Emergency Procedures

Emergencies are heavily tested because the FAA wants proof you won’t panic when your drone misbehaves. The hierarchy is fixed: people first, property second, aircraft last — and the regulatory frame already flexes for you: §107.21 lets the PIC deviate from any rule to the extent an in-flight emergency requires, with a written report owed only if the FAA asks. What follows is the playbook for the ways small UAS actually fail.

Flyaways

A flyaway occurs when the aircraft stops responding to control inputs and moves unpredictably — distinct from loss of link, where the aircraft is executing its programmed failsafe.

What to Do

1. Immediately alert anyone under the flight path: shout, wave, get eyes up
2. Note the last known direction and altitude — this is the search datum and the ATC briefing
3. If in controlled airspace, notify ATC — the tower or approach frequency, by phone if you don’t carry a radio. A flyaway in controlled airspace is the textbook ATC-notification scenario
4. Attempt to regain control: switch flight modes, reposition for signal, command failsafe/RTH
5. Report: injury or property damage over the §107.9 thresholds triggers the 10-day FAA report

Loss of Link

The control link dies. This is not a flyaway: modern aircraft run programmed failsafes —

• Return to Home (RTH): climbs and flies to the recorded home point
• Hover then land: position-hold with GPS, descend if link doesn’t return
• Land in place: the conservative default when the programming distrusts its own navigation

The PIC’s job is less about the aircraft and more about the RTH path: a climb-to-altitude return over a crowd, wires, or the airport next door is the failure you should have configured away before launch (set home point thoughtfully; check RTH altitude against obstacles).

Loss of GPS

Without satellites:

• RTH may fail (no home-point navigation)
• Position hold drifts — the aircraft becomes a balloon with attitude control
• Many aircraft degrade to ATTI (attitude) mode: level and controllable, but the wind carries it

The recovery: reduce altitude, face the aircraft into a hover, and hand-fly it back with visual references — no GPS required. This is the one aircraft-handling skill worth practicing on purpose (see the maintenance and inspection lessons for why simulator time counts).

Lithium Battery Emergencies

Lithium-polymer cells carry a chemistry that fails hot: thermal runaway — an internal short cascading cell to cell, self-oxidizing, burning at temperatures that ignite neighboring materials and re-igniting after apparent extinguishment. The FAA’s safety alerts to operators (SAFOs) on lithium battery air transport treat them as a standing hazard; your aircraft carries the same energy in a lighter wrapper.

In flight, suspected battery trouble (swelling readings, sudden voltage sag, temperature warnings):

1. Fly away from people and property immediately — the ground track matters more than the landing quality
2. Land at the first clear area — grass beats pavement, distance beats precision
3. Do not hand-catch. Ever. A landing you can walk to beats a hand you can’t
4. Evacuate and isolate: a post-crash pack can ignite minutes later
5. Fight it with the right tools: sand/dirt smothering, or a Class D or lithium-specific (e.g., AVD) extinguisher — not water, which feeds the reaction

On the ground, the prevention list is shorter than the cure: no charging unattended, no charging damaged/puffed cells, storage charge for the off-season, transport in fireproof pouches, and retirement at the manufacturer’s cycle-count or swelling threshold — whichever comes first.

Emergencies Over People (V.C.K6)

An aircraft problem while operating under Category 1–4 rules changes one priority: the people below are non-participants by definition, and the category’s injury assumptions just failed. The sequence: arrest drift away from the populated area first, then solve the aircraft’s problem. A hard landing in an empty parking lot is a Category-compliant outcome; a soft landing in a crowd is not. If the aircraft is descending uncontrollably over people and any impact-mitigation exists — fly it into the tree, the bush, the wall — spend the aircraft.

The Emergency Kit

What separates an incident from an ordeal is usually ground kit, not aircraft skill. The working baseline:

• Fire response: sand/soil source identified at every site (or a bucket), plus a lithium-rated extinguisher in the vehicle — Class D or AVD type
• Flashlight, staged at the control station, for night battery events and searching crop rows for a downed aircraft
• First-aid basics — a drone striking a bystander is a trauma event before it is an FAA event
• Spare battery and SD card: half of “emergencies” are operational (lost footage, dead controller) with aircraft intact
• Phone numbers: tower/approach facility phone numbers for your frequent operating areas (for the flyaway call), plus the FAA regional operations center
• Written lost-aircraft procedure: last-known coordinates, direction of flight, RTH behavior — the notes you’ll want when your hands are shaking

Run the kit check with the preflight checklist; it’s the same habit wearing different gloves.

Precautionary Landings

Sometimes the safest action is landing before anything technically fails:

• Deteriorating weather — visibility sagging toward 3 SM, gusts building
• Unexpected crewed aircraft in the area
• Battery trending below plan
• Erratic behavior, sensor warnings, one healthy motor screaming
• Something feels wrong — the unquantified instinct is a trained input; use it

After the Event: Reports and NTSB

Two reporting tracks, and one that most pilots forget:

1. FAA report (§107.9): within 10 calendar days, for serious injury/loss of consciousness or property damage over $500 (repair cost or total-loss fair market value, excluding the drone)
2. NTSB (49 CFR part 830): an aircraft accident — defined as an occurrence with death, serious injury, or substantial damage — requires immediate notification to the NTSB, plus a later written report. Most drone incidents don’t meet it, but a hospitalizing injury or an aircraft destroyed by fire formally does
3. ASRS: for the inadvertent rule deviation that happened while you were saving the day — NASA’s confidential report within 10 days documents good faith

Key Facts to Walk In With

ACS references: V.C.K1–K7

• §107.21: deviate as necessary in-flight; written report on request
• Flyaway vs loss of link vs GPS loss — distinct failures, distinct playbooks
• Flyaway in controlled airspace: notify ATC immediately
• Lithium: thermal runaway, no water, no hand-catching, isolation after landing
• OOP emergencies: move the failure away from people first, spend the aircraft if needed
• Night: pre-stage light; battery events blind everyone
• §107.9 (10-day FAA) vs part 830 (immediate NTSB for serious accidents) vs ASRS (violation good-faith)

Quick Check

Q: What is the difference between a flyaway and a loss of link? A: Loss of link executes pre-programmed failsafe (RTH/hover/land); a flyaway follows no programmed procedure.

Q: What should you do if your drone has a flyaway in controlled airspace? A: Notify ATC immediately — tower or approach, phone if no radio.

Q: Should you use water on a lithium battery fire? A: No — smother with sand/dirt or use a Class D / lithium-specific extinguisher; the reaction self-oxidizes.

Q: Your drone’s motor fails over a Cat 2 operation, and it will land somewhere in the next 10 seconds. Where? A: Not on people — arrest drift toward the nearest unoccupied impact (trees, walls, open ground) and spend the aircraft.

Q: A bystander is hospitalized after a drone strike. Beyond the FAA 10-day report, what else? A: Immediate NTSB notification — a serious-injury event is an aircraft accident under 49 CFR part 830.

What’s Next?

Now let’s cover the most important safety topic: Aeronautical Decision Making. How to think like a safe pilot.

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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.