What is the Aviation Safety Reporting Program (ASRP) and How Does it Affect You

Photo Courtesy of Tony Webster

The rules governing UAV pilots is an interconnected web of rules and regulations. And one of programs that any aspiring drone pilot needs to know about is the Aviation Safety Reporting Program. We’ll cover what exactly this program is in this post.

The Aviation Safety Reporting Program (ASRP): What is It?

In short, the Aviation Safety Reporting Program (“ASRP” for short) is a way that regular people can call in aircraft operating unsafely. Currently, the FAA runs the program. It came out of a previous program, started by NASA, the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS).

This program allows anyone to file a voluntary, anonymous report if they see a drone flying incorrectly. This could be due to a number of reasons. For example, a pilot may have lost contact with their drone, which is now flying recklessly. Or, a pilot themselves may be flying their drone in an unsafe manner.

Photo by JESHOOTS.com

How Does the ASRP Affect Drone Pilots?

As a drone pilot, the ASRP can affect you in a few different ways. However, you’re likely to run into one of two major issues.

• Incorrect Drone Function: if you notice that your drone isn’t working properly, you can report it to the ASRP. For example, your drone may stop responding to controls and continue flying until it runs out of battery power and plummets out of the sky. This is no fault of your own, and you want to prevent other pilots using the same products from experiencing similar problems.
• Poor Pilot Conduct: you can also report a pilot to the ASRP if you see them flying erratically. This won’t always result in disciplinary action, unless the actions the pilot took were directly malicious.

It’s important to remember that reports filed with ASRP are non-punitive in nature. The system doesn’t exist solely to punish people. You’re not calling in to narc someone out to the Feds. Instead, FAA compiles the data you provide to them. They can then compare that data with info from other reports and try to discover the root cause of the problems.

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