UAS Safety Operation - Legal Issues on Reporting UAS Incidents

This paper examines regulations which govern procedures for reporting incidents other than accidents or serious incidents related to unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations. The regulations are discussed in the context of available data and the paper included an analysis of them from both a European and national perspective. The goal of the paper is to provide a series of recommendations with regard to the procedures for reporting and analyzing UAS incidents in order to improve the safe integration of unmanned and manned aviation. This article also explores the legal consequences that arise from the midair collision between a UAS and a manned aircraft.

The method of study comprises a content analysis of existing legislations. The current doctrine was confronted with existing regulations, documents and materials.

The results of the study show that there is a practical problem of objectively identifying operators of a UAS as well as in defining what exactly constitutes an "incident". It can be reasonably concluded that reporting and analyzing UAS-related incidents allows for the assessment and development of strategies for integrating manned and unmanned aviation. It is worth mentioning that drones and UAS technology requires refinement, especially in technological terms. It is reasonable to take action aimed at raising awareness amongst UAS users of the need to report incidents, as well as engaging UAS users in the investigative process which follows such occurrences.