Amazon Prime Air Drones Safety

Mesa Airlines
hereandnow

Mesa Airlines

hereandnow
Mar 25 9 Comments

Amazon's autonomous delivery drones have crashed at least eight times in the past 13 months, a review of federal crash reports and internal documents shows.

At least one of these crashes, when a drone that was being tested dropped from 160 feet, resulted in an acres-wide brush fire last June, Insider previously reported. The most recent crash Insider confirmed was at an eastern Oregon airfield on February 1 of this year.

Amazon is testing these drones under its ambitious Prime Air program, which in 2020 was granted license from the Federal Aviation Administration to test in limited capacities. These crashes come as the company looks to secure new registration that would allow it to test these unmanned vehicles closer to population centers and with fewer restrictions.

The company conducted more than 2,300 drone test flights last year, according to internal documents obtained by Insider. Amazon has previously said that no one has ever been injured as a result of the company's flight tests.

"Safety is integral to everything that we do at Amazon," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. "We carry out experimental flights in a closed, private facility to test our drones or aspects of the technology we've installed within it. We test our drones and technology to its limit in this safe environment, we learn from the results, and continue to improve. This process allows us to ensure the drone we use for delivery is safe."

Prime Air has suffered from high turnover, internal conflict, and product delays, Insider previously reported. The roughly 800-person division had a turnover rate higher than 20% last year, according to an internal document, including departures from Amazon's Prime Air headquarters in the UK, where 100 people lost their jobs in a restructuring.

Most of the federal crash reports redact Amazon's name, but Insider checked the date of the reports against screenshots of internal messages alerting employees that a crash had taken place. Most of the reports are from a range in Pendleton, Oregon, where Amazon tests its drones.

The reasons behind the crashes varied, according to a review of the federal reports.

In one incident last July, a drone lost one of its six propellers, "causing a loss of torque and power." The drone dropped 120 feet to the ground. Six days later, another propeller issue resulted in a crash after Prime Air accidentally replaced a propeller in the wrong spot. The incorrect propeller was designed to rotate counter-clockwise but was installed on a clockwise-rotating motor. The drone took off but immediately flipped over and crashed upside down, the report said.

Other crashes were the result of motor failures or software glitches, the reports said.

Amazon last November applied for approval from federal aviation regulators to scale back its safety guardrails, federal documents show. Its current FAA registration bars the company from flying its drones over roads, structures and human beings. The new license would loosen some of those rules. The company's latest drone model is much safer than its previous version, Amazon said in that petition.

Regulators have yet to issue a decision.

#PrimeAir #AmazonPrimeAir #AmazonSafety #aviation

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TOP 9 Comments
  • Coupang
    HMeb74

    Go to company page Coupang

    HMeb74
    Ok you may shit on Amazon for PIP culture and bad WLB, but this is admirable.
    I hope they make a viable drone delivery system. That'll change the world
    Mar 26 0
  • Lynden Incorporated
    BananaPlz

    Lynden Incorporated

    BananaPlz
    What is the purpose of this post?
    Mar 25 1
  • TeraRecon, Inc.
    Ark Royal

    Go to company page TeraRecon, Inc.

    PRE
    Casa Systems
    Ark Royal
    Anyone know how is the interview style of software engineer positions for Prime Air or other aviation related business in Amazon? Do they still do leetcode style questions regardless whether you have related experience?
    Mar 30 1
  • New
    DFqd24

    New

    DFqd24
    Tf is this post?
    Mar 26 0
  • New
    scornedMC

    New

    PRE
    Amazon
    scornedMC
    “Prime Air accidentally replaced a propeller in the wrong spot. The incorrect propeller was designed to rotate counter-clockwise but was installed on a clockwise-rotating motor. The drone took off but immediately flipped over and crashed upside down”

    Hope someone got PIP’ed for that
    Mar 25 0