Amazon suspended drone deliveries in Texas and Arizona following a crash of two of its models in rainy weather at a testing facility in Pendleton, Oregon.
In a previously unreported December incident, two MK30 drones crashed during flights at an airport Amazon uses for testing, with one catching fire on the ground. Amazon later discovered that a software issue was to blame, related to the light rain happening during testing. The MK30 drones were cleared to make deliveries by the FAA last October and have since been delivering packages to customers’ homes in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona.
The pause in deliveries is the latest setback for Amazon's drone delivery service that launched more than 11 years ago by Jeff Bezos with aims of delivering products to customers in less than half an hour. An Amazon spokesperson said that the company is currently in the process of making software changes to the drones and noted that the purpose of its tests is to “push our aircraft past their limits” with the expectation that incidents like these occur.
In other Amazon Prime Air news… right before the new year, the division filed an application with the FCC to gain two-year access to a radar frequency band not currently used by drone operators.
The application read:
“Prime Air is interested in testing the performance of radars operating the 9.3-9.5 GHz band to monitor the air traffic around Amazon facilities and drone operating areas. The proposed tests will support Prime Air to develop standards and technology for an air traffic control system around company perimeters and drone operating areas to ensure safe flying environments.”
The frequency is currently used by the US Coast Guard, NASA, and other federal agencies for use cases like identifying distressed vessels, weather-tracking radar systems, and avian detection. Amazon says its use of the frequency pertains to its R&D efforts in building drone air-traffic control systems controlled from the ground.