Section 107.23(b) prohibits allowing an object to be dropped from a small unmanned aircraft in a manner that creates an undue hazard to persons or property. The sentence does not ban every release. A controlled drop over a cordoned zone that has been cleared of people and property can meet the standard. Releasing the same object over parked trucks or an occupied sidewalk does not. The aircraft also has to be able to carry the object until the moment of release, which is a power and performance question under §107.49.
The hazard test, not a blanket ban
Read the verb. No person may allow an object to be dropped in a manner that creates an undue hazard. The test is the manner of the drop and what is underneath it. A remote pilot hired to lower a coil of lightweight rope to a work crew has a legal plan and an illegal one. The legal plan is a controlled hover over a cordoned-off drop zone that has been cleared of people and property. The illegal plan is releasing the rope over the crew's parked trucks in the active parking lot to save time. "Any release is prohibited" is the answer the rule does not support.
Careless or reckless operation in §107.23(a) is the neighboring sentence. A drop that endangers people can violate both. The broader duty is on the careless or reckless operation page. Carrying hazardous material is a different prohibition, in §107.36, covered on the hazardous materials page. A lightweight rope is not that problem. The rope problem is where it lands.
Secure the object, then give the flight enough power
Section 107.49 is the preflight that makes a drop honest. Before flight, the remote pilot in command must ensure that any object attached to or carried by the small unmanned aircraft is secure and does not adversely affect the flight characteristics or controllability of the aircraft. A release mechanism that can fire early, or a load that shifts the aircraft out of a controllable attitude, fails that check even if the drop zone looks empty.
The same section requires enough available power, if the aircraft is powered, for the system to operate for the intended operational time. The rule does not say the battery must be at exactly 50 percent. It does not say the battery must be removed before flight. It says the energy on board has to cover the operation you actually intend: the transit, the hover, the release, and the recovery. The rest of the preflight list, including weather, airspace, people on the surface, and working control links, is on the preflight page.
What the extra weight does
Adding a heavier payload, while staying inside the aircraft's maximum, most directly shortens flight time and reduces the performance margin. More weight requires more power to hover. It does not increase battery capacity, and it does not leave the power required unchanged. A coil of rope that was "light" on the spec sheet can still eat the reserve you planned for an empty aircraft.
That is why the power check and the weight check are the same conversation. If the loaded hover no longer has enough energy for the transit, the release, and the recovery, §107.49 is not satisfied, even when the drop zone is empty and cordoned. The section asks for enough available power for the intended operational time. It does not set a percentage, and it does not treat an empty battery at the moment of release as a plan.
A worked drop, and the trap
Walk a real site. The crew marks a square on the ground, moves the trucks out of it, keeps people behind a line, and the remote pilot hovers over the empty square long enough to confirm the release will fall inside it. The rope is secured until the release command. The battery still shows enough energy for the hover and the return. That profile matches §107.23(b) and §107.49.
The trap on the test is the absolute ban, and the close cousin is the convenient surface. Trucks in an active lot are property. A sidewalk with people on it is persons. Saving time is not a clearance. The other trap is ignoring the load: treating endurance as unchanged because the aircraft is still under its maximum weight. Heavier means shorter, and the flight still needs enough power for the operation you briefed.
Practice the drop, power, and payload items in the free practice test. The operating-rules sequence in the course is at pricing.