14.5 Accident and Incident Reporting to the ATSB

Two Regulators, Two Jobs

Australian aviation safety has two federal bodies and remote pilots must not confuse them.

• The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) writes and enforces the rules. It issues licences and certificates, conducts surveillance and audits, and takes enforcement action where the rules are breached.
• The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigates occurrences to improve safety. It collects, analyses and disseminates information about accidents and incidents. Critically, the ATSB does not apportion blame — it is a no-blame safety investigator, and its reports are not used for enforcement.

Occurrence reporting goes to the ATSB, under the Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2021, which repealed and replaced the 2003 regulations and introduced updated requirements for RPA operators.

Accident and Incident

Schedule 4 topic 5(a) asks for the definitions.

• An accident is an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft in which a person is killed or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains serious damage, or the aircraft is destroyed or missing.
• An incident is an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operations. A serious incident is one where an accident nearly occurred.

For RPA the regulations translate these into two reporting classes:

• Immediately reportable matters (IRM) — serious safety matters. Death, serious injury, significant damage to the RPA, collision with another aircraft including another RPA, or any matter where the ATSB may need to attend the site promptly to collect evidence.
• Routine reportable matters (RRM) — occurrences that did not have a serious outcome but could have affected aviation safety. A non-serious injury, a near-miss with another aircraft including another RPA, a loss of control, or non-serious damage to the RPA.

Type 1 and Type 2 RPA

The 2021 regulations set different thresholds for two classes of aircraft, and this distinction is examinable.

Type 1 operators must immediately report occurrences involving:

• death or serious injury
• accidents
• loss of a separation standard with an aircraft
• serious damage to property

Less serious incidents and occurrences involving a Type 1 RPA must be reported within 72 hours.

Type 2 operators must immediately report occurrences involving death or serious injury. Less serious incidents and damage to the RPA are reported within 72 hours.

The pattern is straightforward: the heavier and more capable the aircraft, the wider the list of things that must be reported immediately.

Timeframes and Method

For an immediately reportable matter:

1. Complete your emergency actions first. Secure the site, render assistance, and notify emergency services if required. "As soon as reasonably practicable" means at the first opportunity after those things are done — not instead of them.
2. Telephone the ATSB as soon as reasonably practicable.
3. Submit a written report within 72 hours.

For a routine reportable matter, submit the written report to the ATSB within 72 hours.

Reporting must be in accordance with ATSB requirements; the ATSB website carries the current forms and contact details.

Preserving evidence

Where the ATSB may investigate, do not disturb the site or the wreckage beyond what is needed to make it safe and to help anyone injured. Photograph the scene, the aircraft position, the damage and the surrounding hazards before anything is moved. Preserve the flight logs, the telemetry files, the controller logs and the battery data — these are the equivalent of a flight data recorder for an RPA and they are frequently the only objective record of what happened.

What Else Happens Alongside an ATSB Report

An ATSB report is not the only obligation an occurrence triggers:

• The operator's internal report under the DPP, and the technical log entry for the aircraft.
• Insurance notification, usually within a period specified in the policy.
• CASA, where the occurrence involves a possible breach of the regulations or where an approval condition requires it. CASA and the ATSB have different roles and a report to one is not a report to the other.
• The landowner or client, where property was damaged.
• State or territory authorities, where the occurrence involved injury at a workplace, chemical release, or damage to protected areas.

Why Reporting Is in the Pilot's Interest

Remote pilots sometimes hesitate to report, fearing enforcement. Three points are worth understanding:

1. The ATSB does not apportion blame. Its statutory purpose is to improve safety by understanding why occurrences happen. Its investigation reports are not enforcement instruments.
2. Reporting is a legal obligation, not a discretionary courtesy. Failing to report a reportable matter is itself a breach.
3. The data is the whole point. Australia's understanding of where RPA risk actually sits — how often links are lost, how often flyaways occur, what fails and when — is assembled from these reports. An unreported near-miss with a crewed aircraft is an early warning that nobody receives.

A worked scenario

A 12 kg small RPA operating under a ReOC suffers a motor failure at 90 m and descends into a paddock, damaging the airframe. No one is hurt and no other aircraft is involved.

• The aircraft is Type 2 — it is not type-certified, not large, not medium, and it is neither an excluded nor a micro operation.
• There is no death or serious injury, so it is not immediately reportable.
• There is damage to the RPA, which is a routine reportable matter: report to the ATSB within 72 hours.
• In parallel: photograph the site, preserve the flight and controller logs, enter the defect in the technical log, notify the maintenance controller, ground the aircraft, notify the insurer, and inform the landowner.

Change one fact — a bystander is struck and seriously injured — and the same occurrence becomes immediately reportable: phone the ATSB as soon as reasonably practicable after emergency actions, then submit the written report within 72 hours.