When drone manufacturers become aware of safety problems related to already sold drones they have the responsibility to do something about it, be it a recall or a software update.
In order for this to work, relationships with manufacturers or distributors needs to be maintained and drone safety relevant input needs to be acted upon.
Risks
- Increased accident risks due to inaction.
- Additional legal exposure in case of accidents due to failures to address known problems.
Audit Steps
- Establish which function maintains contact with hardware suppliers to ensure important information impacting drone airworthiness is acted upon.
- Perform a web search for software updates available for drones in use and validate that all safety and security related updates have been performed.