Class 2 Drone (Japan) common mistakes
Class 2 Drone (Japan) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Memorising only the headline categories of the flight prohibition zones (DID, around airports, 150 m above ground) and then answering scenario questions as if any location outside those three is automatically flyable without permission.
Candidates study the three famous categories in isolation and never build a mental list of the other restricted areas (populated districts set by prefectural ordinance, designated security areas, Self-Defense Force and US military facility surroundings, and no-fly zones notified for events or disasters), so they default to 'no restriction' whenever the scenario does not mention DID or an airport.
What to do instead
Build a one-page decision table with four columns: zone type, who designates it, what permission or approval is needed, and what the penalty is. Include DID, airport surroundings, 150 m, prefectural populated-district ordinances, security areas, and temporary no-fly notices. For each past question you miss, write which column you failed to check, and re-drill the table until you can reproduce it from memory.
Treating 'permission' (許可) and 'approval' (承認) as interchangeable in answers, so the candidate selects the wrong procedural step, the wrong authority, or the wrong timing relative to the flight.
The two terms appear in similar-looking sentences in the Act and in study material, and candidates memorise the phrase 'need permission for DID' without attaching the concept of which article governs which act, so the distinction collapses under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Anchor each term to a concrete act: permission is the advance authorisation for the category of flight (DID, airport surroundings, 150 m, etc.), approval is the separate confirmation for a specific flight plan or method where the Act requires it. Make a two-column card listing which situations require which, add the application timing and the authority (MLIT or the local office), and practise sorting ten short scenarios into the correct column.
Answering airspace questions using only the 150 m altitude rule and ignoring that the boundary is measured as height above the ground or water surface directly beneath the aircraft, not above sea level or above the launch point.
Everyday flying is described in terms of altitude on the controller, and candidates carry that mental model into the exam, where questions deliberately place an aircraft over a valley, a slope, or a rooftop to test the reference point.
What to do instead
Redraw the rule as a picture: a horizontal line 150 m above the surface beneath the aircraft, following terrain. Work through three or four terrain scenarios (ridge, valley, building roof, water) and state the reference surface each time. Before answering any altitude question, write the phrase 'above the surface directly below' on your scratch paper.
Assuming that holding a registered aircraft, a remote ID, and a licence means a flight is legal, and overlooking the operator's duty to file and obtain approval of the flight plan and to carry the necessary documents on site.
Candidates conflate registration of the aircraft with authorisation of the flight, because both are 'paperwork' and both are checked before flying; the exam separates them precisely to test whether the candidate knows which obligation attaches to the machine and which to the operation.
What to do instead
Make a checklist organised by subject: aircraft (registration, remote ID, maintenance record), operator (flight plan approval where required, logbook, insurance), remote pilot (licence, skill certificate, health status), and site (permissions from landowners, no-fly confirmation). For each item write who holds it and whether it must be physically present at the flight. Rehearse by listing what you would carry to a hypothetical flight over a river inspection.
Confusing the roles of the remote pilot and the operator in questions about responsibility, and answering that the pilot alone bears the duty to maintain operational safety even when the operator is a separate legal entity.
In small operations one person plays both roles, so the candidate never has to distinguish them in practice; the exam introduces a company that employs pilots and asks who must appoint a safety manager, keep records, and ensure the operation complies.
What to do instead
Write out the two role definitions side by side, then assign each duty from the Act to the correct role: flight-plan approval, safety management and record keeping belong to the operator; pre-flight inspection, maintaining separation, and in-flight judgement belong to the pilot. Practise with a scenario where a company operates and an employee flies, and state for each obligation who is answerable.
Answering meteorology questions with general weather knowledge and ignoring the specific operational limits and decision thresholds the exam expects, such as wind-speed limits for the airframe class, visibility criteria, and the effect of gusts versus steady wind.
Candidates rely on intuition ('it looks fine') rather than the published limits in the aircraft manual and operating rules, and they do not distinguish mean wind from gust spread, so questions that give a mean and a peak are answered using only the mean.
What to do instead
Build a weather go/no-go card: maximum wind and gust values for the relevant airframe, minimum visibility, precipitation limits, temperature range for the battery, and the rule for when the flight must be aborted. Then practise reading a scenario that gives mean wind, gust, visibility, and temperature, and force yourself to write the pass/fail for each item before choosing an answer.
Treating radio knowledge as trivia about frequency numbers and forgetting that the exam tests the practical link between antenna orientation, line of sight, and loss of control link, including the legal rules on radio equipment and transmitting power.
Candidates memorise a list of frequency bands and stop there, because the numbers feel like the examinable content; the questions that actually decide the pass test whether the candidate understands why a link fails when the aircraft turns or descends behind an obstacle.
What to do instead
Study the link as a chain: transmitter power, antenna gain and orientation, path (line of sight, Fresnel clearance, obstacles), receiver sensitivity, and interference. For each element write one failure symptom and one countermeasure. Add the legal side: which equipment requires a licence or certification, what output power is permitted without one, and what the operator must do when interference is suspected.
Answering emergency-procedure questions with a generic sequence (return to home, land, done) without matching the response to the specific failure, such as loss of GNSS, loss of control link, or a battery that is degrading faster than predicted.
Manufacturers advertise automatic return-to-home as the universal answer, and candidates absorb that marketing framing instead of learning what the automation does when position information is unreliable or when the return path crosses an obstacle.
What to do instead
Make a failure-response matrix: rows for loss of GNSS, loss of link, compass error, low battery, motor failure, and sudden wind; columns for immediate action, automation behaviour, and the risk of relying on automation. For each cell write the decision criterion, for example that return-to-home depends on a valid home point and sufficient remaining power, and that a controlled descent in place may be safer over an unpopulated area.
Skipping the insurance and liability domain because it feels like legal background, then missing questions on the scope of compulsory insurance, what it does and does not cover, and the operator's liability for injury or property damage caused by the flight.
Candidates prioritise flight rules and airframe knowledge as the 'real' content and leave insurance to the last week, so they never learn the distinction between compulsory liability cover for bodily injury and optional cover for hull or third-party property, or the reporting duty after an accident.
What to do instead
Write a short brief: what insurance is compulsory for which operations, what it pays for, what it excludes, who is liable toward third parties, and what must be reported to whom after an accident or a serious incident. Add the difference between civil liability and administrative penalties. Test yourself with three scenarios (injury to a bystander, damage to a parked car, damage to the operator's own aircraft) and state who pays.
Reading a scenario question once and choosing the first option that matches a remembered rule, without checking the qualifiers in the stem such as 'except', 'not required', 'most appropriate first action', or 'at night'.
Time pressure and the familiarity of the rule trigger recognition-based answering; the exam deliberately writes stems where the correct rule is present in a distractor that fails one qualifier, so pattern matching produces the wrong choice.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed reading routine: underline the qualifier, restate the question in your own words before looking at the options, then eliminate options that violate a qualifier rather than selecting the first familiar one. In practice, mark every question you answered by recognition alone and review whether the qualifier changed the answer; do this until the routine is automatic.