Regulatory Deviation and Accident Reporting

Which Accidents Require a Report

If you have the unfortunate experience of crashing your drone, you MAY have to report it to the FAA. If you crash your drone and the only damage is to your drone or associated equipment, you don’t need to report anything. However, you DO need to report the accident in the following instances:

If the sUAS causes a serious injury or any loss of consciousness.
- A serious injury is defined as a Level 3 or higher on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), which essentially means any injury that results in someone being hospitalized.
- Any loss of consciousness must be reported regardless of hospitalization.
If the sUAS causes damage to property (not including the cost of damage to the drone) that costs at least $500 to either repair or replace, whichever is lower.

Advisory Circular 107 gave this example:

A small UA damages a property whose fair market value is $200, and it would cost $600 to repair the damage. Because the fair market value is below $500, this accident is not required to be reported. Similarly, if the aircraft causes $200 worth of damage to property whose fair market value is $600, that accident is also not required to be reported because the repair cost is below $500.

What and When to File

Any reportable accident (as defined in the previous section) is required to be reported to the FAA within 10 calendar days of the accident. Reports can be made to FAA Regional Operations Centers or local Flight Standards District Offices.

The report must include the following information:

UAS remote PIC’s name and contact information;
sUAS remote PIC’s FAA airman certificate number;
sUAS registration number issued to the aircraft, if required (FAA registration number);
Location of the accident;
Date of the accident;
Time of the accident;
Person(s) injured and extent of injury, if any or known;
Property damaged and extent of damage, if any or known; and
Description of what happened.

Complete and Continue