Drone Regulations

31. Is there a mandatory accident and incident reporting system and, if so, how does it operate?

Bahamas

Yes, Regulation 4.306 imposes a reporting obligation upon a PIC of any “accident involving the RPA that results in serious injury or death of any person or substantial damage to the aircraft or property”.

Bolivia

Any UAS accident/incident must be reported, within the first 72 hours, to the CAA, via online form.

Brazil

ANAC has a channel in its website to report accidents and incidents. Authorities in Brazil have been discussing strategies to hire or develop a system to try to control the operation of UAS principally around banned areas.

Canada

UAS operators are required to report to Transport Canada details of injuries to any person requiring medical attention, unintended contact between the UAS and persons, livestock, vehicles, vessels or other structures, unanticipated damage to the airframe, control station, payload or command and control links that adversely affects the performance or flight characteristics of the UAS, anytime the UAS is not kept within the geographic boundaries set out in the SFOC, any collision with another aircraft, anytime the UAS becomes uncontrollable, experiences a fly-away or is missing, and any other incident that results in a Canadian Aviation Daily Occurrence Report.

Colombia

The operator, the owner or who manipulates the flight control must report to special dependence of UAEAC called Operational Security of Civil Aviation Secretary (SSOAC), any event during the operation of the device in which:

  1. Injuries to persons or damages to property on surface are caused.
  2. Collision with other unnamed aircraft.
  3. Collision against any element of country’s critical infrastructure

The operator, the owner or who manipulates the flight control, whatever its class, must report immediately to UAEAC’s incident and accident investigation group (GRIIA) the occurrence of accident or incident during the operation of the device in which a manned aircraft or any element of the aeronautical infrastructure was involved.

Costa Rica

All accidents and incidents must be reported to DGAC within 72 hours of the occurrence. The notification and report of the must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of RAC 13.

El Salvador

Yes, according to Article 4.010 of the RAC-VANT, the owner, the operator, or any witness must inform the AAC about any accident or incident within 72 hours of the occurrence. AAC will be in charge of the investigation.

Germany

The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, which is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Transport, is responsible for the investigation of civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within Germany.

Guatemala

Yes, according to the Article No. 101.51 of the RAC-101 all accidents and incidents must be reported to DGAC within 72 hours of the occurrence. The notification must be made according to Air Regulation No. 13 and specify all the information needed to proceed with the investigation.

India

The CAR provides that the operator of the UAS, except Nano UAS, must notify any incident/ accident involving UAS to the Director of Air Safety, DGCA, who will further intimate all the concerned agencies.

Further, any incident or accident involving known or controlled UAS has to be reported by the concerned air traffic control unit to DGCA and AAI authorities.

Israel

The Air Navigation Law prescribes a mandatory reporting system regarding accidents and safety incidents involving aircraft. This applies also to UAS which are construed as “aircraft” under the said Law. The Air Navigation Law specifies three types of safety incidents involving aircraft, in order of severity:

a. A flight accident – an incident related to the operation of the aircraft or inspection operations carried out on the aircraft during which a person was killed or seriously injured, the aircraft sustained serious damage, or an incident in which the aircraft was not located or inaccessible.

b. A severe flight incident – an incident other than a flight accident, related to the operation of an aircraft or to inspection operations carried out on the aircraft, which impacted or could have impacted the safety of its operation, in circumstances where a flight accident almost occurred.

c. A “regular” flight incident – a non-severe flight incident.

A person involved in a safety incident shall notify the Chief Investigator of the Ministry of Transport within 24 hours, stating, inter alia, the place of the incident, the time of the incident and its details. A flight accident or a severe flight incident must be reported immediately. If the person involved in the safety incident cannot report it, the air operator is responsible for reporting same in his stead. The Chief Investigator receiving the report should report the safety incident to both the Minister of Transportation and the Director of the CAAI as soon as possible.

Italy

Yes, there is a mandatory reporting system. In particular, operators, manufacturers and pilots of all drones (regardless of their MTOW) shall report to ENAC any occurrences as per Annex V of the Regulation (UE) No 2015/1018 (laying down a list classifying occurrences in civil aviation to be mandatorily reported). Reports must be submitted to ENAC within 72 hours from the event pursuant to Regulation (UE) No 376/2014 (on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation).

Also, pursuant to Regulation (UE) No 996/2010 (on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation), in case of accident or serious incident the involved parties must inform ANSV within 60 minutes from the event, in the forms established by the same authority.

Kenya

Accident and Incident reporting in Kenya is currently regulated under the Civil Aviation (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) Regulations, 2018 and the Civil Aviation (Safety Management) Regulations, 2018.

The Draft Regulations require a UAS operator to report all incidents and accidents to the KCAA in accordance with the provisions of the Safety Management Regulations.[45] The Safety Management Regulations require the KCAA to establish a mandatory incident reporting system and voluntary incident reporting system for collection of information or potential deficiencies.[46]

The Safety Management Regulations also require a service provider to make a mandatory occurrence reports on accidents, serious incidents, incidents and other safety related occurrences to the KCAA within 24 hours, in case of accidents, 48 hours in the case of serious incidents and 72 hours in the case of incidents and other related occurrences. Occurrence reports must be made on appropriate forms acceptable to the KCAA and contain detailed information pertinent to the specific occurrence.[47]

[45] Regulation 25  of the Draft Civil Aviation (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Regulations,2019

[46] Regulation 7 of the Civil Aviation (Safety Management) Regulations

[47] Regulation 12 of the Civil Aviation (Safety Management) Regulations

Mexico

There is no accident or incident reporting system for RPAS in Mexico.

Nicaragua

There is not an express regulation on this matter.

Norway

According to the Aviation Act Section 12-2 the operator and owner (among others) of the aircraft are under a joint duty to immediately inform the closest unit of the air traffic service, closest police authority, or the rescue coordination centre, unless they are aware that such notice has already been given.

Pakistan

No, however, pursuant to the ANO, the OC shall at all times ensure the integrity of communication and coordination with the Air Traffic Controller. In the event of loss of controller link or loss of control, the operator must instantly notify the nearest ATS unit with the following information:

  1. The original location of the URCSUA.
  2. The time the URCSUA lost controller link or control was lost over the URCSUA for any other reason.
  3. The status of the URCSUA.
  4. The estimated flight path of the URCSUA.
  5. Last known height/altitude

A URCSUA in Pakistan has to be equipped with a means of automatic recovery or considerable risk mitigation factors in the event of a lost link to ensure that the airborne operations are predictable/recoverable or considerably non-destructive in nature in the event of Lost Link. Lost link measures must be autonomously activatable by the airship itself without any external input whatsoever. The Operator must demonstrate a capability of ensuring that this system is operational. Civil Aviation Authority will judge for itself the competence of an Operator’s Lost Link system and whether it is indeed worthy of implementation.

Panama

There is no mandatory accident and incident reporting system required or specified within the Regulations or other rules in respect to RPAS.

Philippines

Presently, the PCAR does not provide for any specific accident and incident reporting system that are applicable to UAS or RPA only. Accident and incident reporting can fall under the general Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations on accident and incident reporting and investigation. 

Portugal

No

Puerto Rico

There is no state legislation covering this in Puerto Rico.

Romania

According to Art. 90 from The Aerial Civil Code the aerial operators or other institutions that have technical and operational competences in civil aeronautics are obliged to inform Minister of Transportation for every civil aviation incident or accident.

Further, according to the Regulation (EC) no. 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation, in order to improve aviation safety, relevant civil aviation safety information should be reported, collected, stored, protected, exchanged, disseminated and analysed, and appropriate safety action should be taken on the basis of the information collected.

The competent national authority in Romania in the field of civil aviation safety is CIAS.

South Africa

Yes. All accidents and incidents involving a UAS where there is any injury or death to a person, damage to property, or destruction of the UAS beyond economical repair must be reported in accordance with the specific provisions of the CARs. The system operates similar to other aircraft, to the extent that the relevant specific provisions of the CARs provide. All incidents involving a UAS where loss of control occurred must be reported to the holder of the ROC.

Spain

If a drone accident occurs, the operator must notify the event to the Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Incidents on Civil Aviation, to the SNS or the Events National System of AESA. If the Commission considers that the incident presents an important issue for operational security, an investigation will be opened in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 996/2010.

All events that can be considered a potential incident or accident must be notified by the drone operator to the SNS within 72 hours of the moment the event occurred. Communication to the authority can be made electronically through the AESA website. Then, the administrative process will start in accordance with the Air Safety Act.

Switzerland

Yes, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 376/2014, which is applicable in Switzerland, irregular occurrences that compromise or that could compromise air safety must be reported by using the reporting portal provided by the European Union (see www.aviationreporting.eu/AviationReporting/). Such reports are then automatically forwarded to the FOCA.

Turkey

Yes. All aircraft accident must be reported by their pilots or crew to the Ministry of Transport and accidents are investigated by a special commission to be formed by the Ministry of Transport under the rules and procedures set out in the Turkish Civil Aviation Law.

United Kingdom

Not as far as we are aware.

United States of America

Under 14 C.F.R. § 107.9, the remote pilot in command of the small UAS is required to report to the FAA within 10 calendar days of the occurrence of any of the following resulting from a small UAS operation:

  1. Serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness;
  2. Damage to any property, other than the small unmanned aircraft, unless one of the following conditions is satisfied:
    1. The cost of repair (including materials and labor) does not exceed $500; or
    2. The fair market value of the property does not exceed $500 in the event of total loss.

Accidents may be reported via an online portal https://faadronezone.faa.gov/#/home. The FAA also encourages witnesses to contact local law enforcement if a UAS incident results in injury or damage to property or if a person observes a UAS being operated recklessly or in a dangerous manner.

Large UAS are subject to the reporting requirements of 49 C.F.R. Part 830, which applies to aircraft generally. Generally speaking, the operator must notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board office immediately and by the most expeditious means available following an accident or certain incidents such as equipment malfunctions or failure or incapacity of required flight crewmembers.