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Drone mission workflow: from preparation to lessons learned

A professional mission is not only played out in the air. It is prepared, checked on site, then closed on what was learned. Waypoint360 follows each intervention through these four stages, with what matters at each one.

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A mission is not only played out in the air

A professional drone intervention starts well before take-off: checking that the operations manual and the risk assessment cover the operation, declaring the flight, preparing the equipment, knowing whom to call if the aircraft comes down. It ends after landing: handing over the deliverables, noting what went wrong, reporting an incident if there was one.

In Waypoint360, each intervention follows four stages: preparation, pre-flight, flight, reporting. The mission itself holds what applies to all its interventions.

The regulatory foundation, checked on the mission

A MANEX belongs to the operator and serves many missions. A SORA assessment covers a type of operation. Redoing them in every mission would make no sense. The mission therefore shows two status lights:

  • MANEX: published and covering the mission's category, recommended, or mandatory and missing;
  • SORA: at least one approved assessment for the authorisation concerned, or none.

When a light is not green, it leads to the tool that lets you fix it.

Preparation: the site ERP sheet

SORA 2.5 distinguishes emergency procedures, which deal with the aircraft, from the emergency response plan (ERP), which deals with the consequences of a loss of control and coordination with the emergency services. Its minimum content: the anticipated emergency situations, a procedure for each, and the useful contacts.

The general plan lives in your MANEX. What changes from one site to the next lives in the site ERP sheet, filled in at the preparation stage of each intervention:

  • the emergency number;
  • the nearest hospital and the fire and rescue station;
  • local contacts: client, site manager, air traffic control;
  • the team's assembly point;
  • emergency services access: gate, code, track;
  • the risks specific to the place, anything that would make a crash worse.

A checklist for every moment

A single checklist, ticked once, does not follow how things really unfold. Each intervention holds one per moment: preparation (equipment, batteries, updates), pre-flight on site, flight, and post-flight. Your checklist templates indicate the moment they suggest.

Pre-flight: the day's document pack

On the day, you need to find things fast. The day's document pack brings together in a single document, in field order:

  1. the site ERP sheet, at the top, because that is what you look for when things go wrong;
  2. the documents to carry;
  3. the pre-flight checklist, to tick;
  4. the declarations;
  5. the weather;
  6. the rest of the preparation file.

In France, the list of documents to carry is taken from the DSAC guide for the specific category, which cites it. Elsewhere, it is presented as recommended: it is a legal statement, and we only write “mandatory” where we have read the source.

Reporting: deliverables and RETEX

Deliverables have a status: to deliver, delivered, approved by the client. You choose which ones the client sees.

The RETEX (lessons learned) is internal to the team and never shown to the client. It comes down to three questions: what went well, what went wrong, what we change (MANEX, checklist, equipment).

An occurrence to report?

The RETEX is not a report. At the end, Waypoint360 asks whether a safety occurrence happened: incident, link loss, fly-away, injury, collision. If so, it reminds you of the procedure:

  • in the European Union, an occurrence subject to mandatory reporting is reported to the authority within 72 hours (Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947);
  • in France, the DSAC receives the report through the CRESUS form; an accident or serious incident is also reported to the BEA without delay, including the fly-away or link loss of a drone in the specific category.

Waypoint360 does not classify the occurrence for you: it tells you where to go.

What is not available yet

  • The RETEX consolidated at mission level.
  • Pre-filling the site ERP sheet, for example the nearest hospital, from a map source.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is a site ERP sheet?

The part of the emergency response plan that changes from one site to the next: the emergency number, the nearest hospital and fire and rescue station, the local contacts, the assembly point, emergency services access and the risks specific to the place. The general plan stays in your MANEX.

Which documents must I carry during a flight?

In France, in the specific category, the DSAC guide lists them: the operator's information record, the declaration of conformity for the aircraft's class, an up-to-date MANEX, an identity document and the training records of each remote pilot, the flight agreements for restricted areas and the other authorisations for the mission. The day's document pack follows this list. Elsewhere, Waypoint360 shows a recommended list, to be checked with your authority.

Does the RETEX replace occurrence reporting?

No. The RETEX is internal to your team and never shown to the client. Reporting a safety occurrence is a step taken with the authority, within 72 hours when it is mandatory. Waypoint360 asks the question and points you in the right direction, without classifying the occurrence for you.

Does Waypoint360 check that my mission is compliant?

It checks what it knows: a published MANEX covering the mission's category, an approved SORA assessment when the authorisation requires one. It flags what is missing. The compliance of the operation remains your responsibility as operator.

Can I have several checklists in one intervention?

Yes, one per moment: preparation, on-site pre-flight, flight and post-flight. Each checklist template can suggest the moment it belongs to.

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Features · SORA 2.5 assessment · MANEX