Sounds like someone taking the rules a bit too seriously. No doubt there's a rule that the pilots have to report for a checkup following any accident, and the bureaucratic mindset says that a rule is a rule, even if it makes no sense.

I wouldn't call them toy airplanes. UAVs are proving extremely valuable, but the technology is still evolving rapidly. They range in size from tiny ones only inches long to the Global Hawk. A lot of the expense for UAVs comes from the sensor and communications package rather than the plane itself. For example, a Predator UAV costs somewhere around $2 million. I'd estimate the cost of the airframe is probably no more than $100,000 to $200,000 (the Rotax engine sells for about $10,000). Most of the cost comes from the sensors (electro-optical, IR, SAR) and the satellite uplink system. The larger and more capable Global Hawk costs over $10 million a copy.

We've had crashes on all of our UAV programs. It's reasonable to expect that others will have their share of teething problems as well. I don't see why Canada would be an exception.