What has to be in place before I launch — and what happens when the link fails?

Establish the two sets of procedures section 901.23 requires, make them available to the crew, know the one prohibition on terminating a flight, and know where a lost command and control link sits in the scheme.

Section 901.23 is a condition of operating at all, not advice. It is written as "no pilot shall operate … unless the following procedures are established", and it ends by requiring the flight to be conducted in accordance with them. CAR 901.23

• You know your system's manufacturer's instructions, because the procedures you establish must reflect them where they exist. CAR 901.23
• You know who is in the crew for the flight, because the procedures have to be reviewed by and available to each of them. CAR 901.23
• You know whether the operation is VLOS or BVLOS, because the command and control link standard applies to BVLOS and not to VLOS. Std 922.09

No pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system unless both are established: normal operating procedures, including pre-flight, take-off, launch, approach, landing and recovery procedures; and emergency procedures covering CAR 901.23

Emergency procedure required
a control station failure	CAR 901.23
an equipment failure	CAR 901.23
a failure of the remotely piloted aircraft	CAR 901.23
a loss of the command and control link	CAR 901.23
a fly-away	CAR 901.23
flight termination	CAR 901.23
the detection and avoidance of conflicting air traffic and other hazards	CAR 901.23

Read the last row carefully: detect and avoid is an emergency procedure you have to establish, not only a capability the aircraft may have. CAR 901.23

If the manufacturer, or the person who made a declaration under section 901.194 for that model, provides instructions on any of those topics, the procedures established under subsection (1) shall reflect those instructions. CAR 901.23

That is what stops the procedures from being a document you wrote once. Where an instruction exists, it is the floor. CAR 901.23

No pilot shall conduct the take-off or launch unless the procedures have been reviewed before the flight by, and are immediately available to, each crew member. CAR 901.23

And no pilot shall operate unless the operation is conducted in accordance with those procedures. CAR 901.23

So the sequence has three links: established, reviewed and available, then followed. A procedure that exists but was not reviewed, or was reviewed but not available in the air, fails at a different point from one that was simply ignored. CAR 901.23

The AIM expects the procedures to be available to the pilot at the crew station during all phases of flight, in either written or digital form, and to be reviewed regularly so they carry current information. AIM 3.2.11

It then adds a caution that follows from the failure it is trying to prevent: caution should be exercised if the procedures are on the same mobile device that is being used to pilot the RPAS — that practice is not recommended. AIM 3.2.11

If the application crashes, the procedures go with it. A crew asked what they should have for the case where the controlling application crashes is being asked about that sentence. AIM 3.2.11

The AIM also expects the crew to have troubleshooting items for a control station failure committed to memory for immediate action, because there is no time to look them up. AIM 3.2.11

And after any emergency, the pilot in command should log the events and follow-up actions in accordance with section 901.49. AIM 3.2.11 CAR 901.49

No pilot shall activate a system that terminates the flight of a remotely piloted aircraft if it will endanger or will likely endanger aviation safety or the safety of any person. CAR 901.44

This is the counter-intuitive one. Flight termination is an emergency procedure you must have, and activating it is prohibited when doing so would endanger people — so the choice is not "terminate or not" but "terminate only where the result is safer than the alternative". CAR 901.44

A flight termination system is a system that ends the flight in a manner that does not cause significant damage to property or severe injury to persons on the ground. Systems that lack redundancies may need an independent one that the pilot can activate, and the process for initiating it varies by manufacturer and operating procedures. AIM 3.2.32

One more thing follows from the modification rules: attaching a flight termination system that is not standard equipment for the system is a modification, and must meet section 901.70. AIM 3.2.32 CAR 901.70

When operating BVLOS, the C2 link is the only connection between the operator and the aircraft, and the operator needs enough information about it to make both the strategic decisions of designing an operation and the tactical decisions of executing one. Std 922.09

The standard is not required for VLOS operations, and its reason is precise: in VLOS the C2 link is not the only means of maintaining situational awareness of the aircraft and its environment. Basic operations mitigate link loss by stand-off distance from people and by compliance with the containment requirement in section 922.08. Std 922.09 Std 922.08

So a VLOS pilot who loses the link is not exempt from having a procedure for it — 901.23(1)(b)(iv) still requires one — but the aircraft is not required to meet the BVLOS link standard. CAR 901.23 Std 922.09

Pre-flight inspections should be conducted before every takeoff the aircraft makes, to verify the physical, mechanical and electronic integrity of the system — and the AIM distinguishes the occasions rather than treating them as one:

Occasion	What is required
Each new day of operations	The initial inspection, the most extensive one, covering the airframe, landing gear, power plant, propellers or rotors, battery or fuel, and the control station with its receivers, transmitter, device and cables — in accordance with the manufacturer's operating manual AIM 3.2.12
After each landing	A brief inspection — a battery change is the AIM's own example AIM 3.2.12
After each crash or malfunction, or when changing location	A full inspection AIM 3.2.12

Two further occasions sit in the same section. Before takeoff the crew must be briefed on the roles and responsibilities of each member, the flight plans and anticipated procedures such as a command hand-off, the emergency and contingency plans, the location of the safety equipment and who is trained to use it, and the public management plan. And just after takeoff a brief test flight within short VLOS range should verify command response, flight behaviour, response to the current weather, and crew cohesion. AIM 3.2.12

Requirement	What it means
Normal procedures	Pre-flight, take-off, launch, approach, landing, recovery CAR 901.23
Emergency procedures	Control station, equipment, aircraft, lost link, fly-away, flight termination, detect and avoid CAR 901.23
Manufacturer's or declarant's instructions	The procedures must reflect them CAR 901.23
Before take-off or launch	Reviewed by, and immediately available to, each crew member CAR 901.23
In flight	The operation must be conducted in accordance with the procedures CAR 901.23
Flight termination	Prohibited if it will or will likely endanger aviation or any person CAR 901.44
A non-standard termination system	A modification, under section 901.70 CAR 901.70
C2 link reliability	Required for BVLOS, not for VLOS Std 922.09
After an emergency	Log the events and follow-up actions under 901.49 CAR 901.49

Warning Procedures that live only on the device you are piloting from are the case the AIM warns about explicitly. If that application crashes, you have lost the aircraft's controls and your emergency procedures in the same event — which is exactly the situation the procedures exist for. AIM 3.2.11

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
Your controlling application crashes in flight	The AIM does not recommend procedures on the piloting device	Keep them somewhere else AIM 3.2.11
You have procedures but the crew never read them	901.23(3) requires review before take-off by each crew member	Review them before launch CAR 901.23
The manufacturer's instructions differ from your procedure	901.23(2) requires the procedures to reflect them	Update the procedures CAR 901.23
You are about to terminate a flight over people	901.44 prohibits activation that will or likely will endanger anyone	Choose where termination is safer than the alternative CAR 901.44
You fitted an aftermarket termination system	A non-standard termination system is a modification	Meet section 901.70 CAR 901.70
You lost the link on a VLOS flight	The BVLOS link standard does not apply, but the procedure does	Follow your 901.23(1)(b)(iv) procedure CAR 901.23
Something went wrong and you resumed without recording it	The AIM expects the events to be logged under 901.49	Log them CAR 901.49

Practise: Established procedures

Practise: Gcs c2 link reliability

• CAR 901.23 — Procedures
• CAR 901.44 — Flight Termination System
• CAR 901.49 — Incidents and Accidents — Associated Measures
• CAR 901.70 — Operation of a Modified Remotely Piloted Aircraft System
• Standard 922 s.922.08 — Containment
• Standard 922 s.922.09 — Command and Control Link Reliability and Lost Link Behaviour
• AIM RPA 3.2.11 — Procedures
• AIM RPA 3.2.32 — Flight Termination Systems
• Consolidation: CARs current to 2026-09-21