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Amazon’s MK30 delivery drones debuted in November. (Amazon Photo)
Amazon confirmed that it voluntarily paused its Prime Air drone deliveries in Texas and Arizona, but downplayed the role of a reported crash of two drones in December at an Oregon testing facility as a factor in the decision.
“We’re currently in the process of making software changes to the drone and will be voluntarily pausing our commercial operations on Friday, Jan. 17,” said Sam Stephenson, an Amazon spokesperson, in a statement to GeekWire. “Our services will resume once these updates are completed and approved by the FAA.”
Stephenson added, “The incident that occurred at our Pendleton, OR facility in Dec. 2024 is not the primary reason for our voluntary operational pause. Prime Air continued to deliver to customers safely and within federal compliance until we voluntarily paused the service on Jan. 17.”
Bloomberg reported Friday that two of Amazon’s MK30 drones crashed during flights at the company’s Pendleton, Ore., testing facility, and one caught fire on the ground. “The company later discovered a software issue was to blame, related to the light rain the aircraft were flying through at the time,” Bloomberg reported.
Amazon debuted the MK30 drones in November in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area of Arizona and College Station, Texas, the two parts of the U.S. where it’s currently making drone deliveries to customers.
“These incidents occurred at our private and closed testing facility, where the purpose of these tests is to push our aircraft past their limits – it would be irresponsible not to do that,” Stephenson said.
He added, “We expect incidents like these to occur in those tests, and they help us continue to improve the safety of our operations. Our commercial operations with the MK30 drone have been conducted safely and in compliance with all FAA regulations and requirements.”
Stephenson described safety and compliance as a top priority, and said the drone is “designed to safely respond to unknown events in a known way, and the overall architecture of the drone has performed as expected.”
The operational pause is the latest twist in the company’s longstanding effort to deliver packages via drone, an initiative unveiled more than a decade ago by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a segment on “60 Minutes.”
The company said in May that it would expand the range of its drone deliveries and the footprint of its drone network across the U.S. after the FAA granted permission to operate its delivery drones beyond the visual line of sight of drone operators.
