Greg Barnes
- Feb 24, 2023
- 3 min read

Part 107 Pilot Feature: G-onni Laloata

Written by Greg Barnes

G-onni Laloata, one of Guam's newest -- and youngest -- Part 107 pilots! (NOTE: G-onni is the one on the right, NOT the left!)

Today, we’re happy to introduce yet another Part 107-certified pilot on Guam, G-onni Laloata!

G-onni is from Career Tech High Academy Charter School (CTHACS) in Agat, where 2cofly taught a class on FAA drone rules and regulations in the fall of 2022. But G-onni is not a faculty member — she is a student! (We recently featured someone else from the same school, one of G-onni’s classmates, Ty Whitaker. You can read his Part 107 pilot feature here!)

One thing we love about drones — and the thing we tell drone newbies — is that drones can be used in a wide variety of different applications. What got G-onni interested in drones was their use in the field of archaeology. She heard about drone LiDAR scans in her archaeology course. (We here at 2cofly visited Palau in the spring of 2022 specifically to assist German archaeologists in their discovery of walls and other ancient artifacts hidden under the jungles of the Rock Islands. Read about that trip we took and work we did here.)

A girl sitting on a rock with hills in the background

G-onni loves the outdoors and looks forward to using drones to find and preserve archaeological artifacts!

It was opportunities just like these that made G-onni want to pursue her Part 107 certification. (When flying a drone recreationally, you don’t need this particular certification from the FAA. But when flying for any business-related purpose, the FAA requires you to have your Part 107 certification. G-onni, being interested in using a drone for more than just recreation, would need to get her Part 107. If you want to know more about the difference between a recreational and commercial drone license, read this article!)

But getting the Part 107 can be a challenge. While G-onni thought the test topics were pretty cool, she did have some difficulty with the loading & performance part — the physics of how a drone/aircraft flies. But our course helped G-onni pass the test, because our course really mirrored what the actual test was like, and in G-onni’s own words, we made everything “easy to understand.”

G-onni has 3 tips to give to future test-takers.

Take notes on all of the content so you can understand it in your own terms. Sometimes, it’s important to remember exact phrases the way they’re written, because you may have a question on your test about some exact phraseology. But even though you may remember exact phrases, it’s even more important that you remember what those terms actually mean, because there’s no point in remembering a phrase without knowing what it actually means.
Stay calm during the test. Don’t freak out! If you’ve studied hard, you know the material, you’ve taken multiple practice tests, and you feel confident in your knowledge, then don’t let one or two or even a few surprise tricky questions get you down. (If this does not describe you, then maybe you do have reason feel worried. But if you’ve really done your due diligence, remain confident and plow through!
Don’t eat before the test. This one of G-onni's tips is similar to the idea of "Don't eat before going on a roller coaster”: You may have the stomach of Superman, but why test that with something potentially stressful? (Note from the writer of this article: When I and a friend went in to take our Part 107 test, we knew we would pass

A girl doing the "V" peace sign with her hand

G-onni's 3 tips: 'Take lots of notes, stay calm during the test, and don't eat beforehand.'

because we studied extremely hard and knew the material thoroughly. So we planned ahead of time that we would celebrate by going to Stax and ordering to go — and that’s exactly what we did!) G-onni’s advice is solid: Why eat before a test and potentially lose your lunch when you could instead plan to celebrate your passing Part 107 score by going out to eat at your favorite place?

NOTE: G-onni told us that she did not take follow steps 2 or 3, so she suffered from a stomachache throughout the entire test. That’s why she put these tips here — so that others don’t make the same mistakes she did!

Now that G-onni is officially Part 107-certified, her goal is to somehow get into drones for archaeological projects, as those were the types of missions that got her interested in drones in the first place. But in the mean time, she’s perfectly happy using drones for other projects!

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