EASA 2026 review: two drone accidents with serious injuries in 2025

(02)The ASR 2026 records 39 UAS events for 2025

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published its Annual Safety Review 2026. The document analyses aviation safety in Europe for 2025 and compares the results with the previous ten years, domain by domain. UAS appear alongside the other activity segments, for all the Agency's Member States.

The reported volume for 2025 stands at 39 accidents and serious incidents involving a UAS. This total aggregates events of different kinds. It gives an operator the order of magnitude of events reported at European level, not a frequency by drone class or by type of operation.

(03)Two accidents with serious injuries, none in 2024

Two UAS accidents caused serious injuries to people in 2025. In 2024, the review records no injuries of any kind. The first accident occurred during drone operations conducted in support of agriculture. The second involved a person piloting a model aircraft, a category of aircraft that the review also treats as UAS.

The comparison covers one year with no injuries and one year with two serious accidents. It is not sufficient to characterise a trend. For an operator building its risk analysis, these two cases highlight the weight of ground-work phases and the immediate environment, without allowing a probability of occurrence to be inferred.

(04)Five serious incidents involving a manned aircraft out of six events

The review isolates UAS events in which a manned aircraft is also involved. Six were recorded in 2025: one accident and five serious incidents. The accident is a collision between a small UAS and a manned balloon, which caused a minor injury to the pilot and a tear in the balloon envelope.

The five serious incidents are divided between Germany (two) and Switzerland (three). Four are Airprox, that is, close encounters between aircraft. The manned aircraft concerned are helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Another case classified as a serious incident corresponds to interference by an unauthorised UAS with the orderly operation of Munich aerodrome. Incidents of the same kind occurred at aerodromes in 2025; the Munich one is the only one that the review retains as a serious incident.

The share of UAS events also involving a manned aircraft reaches 15% of the 39 events in 2025, compared with 38% in 2024. The decrease exceeds half. It is based on only six events, which limits the scope of the ratio for statistical use.

(05)A narrower reporting scope than other domains

The UAS domain differs from the others in the scope of mandatory reporting. Under the European regulatory framework, events involving a UAS for which no certificate or design declaration is required do not fall under mandatory reporting, unless they cause a fatal or serious injury to a person, or involve an aircraft other than an unmanned aircraft. Voluntary reports complete the picture.

This rule affects the volume and composition of the total. EASA also notes that self-reporting by remote pilots remains rare: a remote pilot who finds that they have caused a close encounter with a manned aircraft must report the event, and such reports are infrequent.

A question remains open for the operator: does the review present the 39 events broken down by UAS class and type of operation, or does it stick to an aggregate total? The breakdown by class and type of operation is not established at this stage. Without it, the data serve as a general reference in a risk analysis or a SORA application. They do not provide a statistical basis by segment, nor a rate relative to the number of flight hours, which the review does not publish for the UAS domain.