The Drone Pilot's Emergency Handbook: ANCA, CANCA and ATSB Reporting

Every commercial drone pilot hopes they'll never need this article. But the operators who handle an incident calmly are always the ones who prepared for it before take-off. In Australia, your response has two halves: the on-the-ground safety response (often built around an ANCA/CANCA-style framework in your operations manual) and your legal obligation to report certain events to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Confuse the two and you can compound a bad day into a compliance problem.

The first 60 seconds: make the site safe

Before you touch a controller, a phone or a logbook, secure the area. A drone that has come down — or nearly come down — is a hazard to people first and property second. Your only priority in the opening moments is preventing injury.

• Stop the operation and prevent any further launches.
• Account for all people, especially anyone near the incident site or under the flight path.
• Render first aid if required and call 000 for any injury or fire.
• Isolate the aircraft and battery — a damaged lithium pack can ignite minutes later.
• Preserve the scene and your data logs; do not wipe the flight controller.

ANCA and CANCA: your structured response

Well-run commercial operators codify their emergency response inside the operations manual so that, under stress, the crew follows a checklist rather than improvising. Whatever acronym your manual uses, the logic is the same: assess the situation, contain the hazard, notify the right people, then capture the evidence. The value is not the letters — it's that everyone on the crew has rehearsed the same sequence.

A good framework answers four questions in order: Is anyone hurt? Is the hazard contained (battery, blades, fuel, traffic)? Who needs to be told right now (emergency services, landowner, chief remote pilot, air traffic services if airspace is affected)? And what must be recorded before memories fade?

When you must report to the ATSB

The ATSB administers mandatory occurrence reporting for aviation in Australia, and larger or higher-risk RPA operations fall inside that scheme. Reportable events are split into two tiers. Immediately Reportable Matters (IRMs) — the serious end, including collisions, serious injury or death, or an aircraft becoming uncontrollable — must be reported to the ATSB by phone as soon as practicable, followed by a written report. Routine Reportable Matters (RRMs) are less urgent but still require a written report within 72 hours.

What counts as a reportable matter

Pilots routinely under-report because they assume 'no harm, no foul'. In reality, near-misses matter. Losing control, a flyaway, a breach of separation with a crewed aircraft, or any injury can all be reportable regardless of whether damage occurred. When you're unsure, the safe answer is to document it and ask — a report is never held against a pilot who was operating in good faith.

Build an emergency response plan into your ops manual

The single best thing you can do today is turn this article into a one-page emergency response plan (ERP) laminated in your kit. List your emergency numbers, your chief remote pilot, the ATSB reporting line, your insurer's claims line, and the exact information you'll need to capture: time, location, aircraft, crew, weather, what happened, and who was notified.

Frequently asked questions