Compliance
Logbook Requirements for Canadian Drone Pilots
You are required to log every flight and every maintenance action. Here is exactly what the regulation asks for.
Record keeping is the part of compliance most pilots discover late, usually when a flight reviewer asks to see it. You are required to maintain a log of every flight, and a separate record of every maintenance action, modification or repair performed on your aircraft.
These requirements apply to drones weighing 250 grams or more.
What the Regulation Says
Both obligations sit in CARs 901.48:
901.48 (1) Every owner of a remotely piloted aircraft system shall keep the following records:
(a) a record containing the names of the pilots and other crew members who are involved in each flight and, in respect of the system, the time of each flight or series of flights; and
(b) a record containing the particulars of any mandatory action and any other maintenance action, modification or repair performed on the system, including
(i) the names of the persons who performed them,
(ii) the dates they were undertaken,
(iii) in the case of a modification, the manufacturer, model and a description of the part or equipment installed to modify the system, and
(iv) if applicable, any instructions provided to complete the work.
Flight Logs: The Gap in Your DJI App
The DJI app you fly with does log most of what a flight record needs — with one omission. It does not record who was flying.
If you are genuinely the only person who ever touches the controls, the app arguably satisfies the requirement, though it would be sensible to document somewhere that you are the sole pilot. The moment anyone else flies your aircraft, that argument collapses and you need a log that captures the pilot and crew for each individual flight.
There are several ways to handle it. We suggest looking at FLYSAFE by AirMarket, which has a free tier suitable for recreational flyers and paid tiers that make sense once you are tracking several aircraft and several pilots.
Maintenance Records
For maintenance you need to capture four things: who performed the work, when they performed it, for a modification the manufacturer, model and description of the part installed, and any instructions provided to complete the work.
The minimum viable version is a spreadsheet with a column for each of those, stored either on paper somewhere secure or electronically in a way that cannot be altered without leaving a trace. That last point matters more than people expect — a record that can be quietly edited after the fact is not much of a record.
On spreadsheets: Excel or Google Sheets will do, provided changes are tracked. Google Sheets keeps version history, but entries remain easy to alter. If your records might ever be scrutinised after an incident, that is worth thinking about before you need them.
Why It Is Worth Getting Right
Failing to keep the required records is a regulatory contravention. CARs 901.48 is a designated provision, carrying a maximum penalty of $1,000 for an individual and $5,000 for a corporation — and that applies to each of subsections (1), (2) and (3).
Beyond the penalty, your logs are the evidence that you operated properly — which is precisely what you will want after an incident, an insurance claim, or a client dispute.
Flight reviewers also ask to see records. Our guide to standard operating procedures covers the wider documentation set you are expected to produce.
Managing compliance across a fleet?
See our compliance management service and stop tracking it in spreadsheets.