated in Canadian drone rules at a glance, and the authoritative source is always Transport Canada — regulations move, and a stale copy of a rule helps nobody.
Want to practise under exam conditions? The free 20-question practice test covers all eight knowledge areas at Basic depth, with every answer explained and no signup. For the Advanced syllabus, the 50-question Advanced practice exam is weighted to the real thing, and the Canadian RPAS Operations Guide covers the whole syllabus in 48 pages.
Written by Chris Jones, Transport Canada-certified RPAS pilot and flight reviewer. Last reviewed 11 August 2026. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.