1.9 Accident Reporting and Recordkeeping

Accident Reporting and Recordkeeping

Knowing exactly when an accident must be reported, what thresholds apply, and how fast is a near-guaranteed exam item. The rule lives in Section 107.9.

The Three Reporting Triggers (Section 107.9)

The Remote PIC must report any operation that results in any of the following:

1. Serious injury to any person, or any injury at the level of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) Level 3 or higher.
2. Loss of consciousness by any person.
3. Damage to any property, other than the small UAS, of at least $500 to repair or to replace at fair market value.

The Reporting Deadline

• File within 10 calendar days of the operation.
• Submit through FAA DroneZone (online) or by contacting your local FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).
• This FAA report is separate from any NTSB obligation; serious UAS accidents may also require NTSB notification under 49 CFR Part 830.

Memory hook: injury, unconsciousness, or $500 — within 10 days. The deadline is 10 calendar days, not 24 hours, not 48 hours.

What Counts as "Serious Injury"

The FAA ties serious injury to roughly AIS Level 3. Examples include:

The $500 Property-Damage Trap

The $500 figure is the most-tested number in this section, and it has a critical exclusion:

• It applies only to property other than the small UAS — cars, buildings, fences, other equipment.
• Damage to your own drone is excluded entirely, no matter how expensive.
• Cost is measured by repair cost or fair-market replacement value.

Worked example A: Your $3,000 drone falls and is destroyed, but nothing else is damaged and no one is hurt. No FAA report required — only the drone was damaged.

Worked example B: Your drone clips a parked car, causing $600 of body damage. Reportable — it is property other than the drone and exceeds $500.

Worked example C: The drone scratches a fence; repair is $120. Not reportable — below $500.

What a Report Should Contain

Recordkeeping and Insurance

Part 107 does not mandate flight logs or insurance, but these are strong professional practices:

• Flight logs — date, time, location, duration, purpose.
• Maintenance and battery logs — inspections, repairs, charge cycles, retirement dates.
• Incident notes — even non-reportable close calls.
• Waiver/authorization copies — with conditions and expirations.
• Insurance — many clients require proof of liability coverage; hull coverage protects the aircraft itself.

For the exam: lock in the three triggers and the 10-calendar-day window, and remember that damage to your own drone alone is never reportable.

Distinguishing FAA Reporting From NTSB, and Reading the Triggers

Accident reporting is one of the most reliably tested sections because the numbers are crisp and the exclusions are sharp. The mastery move is to read a scenario, isolate what was damaged or who was hurt, and decide reportability without second-guessing.

Two Separate Reporting Systems

The FAA report under Section 107.9 is not the same as an NTSB report. They have different thresholds and timelines:

For the UAG exam, the load-bearing answer is the FAA 10-calendar-day rule. But strong pilots know an aircraft over 300 lb or an event with a fatality can also pull in the NTSB — the systems coexist.

The Three Triggers, Applied

Walk every scenario through three yes/no gates: (1) serious injury (roughly AIS Level 3 — hospitalization over 48 hours, fractures other than fingers/toes/nose, internal organ damage, severe burns), (2) loss of consciousness by anyone, or (3) $500 or more in damage to property other than the drone. Any single "yes" makes it reportable; all three "no" means no FAA report (though you should still document it).

The $500 Exclusion Is the Crux

The most common error is counting the drone's own value toward the $500. Damage to the small UAS itself never counts. Re-read these:

Filing and Records

File through FAA DroneZone or your local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) within 10 calendar days. The report should capture Remote PIC identity and certificate number, date/time, location, the property and injuries involved with estimated costs, aircraft make/model/registration, and a factual narrative of contributing factors. Although Part 107 does not require flight logs, maintenance logs, battery logs, or insurance, keeping them is strong professional practice and often demanded by clients — and good records make any required report fast and accurate.

Memory anchor: Hurt, knocked out, or five hundred — file in ten. And the asterisk that wins points: your own broken drone alone is never reportable.