1.1 About the RePL Exam

What the RePL Is

The Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) is the Australian remote pilot licence issued under Civil Aviation Safety Regulation (CASR) Part 101 and its Manual of Standards (MOS). It authorises the holder to operate a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) — a drone — for commercial work that falls outside the "excluded" category. In practice that means RPA weighing more than 2 kg, operations beyond the standard operating conditions (SOC), or any flying conducted under a Remote Operator's Certificate (ReOC). The RePL is the person licence; the ReOC is the operator/business authorisation. Australia's civil aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), issues the licence on the recommendation of a CASA-certified training provider.

Quick Answer: The RePL is CASA's commercial drone pilot licence under CASR Part 101. You pass a provider theory exam set against the Part 101 MOS knowledge syllabus, a practical flight competency assessment, and log 5 hours of RPA flight time under the standard operating conditions. The RePL itself does not expire, but commercial work beyond the excluded category requires operating under a current ReOC.

Exam Facts at a Glance

Prerequisites and the Aviation Reference Number

Before you can be issued a RePL you need an Aviation Reference Number (ARN) — CASA's unique identifier for anyone who interacts with the regulator. Only one ARN is issued per legal entity, it is free, and it is applied for through the myCASA portal (Form 1162 for individuals, Form 1170 for organisations).

Two prerequisites are frequently misremembered:

• There is no minimum age for a RePL. CASA states this explicitly. The age-16 minimum that candidates often quote belongs to RPA operator accreditation (CASR 101.374B(4)) and to drone registration — not to the licence. Individual training providers may still impose their own enrolment age.
• You must log 5 hours of RPA flight time under the standard operating conditions before the licence is granted. Small RPA (more than 2 kg, not more than 25 kg) flown purely to build that experience fall inside the excluded category, so you do not need a ReOC or an existing RePL to accumulate the hours.

You do not need a fixed-wing or helicopter pilot licence to get a RePL — the pathway is purpose-built for drone operators. If you already hold a CASA pilot qualification, a pass in a Part 61 RPL theory examination, or an acceptable overseas or military equivalent, you may skip the theory course and complete only the practical component (or a CASA flight test).

How Training and Assessment Are Delivered

RePL training and exams are not sat at a CASA test centre. Instead they are delivered by CASA-certified RePL training providers — accredited schools that teach the aeronautical knowledge syllabus in the Part 101 MOS (see Advisory Circular AC 101-01). Your provider runs the theory course, sets the theory exam, and conducts the practical flight competency assessment.

Because the paper is provider-set rather than centrally administered, CASA publishes neither a question count nor a pass mark for the RePL theory exam. Published provider papers vary — 40, 80, 85 and 90 multiple-choice questions are all in circulation — and an 85% pass mark is the near-universal industry convention rather than a regulatory figure. Ask your provider for its own exam length, time limit, and pass mark, and do not treat any single number as "the" RePL standard.

The practical assessment is separate: a chief flying instructor signs off your competency on the aircraft you will operate. Passing the theory exam alone does not give you a RePL — the practical competency must also be demonstrated to the provider, who then recommends licence issue to CASA.

AROC and ReB1 — Adjacent Exams to Know

Two related credentials commonly sit alongside the RePL:

• Aeronautical Radio Operator Certificate (AROC) — required if you want to transmit on aeronautical VHF radio. Australian providers advertise a closed-book paper of about 30 multiple-choice questions in a one-hour sitting; CASA does not publish a pass mark for it. An English language proficiency assessment is also part of the AROC package. Many RePL candidates bundle the AROC into their course because radio discipline underpins controlled-airspace operations, and CASR 101.285 requires a radio qualification for RPA over 2 kg operating in controlled airspace.
• ReB1 — the CASA beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) theory exam, issued under instrument CASA 35/23 for operations wholly outside controlled airspace. A Part 61 instrument-rating knowledge exam or the former IREX also satisfies the requirement. The RePL plus a BVLOS exam pass (plus a ReOC and the operational approvals) is the pathway to BVLOS work.

These are separate credentials and separate exams — your RePL theory course will introduce some of the underlying concepts, but you still sit each exam on its own.

The Official Syllabus: Part 101 MOS Knowledge Units

The real RePL blueprint is not a percentage table. Schedule 2 of the Part 101 MOS lists the aeronautical knowledge units a RePL training course must deliver, and Schedule 4 breaks each unit into numbered knowledge topics. Every legitimate RePL theory question maps to one of those topics.

RBAK, RACP, RBMO, REES, RHPF, RKOP, RORA and RAFM are the common units — every RePL candidate covers all eight. Note that RAFM is not conditional: MOS section 4 requires it for any RPA in any category, "whether operated under a manual or an automated flight management system", and Schedule 2 lists it in Appendix 1 with the other common units. You then add the category unit for the aircraft you will be licensed on: RBKM (multirotor), RBKA (aeroplane), RBKH (single-rotor helicopter) or RBKP (powered-lift). Only one further unit is conditional: REFE, for a medium or large RPA with a liquid-fuel system.

Priority codes, not percentages

Schedule 4 does not weight units by percentage. Instead each knowledge topic carries a priority code:

• A — core knowledge; expect it to be examined directly.
• B — important supporting knowledge.
• C — awareness-level knowledge.

Use the priority codes the way you would use weights. Topics such as units of measurement, aerodynamics and weight and balance, electrical components, batteries and charging, GPS, risk assessment, airworthiness, accident reporting, abnormal operations, fail-safes, operations near aerodromes, operations above 400 ft AGL, hovering aerodynamics and vortex ring state recovery are all coded A — they are the highest-yield study targets. Anything you see quoted as an official percentage split for the RePL ("Air Law 28%, Systems 18%…") is a training-provider study emphasis, not a CASA figure.

This guide is organised to cover every Schedule 4 topic in those units. Air law is treated first and at length because the operating rules frame everything else, but do not mistake chapter length for exam weighting.

What the RePL Does Not Cover

The RePL is a theory-plus-competency licence; it is not a blanket approval to fly anywhere. Commercial operations beyond the excluded category must be conducted under a valid ReOC held by your operating organisation, and you must keep operating in compliance with the MOS. The RePL does not expire and CASA imposes no continuing proficiency or currency requirement on the licence itself, but your ReOC's documented practices and procedures will normally set their own recency and competency standards, and your fitness to fly and any operational approvals remain ongoing obligations — not a one-time pass-and-forget credential. Treat the licence as permission to keep learning, not a finish line.

Where the Excluded Category Ends

The excluded category lets a commercial operator fly a very light RPA (≤2 kg) within the SOC without a ReOC, but the moment you cross any one of its boundaries — heavier aircraft, BVLOS, night, populous areas, or closer to a controlled aerodrome than the SOC allows — you are outside it and need the full ReOC apparatus. The theory exam tests exactly this boundary, so be able to list every condition that, if broken, moves an operation out of the excluded category. A useful mnemonic: "heavy, far, dark, crowded, close" — weight, distance (BVLOS), night, populous, and proximity to controlled airspace. CASA does not require a Class 1 or Class 2 medical for a RePL, but you must be fit to fly on the day under the general duty in CASR 101.055, and keeping up with MOS amendments, your AROC and your ReOC's own recency standards remains your responsibility.