Drone incidents drop in the EASA’s 2021 annual safety report

The European Union’s air transport regulator, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), has issued its latest annual safety review, which in terms of drones shows a drop in incidents and accidents across the board.

The EASA’s safety report for 2021 reflects a general improvement across all modes of aircraft and activity, with drones showing marked improvement as part of that. The findings indicate that since 2018, the incidence of UAVs involved in total accidents and those qualified as “serious” had decreased from two in 2019 and one in 2020 to zero last year. 

“(A)n UAS occurrence refers to accidents and serious incidents where at least one UAS was involved, and the event resulted in an airborne collision or near airborne collision with an UAS,” the report says. “The decrease in the number of (instrument flight rules) flights is reflected in the increase in the occurrence rate in 2020. In 2021, one of drone collisions and near…