Reporting & Recordkeeping
Report to the FAA, within 10 calendar days, any operation involving serious injury or loss of consciousness to any person, or damage to someone else’s property where repair costs or fair market value exceed $500 (§107.9). That’s the entire accident-reporting rule — and the exam tests its edges: whose property, which dollar test, how many days. Everything else in this lesson is about being the pilot whose paperwork survives scrutiny.
When You Must Report (§107.9)
“No later than 10 calendar days after an operation that meets the criteria… a remote pilot in command must report to the FAA” any operation involving:
- Serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness, or
- Damage to any property other than the small unmanned aircraft, unless:
- The cost of repair (materials and labor) does not exceed $500, or
- The fair market value of the property does not exceed $500 in the event of total loss
Read the dollar test both ways: it’s a $500 floor on repairs, and a $500 floor on fair market value when the property is destroyed. Either one under $500 means no report. And damage to your own drone never counts — the rule measures property “other than the small unmanned aircraft.”
How to Report
Reports go through the FAADroneZone portal (or another manner acceptable to the Administrator). Bring:
- Date and time of the operation
- Location
- Remote PIC’s name, certificate number, and contact information
- Aircraft registration number
- Description of the operation and what happened
- Extent of injuries or property damage
What Counts as Serious Injury?
The FAA applies the NTSB’s 49 CFR 830.2 definition:
- Broken bones (other than simple fingers, toes, or nose)
- Second- or third-degree burns over 5% or more of body surface
- Any injury requiring hospitalization over 48 hours
- Internal injuries
- Lacerations causing severe bleeding
A scratch or bruise isn’t reportable. A broken arm is — within 10 calendar days.
A Reporting Walkthrough
A real-world sequence, using the thresholds: your drone loses power 20 feet over a driveway, clips a gutter, and cartwheels into a neighbor’s parked car. The car’s repair estimate comes in at $1,200; your drone is a write-off. Walk the rule: property damage other than the drone — yes; repair cost exceeds $500 — yes. A §107.9 report is due within 10 calendar days through DroneZone, even though nobody was hurt. Your own aircraft damage counts for nothing in the analysis, and the neighbor’s insurance claim is irrelevant to the FAA’s trigger — the $1,200 estimate already decided it.
Change one fact and the answer changes: the gutter repair quote comes in at $350, the car unscathed. No report — the cost of repair doesn’t exceed $500. The discipline is checking the rule every time property contact happens, not just when it feels “serious.”
Documents You Must Produce (§107.7)
The inspection rule, worth knowing because it names the askers:
- The PIC, owner, or person manipulating the controls must have the remote pilot certificate and government ID physically possessed and readily accessible when exercising certificate privileges
- Both must be presented upon request to: the FAA Administrator, an authorized NTSB representative, any federal, state, or local law enforcement officer, or an authorized TSA representative
- Any document, record, or report required by the regulations must be made available to the FAA on request
Recordkeeping (ACS I.A.K7)
Part 107 mandates no logbook format and no minimum flight hours — but “no prescribed format” is not “no records.” The retention duty runs through §107.7’s make-available requirement, and producers of Cat 2/3 aircraft have their own explicit retention (declarations of compliance records, §107.165). For a working remote pilot, the practical set:
Flight Log
- Date, time, location, aircraft, and registration number
- Remote PIC and crew
- Brief operation description and any anomalies
Maintenance Records
- Preflight inspection notes
- Repairs, modifications, and component swaps
- Battery cycle counts and health
- Firmware changes — the “what changed before it broke” trail
If the FAA ever investigates an incident, your logs are your character witness: they show currency, habits, and maintenance discipline. A five-minute entry per flight is the cheapest insurance in aviation.
Filing the DroneZone Report, Field by Field
The §107.9 report form is short; the mistakes happen in the parts people think are optional:
- Date/time and location of the operation — the flight, not the moment you decided to file. If the operation spanned a reposition, one report covering the operation is correct
- Remote PIC information — certificate number exactly as on the card; this is what ties the report to your enforcement file
- Aircraft registration — the number on the aircraft that flew, which for multi-aircraft operators means checking, not guessing
- Description — factual, chronological, no editorializing: what the aircraft did, what it contacted, what the injuries/damage were. The report is a regulatory filing, not a blog post; save the analysis for your own records
- Injuries and damage estimates — the same thresholds that triggered the report, with the repair estimate or fair-market basis noted
File within the window even if facts are still settling — the FAA accepts amendments to a filed report, but not a late first filing.
After You File
A report is not an admission of a violation — §107.9 is a reporting duty, and compliant reporting is routinely viewed as a marker of a responsible operator. What may follow: a phone call or letter from an FAA aviation safety inspector asking for details, a request for your records under §107.7 (the make-available duty — one reason the logbook habit matters), or nothing at all if the report shows a non-preventable event with no rule broken. What never helps: filing late, filing incomplete, or being unable to produce the records that show how you operate.
FAA Enforcement
Violations are handled on an escalation ladder:
- Warning Notice — informal, for minor first-time violations
- Letter of Correction — identifies the violation, requires corrective action
- Certificate Action — suspension or revocation of the Remote Pilot Certificate
- Civil Penalty — monetary fines, adjusted annually for inflation (five figures per violation and climbing)
- Criminal Prosecution — reserved for willful or reckless conduct
NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)
For an inadvertent violation, filing a report with NASA’s ASRS within 10 days can protect you: the program is confidential, reports are de-identified, and under the FAA’s enforcement-incentive policy a timely ASRS filing can waive a civil penalty for a non-deliberate, non-criminal violation by a certificate holder. It is not immunity for intentional conduct.
Two different 10-day clocks, two different programs: the §107.9 accident report goes to the FAA through DroneZone; the ASRS report goes to NASA and exists to protect your certificate after an inadvertent violation. The exam occasionally mixes the recipients.
Key Facts to Walk In With
ACS references: I.A.K4, K5, K7
- §107.9: 10 calendar days; serious injury/loss of consciousness; property > $500 (repair cost or total-loss fair market value, other than the drone)
- Serious injury per 49 CFR 830.2 (48-hr hospitalization, fractures, burns, internal injuries)
- §107.7: certificate + ID on hand; producible to FAA/NTSB/LE/TSA
- No mandated logbook — records duty via §107.7 make-available; producers’ DoC retention §107.165
- ASRS: NASA, confidential, 10 days, penalty waiver for inadvertent violations
Quick Check
Q: What triggers an FAA accident report? A: Serious injury or loss of consciousness to any person, or property damage (other than the drone) where repair cost or total-loss fair market value exceeds $500 (§107.9).
Q: How many days do you have to report? A: 10 calendar days.
Q: You total a $300 mailbox. Report? A: No — fair market value in a total loss doesn’t exceed $500.
Q: Who can lawfully demand your Remote Pilot Certificate? A: The FAA, an authorized NTSB representative, any law enforcement officer, or an authorized TSA representative (§107.7).
Q: Your drone clips a car’s mirror; the body shop quotes $410. Two weeks later the owner demands $600 for a repainted door. Report? A: No — the trigger is the cost of repair at the time ($410, under the threshold), or fair market value in a total loss. Escalating demands after the fact don’t retroactively create a §107.9 duty.
Q: What is ASRS and why might you use it? A: NASA’s confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System. Filing within 10 days of an inadvertent violation can waive a civil penalty under FAA enforcement policy.
What’s Next?
Regulations section complete. Now we move into the heaviest exam topic: airspace. Understanding airspace classification is critical for knowing where you can and cannot fly.
This free course covers the essential knowledge, but if you want video walkthroughs, practice exams, and instructor support, Pilot Institute’s Part 107 course is the most comprehensive option available.