Did you notify NTSB of your crash or flyaway?

[wardtom084]

Studying for my 107 and this point is really crazy. Controls quit working, a common type of failure. Something comes unplugged. A wire breaks... All NTSB reportable. If you have a fly away, yes. You need to report it. NTSB requirements are either of the things occurring. Flight control failure must be reported, even without serious injury or death.

 

[Ty Pilot]

This is true only if your UA holds an air-worthiness certificate or any person suffers serious injury or death. One (or both) of those two are requirements to trigger the report to the NTSB. This would not be the case with a DJI consumer drone in so far as needing to report a fly away or the other stuff you mention. Serious injury or death? Yes. The other stuff? No.

REQUIREMENTS​

A civil UAS operator must immediately and by the most expeditious means, notify the NTSB of an accident or incident. An unmanned aircraft accident is defined in 49 C.F.R. § 830.2 as an occurrence associated with the operation of any public or civil unmanned aircraft system that takes place between the time that the system is activated with the purpose of flight and the time that the system is deactivated at the conclusion of its mission, in which:

(1) Any person suffers death or serious injury; or

(2) The aircraft holds an airworthiness certificate and sustains substantial damage.



Since you are studying for the 107, here is what you must know about accident reporting to the FAA.

§ 107.9 Accident reporting.​

No later than 10 calendar days after an operation that meets the criteria of either paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, a remote pilot in command must report to the FAA, in a manner acceptable to the Administrator, any operation of the small unmanned aircraft involving at least:


(a) Serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness; or
(b) 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.

 

[wardtom084]

This is true only if your UA holds an air-worthiness certificate or any person suffers serious injury or death. One (or both) of those two are requirements to trigger the report to the NTSB. This would not be the case with a DJI consumer drone in so far as needing to report a fly away or the other stuff you mention. Serious injury or death? Yes. The other stuff? No.

REQUIREMENTS​

A civil UAS operator must immediately and by the most expeditious means, notify the NTSB of an accident or incident. An unmanned aircraft accident is defined in 49 C.F.R. § 830.2 as an occurrence associated with the operation of any public or civil unmanned aircraft system that takes place between the time that the system is activated with the purpose of flight and the time that the system is deactivated at the conclusion of its mission, in which:

(1) Any person suffers death or serious injury; or

(2) The aircraft holds an airworthiness certificate and sustains substantial damage.



Since you are studying for the 107, here is what you must know about accident reporting to the FAA.

§ 107.9 Accident reporting.​

No later than 10 calendar days after an operation that meets the criteria of either paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, a remote pilot in command must report to the FAA, in a manner acceptable to the Administrator, any operation of the small unmanned aircraft involving at least:


(a) Serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness; or
(b) 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.

According to P.I. question 19 no air-worthiness in mentioned, am I missing something??
19) A flight control failure causes your UAS to collide with the ground without damage to any other property. A report
A. must be made immediately to the NTSB. (correct answer)
B. is not required.
C. must be made within 10 days to the FAA.

Feedback
According to 49 CFR Part 830, the operator must report immediately to the NTSB any of the following:
A. Aircraft accident,
Flight Control System malfunction or failure,
In-flight fire,
Aircraft collision in flight,
Damage to property, other than the aircraft, estimated to exceed $25,000 for repair (including materials and labor) or fair market value in the event of total loss, whichever is less.

 

[sar104]

According to P.I. question 19 no air-worthiness in mentioned, am I missing something??
19) A flight control failure causes your UAS to collide with the ground without damage to any other property. A report
A. must be made immediately to the NTSB. (correct answer)
B. is not required.
C. must be made within 10 days to the FAA.

Feedback
According to 49 CFR Part 830, the operator must report immediately to the NTSB any of the following:
A. Aircraft accident,
Flight Control System malfunction or failure,
In-flight fire,
Aircraft collision in flight,
Damage to property, other than the aircraft, estimated to exceed $25,000 for repair (including materials and labor) or fair market value in the event of total loss, whichever is less.

You can't just selectively pull text from CFRs. In this case while 49 CFR 830 covers unmanned aircraft accidents, note the applicable definition of "unmanned aircraft accident" in 49 CFR 830.2:

Unmanned aircraft accident means an occurrence associated with the operation of any public or civil unmanned aircraft system that takes place between the time that the system is activated with the purpose of flight and the time that the system is deactivated at the conclusion of its mission, in which:​

​

(1) Any person suffers death or serious injury; or​

(2) The aircraft has a maximum gross takeoff weight of 300 pounds or greater and sustains substantial damage.​

So that feedback is incorrect.

 

[Zbip57]

You need to report it. [...]

Jonathan Rupprecht published an interesting article just last week on the sorts of things that do need to be reported.

See: jrupprechtlaw.com/drone-crash/

 

[Ty Pilot]

Just for clarification: An Amendment to the Definition of Unmanned Aircraft Accident by the NTSB was recently published on July 14, 2022 and becomes effective on August 15th 2022. It states the following:

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is issuing a final rule, amending the definition of “Unmanned aircraft accident” by removing the weight-based requirement and replacing it with an airworthiness certificate requirement.

I quoted Rupprecht's version in post #2 which is why my and @sar104 responses differs slightly but either way, our drones do not meet that standard.

I read the full document linked above and it looks to me that the NTSB does not require consumer off the shelf drones flown under 107 to report mishaps and fly aways unless one of the requirements are met. However, IF, you have an accident that DOES meet the requirements to report to the FAA, then I would also report to the NTSB.

 

[Droning on and on...]

And I'm supposed to know this, flying a 249g unregistered drone recreationally? I don't remember any details like this, AT ALL, when I got my TRUST certificate.

How can I possibly comply with rules so byzantine, and changing details all the time?

 

[Ty Pilot]

And I'm supposed to know this, flying a 249g unregistered drone recreationally?

Nope. We're talking about commercial (107) UAV operations - not recreational.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Since a recreational pilot asked, here is the flow chart put out by the NTSB in 2016.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Ty, you simply reinforced my worries with flowchart, and in particular the content of bubbles 2-4. I didn't know any of that, and there wasn't even a hint in the on line training for TRUST, or the test when I got my certificate.

CFR 830.5? What is that? Am I supposed to know that?

 

[sar104]

Ty, you simply reinforced my worries with flowchart, and in particular the content of bubbles 2-4. I didn't know any of that, and there wasn't even a hint in the on line training for TRUST, or the test when I got my certificate.

CFR 830.5? What is that? Am I supposed to know that?

No. If you are flying recreationally under 49 USC 44809 then you can ignore both 49 CFR 830 and 14 CFR 107.

 

[wardtom084]

My other thread got closed. I was missing this key point. Remember to read the 107 questions at least two times. The key to this question is A FLIGHT CONTROL FAILURE. That was what I was missing in the other post.

19) A flight control failure causes your UAS to collide with the ground without damage to any other property. A report
A. must be made immediately to the NTSB. (correct answer)
B. is not required.
C. must be made within 10 days to the FAA.