The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recorded 39 accidents and serious incidents involving unmanned aircraft systems in EASA Member States in 2025, and none were fatal, according to the agency's Annual Safety Review 2026.

Of the 39 events, 27 were non-fatal accidents and 12 were serious incidents. Two of the accidents caused serious injuries. One happened during agricultural UAS operations, while the other involved a person operating a model aircraft, which EASA counts as a UAS.

The 2025 total is up from 26 events in 2024 and 24 in 2023. Non-fatal accidents rose from 17 in each of the previous two years to 27. Serious incidents increased from six in 2023 to nine in 2024 and 12 in 2025. The one UAS fatality in the three-year window occurred in 2023, at a model aircraft site.

Loss of control in flight ranked first among occurrence categories in 2025, followed by a catch-all other category, airprox and near mid-air collisions, controlled flight into terrain, and powerplant failures. System and component failures of all types contributed to four occurrences, compared with an average of two per year in 2023 and 2024. Two occurrences fell under the security category.

Six of the 39 events, or 15 percent, involved a manned aircraft in addition to a UAS. In 2024, 10 of 26 events (38 percent) did. The number of manned-aircraft events fell by four while the overall total rose by 13, which cut the share by more than half.

The six included one accident and five serious incidents. The accident was a collision between a 249-gram drone and a manned balloon. The UAS fell into the basket, which carried eight people. The pilot sustained a minor injury, the balloon's scoop was torn and the flight continued.

The five serious incidents occurred in Switzerland (three) and Germany (two). Four were airprox events. EASA lists the manned aircraft involved as helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Remote pilots must report an encounter they become aware of causing, but EASA says "such self-reporting by UAS remote pilots is rare."

The fifth serious incident was unauthorized drone interference with operations at Munich airport in October 2025. EASA says many similar interferences occurred at aerodromes in 2025, but this was the only one classified as a serious incident. It received an X1 (red) score under the European Risk Classification Scheme, which added 100,000 to the aggregated score for the airborne collision risk area.

Airborne collision was the top-ranked risk area for UAS across 2023 to 2025, based on occurrences that carried risk scores. The report also cites a study by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) using data from the German Federal Aviation Office (LBA). Of 226 reported drone incidents in Germany in 2025, the study identified 116 disruptions at 25 commercial airports.

EASA says the review is based on data from 2025, with occurrences collected up to April 2026. The report does not give exact start and end dates.

UAS reporting rules are narrower than in other aviation domains. Occurrences involving drones that do not require a certificate or declaration are not subject to mandatory reporting unless they cause a fatal or serious injury or involve a manned aircraft. Part of the dataset therefore comes from voluntary reports. The chapter excludes UAS operated by the military, police and other government agencies unless a civil aircraft was involved, and it includes model aircraft and experimental test flights.

EASA revised prior-year figures in this edition. Non-fatal accidents for 2023 and 2024 were corrected from 30 to 34, and serious incidents from 10 to 15. The risk-area rankings rely on the 3,667 of 5,047 occurrences (72.7 percent) that had completed risk scores.

Because EASA revised earlier counts in this edition, the 2025 figures could also change in future editions. The full Annual Safety Review 2026 is available on EASA's website.