Ask this before choosing a course
Not "which course should I take" but "what will I fly, and where". European rules grade operations by risk, and it is the risk that decides the training — not the other way round.
Three situations, three routes, costing anywhere from nothing to €1,700.
What changed on 1 January 2026
Two shifts landed on the same day, and many pages have yet to catch up.
The CATT was replaced by the CATS. If you search for "CATT training", what you will be sold today is this certificate under another name.
The national standard scenarios S-1, S-2 and S-3 ceased to exist. They are replaced by the European standard scenarios STS-01 and STS-02, defined in Appendix 1 to the Annex of Regulation (EU) 2019/947. A course still preparing you for national scenarios is preparing you for a framework that no longer exists.
The three routes
1. Open category, subcategories A1 and A3 — free
The baseline. Required as soon as the drone exceeds 250 g, or carries a sensor capable of collecting personal data — a camera is enough.
- Where: online, on the DGAC's AlphaTango portal
- Format: 40-question multiple choice, 75 % pass mark
- Cost: free, and repeatable
This attestation does not allow you to fly over people or close to them.
2. Open category, subcategory A2 — €30
Needed to fly closer to people than A3 allows. Built in three steps: the A1/A3 attestation, self-directed practical training, then the additional exam.
- Format: 30-question multiple choice, one hour, 8 mistakes allowed at most
- Cost: €30, free for jobseekers
- Validity: 5 years, recognised across the European Union
3. Specific category, CATS — from €30 to €1,700
The CATS is the Certificat d'Aptitude Théorique de pilote à distance pour les Scénarios standards — the remote pilot theoretical certificate for standard scenarios. It replaced the CATT on 1 January 2026.
This is the professional route. It opens operations the Open category forbids: populated areas under ground protection (STS-01, class C5 drone) and beyond visual line of sight in sparsely populated areas (STS-02, class C6).
- Format: 60-question multiple choice, 1 h 30, on computer at a DGAC examination centre (OCEANE rooms)
- Registration: OCEANE portal; the certificate is downloadable within 7 days
- And then: the CATS is theoretical. Flying under an STS also requires a practical skill assessment with a declared (DTO) or approved (ATO) training organisation, a prior declaration, and an operations manual (MANEX).
The same certificate is called something else in every country
The framework is European, the certificates are national. A pilot trained in France holds a CATS; their Italian counterpart holds an Attestato di Pilota Remoto — Scenari Standard, issued by ENAC.
This is not a vocabulary detail — it is what makes searching hard. Searching for "CATS" from Italy returns nothing, and a foreign provider offering you "the CATS" is not necessarily issuing what the DGAC recognises. Always check which authority issues the certificate, not just its name.
What it actually costs
This is where pages contradict each other, because they quote one figure where there are four. They do not mean the same thing.
| what you pay | amount | what it covers |
|---|---|---|
| DGAC examination fee | €30 | sitting the official exam, nothing else |
| Exam through an online platform | ≈ €190 | sitting it, often with several attempts included |
| Preparation modules, e-learning | €40 – 60 | lessons, practice questions, mock exams |
| Full course at a centre, 5 days | €900 – 1,700 | theory, practice, guidance — eligible for CPF or France Travail depending on the provider |
Sitting the exam and preparing for it are two separate expenses. A candidate who revises alone and sits the exam at a DGAC centre pays the fee. A candidate going through a platform pays that platform's service.
Funding
The full course at a centre is the only one of the four lines usually eligible for CPF or France Travail funding — and that depends on the provider, not on the course itself. The same content can be fundable at one place and not at another.
Two things to check before enrolling:
- is the organisation declared (DTO) or approved (ATO)? That is what makes the practical assessment valid — not the quality of the teaching;
- the fee waiver for jobseekers applies to the official exam, not to private services.
Training is not enough: you must also be registered
A frequent confusion, and an expensive one because it surfaces at the worst moment: the remote pilot and the operator are two different things.
- The remote pilot is the person flying. They sit the exam.
- The operator is whoever the flight is conducted for — a person or a company. They must be registered on AlphaTango, an obligation under Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947, applicable since 31 December 2020.
Registration issues an operator number in the format FRA followed by 13 characters,
to be displayed legibly on the aircraft. One person is often both — but the two steps stay
separate, and passing the exam does not register you.
Choosing a centre
The directory of training organisations lists the declared centres that appear in our directory, with their activity declaration number and the qualifications they prepare for. That information is declared by the organisations themselves; we do not verify it with the administration.
Three questions to ask before signing:
- Exactly which qualification does the course prepare for? "Drone training" means nothing: A2 and CATS do not open the same operations.
- Is the STS practical assessment included, or only the theory?
- Has the content been updated after 1 January 2026? A course still discussing scenarios S-1 to S-3 is teaching a repealed framework.