The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published the Annual Safety Review (ASR) 2026, providing a comprehensive analysis of aviation safety in Europe during 2025 and comparing the results with the previous 10 years.
The review provides a detailed picture of accidents, serious incidents and the leading safety risks across the different aviation domains, including uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) in EASA member states.
As EASA notes in the ASR, the UAS domain differs from other aviation domains because the scope of mandatory occurrence reporting is more limited. “Under the European regulatory framework, occurrences involving UAS for which no certificate or declaration of design is required are not subject to mandatory reporting unless they result in a fatal or serious injury to a person or it involved an aircraft other than unmanned aircraft.” Nevertheless, several voluntary reports have been made.
Altogether, there were 39 accidents and serious incidents involving UAS reported in the year 2025.
There were two recorded UAS accidents resulting in serious injuries to people in 2025, while in 2024 there were no injuries of any kind. One occurred during drone operations supporting agriculture, while the other was sustained by a person operating a model aircraft, which are also considered UAS.
The ASR includes the number of accidents and serious incidents by UAS in which manned aircraft were involved. In 2025, this domain recorded six such events: one accident and five serious incidents. The accident involved a collision between a small UAS and manned balloon, which resulted in a minor injury to the pilot and a tear to the scoop of the balloon. The five serious incidents occurred in Germany (two) and Switzerland (three). Four of the serious incidents were Airprox events. The manned aircraft involved in these serious incidents were helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. A remote pilot of a UAS after becoming aware of having caused such an encounter is required to report the event, but EASA says such self-reporting by UAS remote pilots is rare. One serious incident was the interference by unauthorised UAS with the orderly operation of the aerodrome of Munich. While many similar incidents occurred at aerodromes in 2025, only this event was classed as a serious incident.
Of the 39 accidents and serious incidents in 2025, 15% involved a manned aircraft in addition to involving a UAS. Of particular significance is that this is a decrease by more than half from the 38% in the year 2024.
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