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UK A2 CofC practice test

Britain kept the A2 CofC after leaving the European system, and the syllabus still turns on ground risk, weather and flight performance. These ten questions sit at the level the exam asks them.

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Ten questions

Pick an answer and the page tells you straight away whether it was right, then shows the reasoning and the rule. There is no sign-up and no score to keep, so you can start over as often as you like.

1. 1Under the rules current from 2026, at what minimum weight must a person hold a Flyer ID to fly a drone or model aircraft?

   1. A100 g or above
   2. B250 g or heavier
   3. C500 g or above
   4. D2 kg or above
   Show the answer

   A. 100 g or above

   A Flyer ID is required to fly a drone or model aircraft weighing 100 g or above, a lower threshold than the older 250 g figure some pilots may still remember. It is obtained by passing the CAA's free online theory test and belongs to the person doing the flying, not the aircraft's owner.

   UK CAA, CAP 2320, The Drone and Model Aircraft Code

2. 2In a weather observation, what does the term 'gust' describe?

   1. AA brief increase in wind speed above the mean
   2. BA sustained shift in wind direction of more than 30 degrees
   3. CThe average wind speed measured over a 10 minute period
   4. DA steady decrease in wind speed lasting several minutes
   Show the answer

   A. A brief increase in wind speed above the mean

   A gust is a short, transient increase in wind speed above the mean value, typically lasting only seconds, and it is the peak gust rather than the mean speed that most often catches a small drone off guard. The mean wind speed reported in a forecast is a separate, averaged figure, so a calm sounding forecast can still include gusts strong enough to affect control.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

3. 3What is generally meant by a small unmanned aircraft's 'maximum take-off mass'?

   1. AThe heaviest the aircraft is permitted to be at launch, including the airframe, battery and any payload
   2. BThe mass of the airframe and its fitted equipment on its own, with the battery and any payload excluded
   3. CA limit that only begins to apply once the aircraft is airborne, rather than at the moment it leaves the ground
   4. DThe heaviest external load the aircraft is able to lift and carry away from its launch point
   Show the answer

   A. The heaviest the aircraft is permitted to be at launch, including the airframe, battery and any payload

   Maximum take-off mass is the heaviest the whole aircraft system is permitted to be at the moment of launch, and that figure includes the airframe, the battery and any payload fitted, not just the bare airframe. It is a launch weight limit rather than something that only starts to matter once the aircraft is already flying.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

4. 4Flying at a constant airspeed, how does a headwind affect a small unmanned aircraft's groundspeed compared with a tailwind of the same strength?

   1. AA headwind increases groundspeed while a tailwind slows the aircraft
   2. BWind direction changes the aircraft's altitude rather than its speed over the ground
   3. CA headwind reduces groundspeed while a tailwind increases it
   4. DHead and tailwinds both reduce groundspeed by the same amount
   Show the answer

   C. A headwind reduces groundspeed while a tailwind increases it

   Groundspeed is the aircraft's speed measured relative to the ground, so a headwind subtracts from it while a tailwind of the same strength adds to it, even though the aircraft's airspeed through the moving air mass stays the same. Wind direction has a real and opposite effect on groundspeed depending on whether it is opposing or assisting the aircraft, and it has no direct bearing on altitude.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

5. 5On a multirotor, which control input causes the aircraft to rotate around its vertical axis, changing the direction it is facing?

   1. AYaw
   2. BPitch
   3. CRoll
   4. DThrottle
   Show the answer

   A. Yaw

   Yaw is rotation around the aircraft's vertical axis, which changes the direction the nose is pointing without necessarily moving the aircraft sideways. Pitch and roll instead tilt the aircraft forward, backward or sideways to move it through the air, and throttle controls overall lift and climb or descent rather than direction.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

6. 6A Flight Restriction Zone around a protected aerodrome is generally made up of which two main elements?

   1. AA single fixed circle of 1 km radius drawn around the aerodrome's control tower, whatever the layout of the runways
   2. BA cylinder matching the aerodrome's traffic zone, plus a runway protection zone extending from each runway end
   3. CA zone covering only the airspace directly above the paved runway surface and its markings
   4. DA boundary set by the local council's planning limits for the aerodrome site and its approaches
   Show the answer

   B. A cylinder matching the aerodrome's traffic zone, plus a runway protection zone extending from each runway end

   An aerodrome's FRZ is generally built from a cylinder matching its aerodrome traffic zone, with a radius of 2 or 2.5 nautical miles up to 2,000 ft, plus runway protection zones that extend outward from each runway end, both designed to keep drones clear of the areas manned traffic actually uses. It is not a single fixed circle around the tower, limited to the runway surface itself, or defined by council planning boundaries.

   UK CAA, Aerodromes, heliports and spaceports

7. 7Why might a remote pilot check for and install manufacturer firmware updates as part of routine maintenance?

   1. AFirmware updates void the manufacturer's warranty, so an aircraft should be kept on the software version it shipped with from the factory
   2. BFirmware stops affecting flight performance and safety once the aircraft has left the factory and been sold
   3. CFirmware updates can fix known flight control bugs, improve sensor performance or update safety features such as geo-awareness data
   4. DInstalling the latest firmware raises the usable capacity of the battery by around 50 percent on every pack
   Show the answer

   C. Firmware updates can fix known flight control bugs, improve sensor performance or update safety features such as geo-awareness data

   Manufacturers issue firmware updates to fix known bugs in the flight control software, improve how onboard sensors behave, and refresh safety related data such as geo-awareness zones, so keeping firmware current is a genuine part of maintaining an aircraft properly. Updates do not typically void a warranty, firmware absolutely continues to affect performance and safety after purchase, and no update produces a fixed, guaranteed battery life improvement like 50 percent.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

8. 8A remote pilot has a UK2 class drone and wants to fly it within 30 m of uninvolved bystanders in a park, closer than the standard A3 rules would allow. What must this pilot hold to do this legally?

   1. ANothing beyond the class mark itself, since a UK2 drone may be flown close to people on that mark alone
   2. BA General VLOS Certificate, which is what the rules require for any flight close to bystanders
   3. CAn A2 Certificate of Competency, to operate that drone in the A2, fly near people, subcategory
   4. DAn Operator ID that has been upgraded to commercial status with the CAA first
   Show the answer

   C. An A2 Certificate of Competency, to operate that drone in the A2, fly near people, subcategory

   A UK2 class drone can be flown in the A2 subcategory, which allows closer approach to uninvolved people than A3, but only once the pilot holds an A2 Certificate of Competency, since the class mark alone does not grant that permission. A General VLOS Certificate belongs to a different part of the regulatory framework, and there is no such thing as upgrading an Operator ID to a commercial status that changes subcategory access.

   UK CAA, A2 Certificate of Competency (A2 CofC)

9. 9A weather chart shows a front symbol with alternating triangle and semicircle markers on the same side of the line, labelled as an occluded front. What does this symbol represent?

   1. AA front that has become stationary, no longer moving in any direction across the chart
   2. BA cold front that has caught up with and merged with a warm front ahead of it
   3. CA front that forms only over the sea and never crosses onto land
   4. DThe exact centre of a deep area of low pressure on the chart
   Show the answer

   B. A cold front that has caught up with and merged with a warm front ahead of it

   An occluded front forms when a faster moving cold front catches up with a warm front ahead of it, lifting the warmer air off the surface, and the combined symbol reflects this merged character. A stationary front is shown with the two symbol types on opposite sides of the line rather than the same side, and occlusion is a general process not limited to fronts over the sea.

   UK CAA, CAP 722

10. 10A remote pilot flying near the coast on a sunny afternoon notices a noticeably cooler, stronger wind blowing in from the sea compared with a similar site a few miles inland. What commonly explains this?

    1. AA katabatic wind, caused by cold air draining down the nearby high ground and flowing out over the water towards the shore line
    2. BThe jet stream dipping unusually low over the coast that afternoon and reaching down to the surface
    3. CA sea breeze, caused by the land heating faster than the sea and air flowing inland to replace the rising warm air over land
    4. DA static build up over the surface of the ocean, which drags the cooler air inland behind it
    Show the answer

    C. A sea breeze, caused by the land heating faster than the sea and air flowing inland to replace the rising warm air over land

    Land heats up faster than the sea during the day, so air over the land rises and is replaced by cooler air drawn in from over the water, producing the local sea breeze that strengthens through a sunny afternoon. A katabatic wind is a different, gravity driven effect linked to sloping terrain rather than a coastline, and the jet stream operates at a much higher level than this kind of local, low level coastal effect.

    UK CAA, CAP 722

Where the UK A2 CofC questions come from

The bank behind this page holds 120 questions on this track, written against the published syllabus and spread over the subject areas below. Every one of them names the paragraph it tests. The whole track was last checked against its source on 2026-08-06.

A2 CofC is issued by a CAA recognised assessment entity, and the certificate lasts five years. Course prices vary widely between providers, so it pays to compare.

Questions people ask

Is this UK A2 CofC test free?

Yes, and there is nothing to sign up for. The ten questions, the explanations and the citations are all on this page.

Are these the real exam questions?

No. Nobody may publish the live question bank, and any site that claims to have it is either wrong or breaking the rules. Every question here is written against the published syllabus, and each one names the rule it tests so you can verify it.

How many questions does the real exam have?

30 questions, and you need 75% to pass.

What happens if I want more than ten questions?

The app carries 120 questions on this track, all of them free, with the same explanations and citations. One payment adds the full mock exams at the real length and clock.

The rest of the bank is in the app, and it is free

Every one of the 120 questions on this track is free in the app, with the same worked explanation and the same citation. One payment of 24.99 adds the full mock exams, at the real length and the real clock, on all seven tracks at once. It does not renew.

The other six tracks

• FAA Part 107 practice test
• EASA A1/A3 practice test
• EASA A2 CofC practice test
• Transport Canada Basic operations practice test
• Transport Canada Advanced operations practice test
• CASA drone exam practice test

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