If a standard Remote ID unmanned aircraft stops broadcasting the message elements required by §89.305, the person manipulating the flight controls must land as soon as practicable. That duty is §89.110(a)(2). If a broadcast module stops broadcasting the message elements of §89.315, §89.115(a)(4) states the same duty. Staying under 400 feet, climbing so the broadcast might restart, remaining in visual line of sight, or flying home until the battery is nearly empty does not replace the landing.
What standard Remote ID was sending
A standard Remote ID drone broadcasts its identification, position, and altitude, plus the location of the control station. The nearest FAA facility is not that location element. The registered owner's home address is not that location element. A Remote ID broadcast module broadcasts the takeoff location instead of the live control-station position. The two paths are compared on the Remote ID page, and the module's takeoff-location rule is on the broadcast module page.
When the standard aircraft is no longer broadcasting the §89.305 elements, §89.110(a)(2) names one response. The person manipulating the flight controls lands as soon as practicable. Continuing to the planned landing point because the flight is still below 400 feet above ground level is not that response. Climbing above 400 feet so the broadcast can restart is not that response. Altitude is a Part 107 operating limit. It is not a Remote ID repair.
A module that goes quiet
Section 89.115(a)(4) uses the same landing duty when the aircraft is no longer broadcasting the §89.315 elements. Visual line of sight is a separate broadcast-module requirement, in §89.115(a)(2)(ii). Keeping the aircraft in sight does not excuse a failed broadcast. The pilot does not get to return to the takeoff point and remain airborne until the battery is at 10 percent. The standard Remote ID failure rule in §89.110(a)(2) is the same idea, aimed at the §89.305 elements rather than the module elements.
A roof inspection on a module-equipped older aircraft makes the point concrete. The module indication drops while the aircraft is still over the ridge, still in sight, and still under 400 feet. The person on the controls lands as soon as practicable. Finishing the ridge because the camera is still up, or because the pilot can see the aircraft, leaves §89.115(a)(4) unmet.
"As soon as practicable" is the regulation's phrase for both failures. It does not mean at the planned end of the job, and it does not mean when the battery reaches a number the rule never states. The person who must act is the person manipulating the flight controls. A visual observer calling the failure does not move that duty onto someone who is not flying the aircraft. The same landing follows a standard Remote ID aircraft that loses the §89.305 elements and a module that loses the §89.315 elements. The message that stopped is different. The required action is not.
A FRIA is a different operation
A flight that was planned inside an FAA-recognized identification area, with no Remote ID equipment, is using §89.115(b), not a broadcast that just failed. Both the aircraft and the person manipulating the controls have to remain inside that area, with the aircraft in sight. Those boundary rules are on the FRIA page. A failed broadcast does not turn into a FRIA because a field with that status is nearby. Unless the operation is already the FRIA operation the section describes, the failure duty remains the landing.
The trap
Each wrong answer offers a substitute for landing. One substitute is altitude: stay under 400 feet, or climb above it. One substitute is vision: keep the aircraft in sight and continue. One substitute is a battery number: go home and fly until 10 percent. The regulations name the person, the person manipulating the flight controls, and they name the action, land as soon as practicable. They name it twice, once for a standard Remote ID aircraft that loses the §89.305 broadcast and once for a module that loses the §89.315 broadcast.
The location item is the setup for understanding what "stopped broadcasting" means. If you cannot say whether the missing element is the control station or the takeoff point, you cannot tell which section you are in. Standard Remote ID: control station, plus the aircraft's own identification, position, and altitude. Module: takeoff location. Either way, when the required message stops, land.
Work the failure items in the free practice test. The Remote ID lessons in the course are at pricing.