At present, an Amazon Prime Air MK30 drone arrived unannounced in a residential backyard in Darlington, County Durham, England.
I don’t wish to say we informed you so, however we informed you so. Its been a protracted operating matter of dialogue on our Tuesday chats. (21:00 GMT Drone and Sundry channel). By probability two weeks in the past we had a really candid chat with Bobby Healy of Manna Air Supply, I’ll put his full video bit down under. However briefly:-
Bobby informed us that his Manna has accomplished over 400,000 deliveries in difficult climate situations in Eire, boasting a security file that surpasses floor transport strategies like e-bikes and motorbikes. As a result of they’re held to stricter requirements than floor autos, the drones function utilizing conservative danger calculations to take care of distinctive security ranges. The plane are designed with excessive redundancy, using three separate flight management Cubepilot Cubes that talk by a {hardware} voting system. If a important concern happens, the drones are programmed to robotically deploy a parachute. He clearly mentioned tons greater than that and was as he at all times is, very beneficiant together with his time. Bobby tells us how it’s actually, warts and all.
Distinction that with an Amazon consultant who marched right into a tent at Farnborough Airshow, 2010 I believe it was, mentioned they’d run UK decrease airspace that is what it would appear like, no questions please and was off. The tent stuffed with CAA and NATS representatives and me was left considerably surprised. I doubt if any of them nonetheless work in these locations. The explanation I say that’s as a result of the CAA appears to have bent the knee to Amazon and has allow them to in and closed airspace with little or no friction. The folks that have signed them off can’t have been in that tent.
It’s not Amazons first off,
Might 2021 — Pendleton, Oregon (Check Vary)
Plane: MK27 prototype
Incident: Propeller Failure
Particulars: Throughout experimental testing at Amazon’s rural testing vary, an 89-pound prototype drone suffered a propeller failure and plummeted to the bottom in an uncontrolled state.
June 2021 — Pendleton, Oregon (Check Vary)
Plane: MK27 prototype
Incident: Motor Failure and 20-Acre Brush Hearth
Particulars: Whereas flying at an altitude of 160 ft, the drone skilled motor failure and went right into a tailspin. Upon influence, the onboard lithium-ion battery ruptured and burst into flames, sparking a hearth that consumed roughly 20 acres of wheat discipline earlier than native firefighters extinguished it.
July 2021 — Pendleton, Oregon (Check Vary)
Plane: MK27 prototype
Incident: In-Flight Motor Drop
Particulars: A take a look at drone dropped 120 ft out of the sky attributable to {hardware} failure. FAA documentation later revealed that no less than eight take a look at drones crashed in a 12-month interval between 2021 and 2022 as Amazon pushed its programs to operational limits.
December 16, 2024 — Oregon Check Facility
Plane: MK30 supply drones
Incident: Twin Mid-Air Energy Minimize (LiDAR Sensor Glitch)
Particulars: At an altitude of 217 ft, an MK30 drone accomplished a mock package deal drop, ascended, after which abruptly reduce energy to its six propellers mid-air, crashing into the bottom. Simply 4 minutes later, a second MK30 flying at 183 ft over a taxiway suffered the very same failure. NTSB investigations revealed {that a} software program replace made onboard LiDAR altitude sensors susceptible to gentle rain. The sensors misinterpret the altitude information, main the drone’s software program to mistakenly consider it had touched down, which triggered a direct motor shutdown. Amazon briefly paused testing operations till the FAA authorised a software program patch in March 2025.
October 1, 2025 — Tolleson, Arizona
Plane: MK30 supply drones
Incident: Twin Building Crane Collision and Battery Hearth
Particulars: Two MK30 supply drones struck the growth of the identical energetic building crane inside minutes of one another. The collisions smashed each plane, inflicting a battery to eject and catch fireplace on influence. One bystander was evaluated by emergency personnel for smoke inhalation, and the occasion prompted joint investigations by the NTSB and FAA.
November 2025 — Waco, Texas
Plane: MK30 supply drone
Incident: Cable Strike
Particulars: Simply 13 days after launching industrial supply service within the space, an MK30 drone severed an overhead residential web cable throughout its post-delivery vertical ascent.
February 4, 2026 — Richardson, Texas (Dallas Suburb)
Plane: MK30 supply drone
Incident: House Constructing Collision
Particulars: Whereas en path to a supply, an MK30 drone collided with the aspect of an condo constructing on Routh Creek Parkway. The plane shattered and fell onto a public sidewalk under, the place it started sparking and emitting heavy smoke with its propellers nonetheless spinning. Firefighters arrived on the scene to make sure the battery didn’t ignite a structural fireplace, and Amazon crews safely retrieved the wreckage. No accidents have been reported.
May need been extra and AI can’t discover them for me. However this incident to me just isn’t not like the 2019 Alauda Airspeeder crash, at Goodwood, the place the 95kg racing drone misplaced management shot up by the airways system after which gravity received.
It result in an AAIB investigation that criticized the CAA’s dealing with of operator security instances. Extra worrying on the time on one in all our Tuesday chats I discovered that I had all of the flight gear they used on my desk and in a few attracts. Any inspector actually from the business would have identified what they have been taking a look at once they inspected that airframe.
That is certainly how the CAA, AAIB and Amazon will deal with this incident.
That chat with Bobby Healy. We’re very fortunate to get a lot time with him.
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