A person with no Remote Pilot Certificate may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft only while a remote pilot in command directly supervises and has the ability to immediately take direct control of the flight. That is §107.12(a)(2). The remote pilot must hold the certificate and meet §107.65. The uncertificated person does not have to earn a certificate first, and there is no hour minimum that unlocks the controls.
Direct supervision means immediate control
Priya holds a current Remote Pilot Certificate. Her intern, Marcus, has no certificate and wants to fly during a bridge-inspection job. Marcus may manipulate the controls only if Priya directly supervises him and can immediately take direct control of the aircraft. Priya remaining somewhere on the job site, reachable by phone, is not immediate control. A call across the site tells Marcus what to do. It does not let Priya take the aircraft. There is no rule that Marcus must first log 10 hours of supervised practice. The supervision path is available on the first flight, if the supervision is real.
"Immediately" is the word the test is built on. The remote pilot is positioned to take direct control of the aircraft without a delay that leaves the flight unsupervised. A plan to walk over from the truck is a plan to arrive late. A plan to coach by speakerphone is advice, not control. The legal arrangement is the one where the remote pilot can take the flight the moment it needs to be taken.
The assistant does not become the remote pilot
A certificated, current remote pilot may be designated remote pilot in command while an uncertificated assistant flies from a single controller beside her. That operation is legal if she directly supervises and keeps the ability to immediately take direct control. It is not illegal merely because the assistant's hands are on the controls. Part 107 does not say every person who touches the sticks must hold a certificate. The other wrong turn is to say the assistant becomes the remote pilot while his hands are on the controls. He does not. Section 107.19 still places direct responsibility and final authority on the designated remote pilot. Hands do not transfer the role.
Part 107 has no student remote pilot certificate. You cannot call this arrangement a student-pilot solo. Part 107 does not issue that certificate, and Part 61 solo rules do not apply. Until the assistant passes, applies, and holds a remote pilot certificate, every flight he manipulates is a supervised flight under §107.12(a)(2), or it is not a legal Part 107 flight. Who must hold the certificate in the first place is on the who needs a certificate page. What the remote pilot remains responsible for is on the remote pilot in command page.
Where the remote pilot has to stand
For a commercial photo flight, the complying arrangement is physical and immediate. The remote pilot stands with the trainee, directly supervising, and can immediately take direct control. Monitoring by video call, with a radio for instructions, fails. The remote pilot can talk and cannot take the aircraft. Sending the trainee alone because obstacle avoidance "provides an equivalent level of safety" fails. The aircraft's sensors are not a remote pilot, and §107.12 does not accept them as a substitute for immediate control. Reviewing the logs after landing also fails. Supervision is during the flight, not a critique afterward.
Use one controller beside the remote pilot when that is how immediate takeover actually works. If the trainee has a separate transmitter and the remote pilot cannot take the link now, the arrangement does not meet the rule, even if both people are in the same parking lot. Direct supervision is the ability to take control of the flight, not merely being nearby. A visual observer can scan for traffic. The observer is not the supervising remote pilot unless that observer is the certificated remote pilot and can take control immediately. The observer role is the visual observer page.
The traps are distance, paperwork, and gadgets. Distance: on site by phone feels helpful and is not immediate. Paperwork: a 10-hour log, a student certificate that Part 107 does not issue, or a belief that the person holding the sticks has become the remote pilot. Gadgets: obstacle avoidance, a video call, or a post-flight review offered as if they were §107.12(a)(2). The complying picture is a current remote pilot next to the uncertificated person, able to take direct control immediately, and still the remote pilot in command while that happens.
Practice the supervision scenarios on the free practice test. The course lessons are at pricing.