The European Union on July 27 published a new version of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1821, amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1018 “laying down a list classifying occurrences in civil aviation to be mandatorily reported, as regards Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), U-space occurrences, part-IS occurrences, and the removal of certain aviation security occurrences from mandatory reporting requirements.
According to the new regulation the following incidents are subject to mandated reporting:
Flight planning and UAS preparation
- UAS operation is planned in an operational volume exceeding the limitations described in the issued authorisations or the privileges of the Light UAS operator certificate (LUC).
- Inappropriate planning of the UAS operation and the related mitigation measures, which have or could have endangered any aircraft or any other person (example: contingency and emergency procedures, operational volume, Tactical Mitigation Performance Requirement (TMPR) (1)).
- Use of incorrect data or erroneous entries into the UAS or into equipment used for navigation or performance calculations leading to a malfunction or a failure of the UAS, which has or could have endangered any aircraft or person.
- Configuration of the UAS different from the instructions defined or authorised by the manufacturer or by the competent authority (example: payload, software configuration, etc.), which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
- Carriage or attempted carriage of dangerous goods when not in accordance with applicable legislations including incorrect labelling, packaging and handling of dangerous goods.
- Incorrect, unsuitable, or degraded energy source (including fuel).
- Missing, incorrect or inadequate de-icing/ anti-icing treatment.
Take-off and landing – Operations from/to aerodromes or vertiports
- Runway incursions
- Runway excursions.
- Any rejected take-off.
- Actual or attempted take-off, approach or landing with incorrect configuration setting.
- Tail, blade/wingtip or nacelle strike during take-off or landing.
- (Jet blast or rotor and propellers down/out wash occurrences which have or could have endangered any aircraft, or person.
- Hard, short and long landing.
- Foreign Object Damage/Debris (FOD) or poor surface conditions on the take-off and landing surface.
Take-off and landing – Operations outside aerodromes or vertiports
- Taking off, landing outside of the intended landing area.
- Inappropriate security and safety measures on the ground area which has or could have endangered any person.
Any phase of flight
- Loss of control of the operation.
- (Prolonged loss of visual reference for Visual Line-Of-Sight (VLOS) operations (example: due to adverse meteorological conditions or obstacles).
- Loss of situational awareness (example: including environmental conditions, mode and system awareness, excessive workload, spatial disorientation, time horizon and improper interaction with the equipment to control the unmanned aircraft remotely (Control and Monitoring Unit (CMU) (2)).
- Incorrect fuel or energy management (example: critically low fuel/energy quantity or fuel/energy quantity at destination below required final fuel/energy reserve).
- Inability or failure to achieve required aircraft performance expected in normal conditions, during take-off, climb or landing.
- Exceedance of aircraft limitations defined by the manufacturer.
- Operation with incorrect altimeter setting.
- (Misinterpretation of UAS automation mode of functioning or of any information from the CMU provided to the remote crew which has or could have endangered any aircraft, or person.
- Inability to broadcast the remote identification or aircraft identification.
- Unintentional release of cargo or other externally carried equipment.
- Deviations from the authorised operational volume exceeding the limitations described in the issued operational authorisations or the privileges of the Light UAS operator certificate (LUC) or the authorised flight plan of the UAS, including but not limited to:
- Unauthorised UAS operation over assemblies of people;
- Airspace infringement;
- Geographical zones infringements, where UAS operations are not permitted, or the required flight authorisation was not obtained.
Additional occurrences for UAS operations with occupants on board
- Physical distress, incapacitation of the crew, which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
- Contaminated air in the passenger compartment which has or could have endangered its occupants or any other person.
- Difficulty in controlling intoxicated, violent or unruly passengers.
- Discovery of a stowaway.
Technical occurrences – structures and systems
- Loss of any part of the unmanned aircraft in flight.
- Leakage of any fluid which resulted in a fire hazard or possible hazardous contamination of the unmanned aircraft system, or which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft, or any other person.
- Malfunction or abnormal functioning of flight controls.
- Malfunction, loss, or significant degradation of the command-and-control link, including failures affecting its availability, performance, continuity, integrity, or security, which has or could have endangered any aircraft or person.
- Malfunction of the collision avoidance system.
- Malfunction of automatic contingency or emergency system or of the system preventing the unmanned aircraft from exiting the operational volume (example: return home, automatic landing, geo-caging, Flight Termination System).
- Any other failure, loss, malfunction, damage of the unmanned aircraft or its systems which has or could have endangered any other aircraft or person.
- Any failure, loss, malfunction, damage of the CMU which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
Propulsion (including engines, propellers, and rotor systems) and Auxiliary Power Units (APUs)
- Flameout, in-flight shutdown of any engine, or loss of lift and thrust units or of the APU when required.
- Engine operating limitation exceedance, including overspeed or inability to control the speed of any high-speed rotating component (example: APU, air starter, air cycle machine, air turbine motor, propeller or rotor).
- Failure or malfunction of any part of an engine, lift and thrust units, APU or transmission resulting in any one or more of the following:
(a) Thrust-reversing system failing to operate as commanded;
(b) Inability to control power, thrust or rpm (revolutions per minute);
(c) Non-containment of components/debris.
Interaction with ATM/ANS
- Unsafe Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearance or instructions.
- Prolonged loss of communication with Air Traffic Services (ATS) Unit.
- Conflicting instructions from different ATS Units potentially leading to a loss of separation.
- Misinterpretation of radio-communication which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
- Intentional deviation from ATC instruction which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
- Altitude or flight level bust.
Emergencies and other critical situations
- A collision or a near collision on the ground or in the air, with another aircraft, terrain or obstacle.
- Any emergency manoeuvre taken by the UAS to prevent any collision on the ground or in the air, with another aircraft, terrain or obstacle.
- Any event leading to the declaration of an emergency.
- Activation of an emergency procedure to terminate the flight.
- Failure to apply the correct contingency or emergency procedures.
- Any burning, melting, smoke, fumes, arcing, overheating, fire or explosion on the UAS.
- (Any burning, melting, smoke, fumes, arcing, overheating, fire or explosion on the CMU.
- (Incapacitation of the remote crew controlling the CMU which has or could have endangered any aircraft or person.
External environment and meteorology
- A collision or a near collision on the ground or in the air, with another aircraft, terrain or obstacle.
- Airborne Collision Avoidance System, Resolution Advisory (ACAS RA).
- Activation of genuine ground collision system such as Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS)/ Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) ‘warning’.
- Wildlife strike including bird strike which has endangered the unmanned aircraft.
- Foreign Object Damage/Debris (FOD).
- Unexpected encounter of poor runway surface conditions.
- Wake-turbulence encounters which has or could have endangered an aircraft or person.
- Interference with the unmanned aircraft by firearms, fireworks, flying kites, laser illumination, high powered lights, lasers, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or counter UAS system or by similar means.
- Any severe environmental condition which resulted in damage to the aircraft, in handling difficulties or loss or malfunction of any aircraft system (examples: lightning strike, severe turbulence, windshear, icing conditions, volcanic ash, etc.).
U-space related occurrences
- UAS operations inside U-space airspace which are not compliant with the applicable operational conditions and airspace constraints or performed with an unmanned aircraft system not compliant with the required UAS capabilities and performance requirements.
- Missing, incorrect, delayed or misleading information, instruction or service provided by a U-space Service Provider (USSP), which has or could have endangered the unmanned aircraft or any other aircraft or person.
- Non-compliance with the flight authorisation (example: absence of flight authorisation, failure to activate the flight authorisation, deviations of the flight authorisation in space or time).
- Unauthorised exiting of the U-space airspace.
- Improper use of the U-space services leading to loss of situational awareness.
- Inability to execute the Dynamic Airspace Reconfiguration (DAR) procedure.
- Insufficient spacing between the unmanned aircraft and any manned aircraft.
- Encounter of manned aircraft in an active U-space airspace designated in controlled airspace.
- Encounter of a non-conspicuous manned aircraft in U-space airspace designated in uncontrolled airspace.
- Encounter of a non-cooperative unmanned aircraft in the U-space airspace.
Other occurrences
- Any occurrence where the human performance, including fatigue and improper training/qualification of operator’s personnel and inter crew communication, has directly contributed to, or could have contributed to an accident or a serious incident.
Information security
- Abnormal behaviour of a system due to an information security incident (example: compromised information or data, malware infection, Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS)).
For more information
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2026/1821/oj/eng#:~:text=Commission%20Implementing%20Regulation%20(EU)%202026%2F1821,down%20a%20list%20classifying%20occurrences
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