![[Credit: Amazon]](https://avweb.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/10/aa-112024-az-drone-delivery-stan.jpg?width=2000&height=1125)
Two Amazon delivery drones crashed into a construction crane Wednesday morning in Tolleson, Arizona, landing in two separate parking lots near a business park.
Both crashes happened just minutes apart as the drones were traveling northeast when they struck the crane around two miles from where Amazon launches their drones in Tolleson. No injuries were reported according to local reports.
As a result of the crash, Amazon temporarily paused its drone delivery service in the Tolleson area out of an abundance of caution. The service, which has been up and running in the area since last November, was previously paused in January due to safety upgrades.
“Two MK30 drones collided with the boom of a crane in Tolleson, Arizona, around 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, October 1. No injuries were reported. The FAA will investigate,” the agency said in a statement to local news outlets.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation, according to Tolleson police.
Amazon’s MK30 drones are used by the ecommerce giant in select areas across the country for lightweight deliveries. The drones themselves are not small, weighing close to 80 pounds.
Tolleson police stated that this is the first crash reported to the authorities since the inception of the drone delivery service.
Obviously, we need to install ADS-B Out on construction cranes…
You beat me to it with your comment! I do agree! I wonder what changes to the proposed pt108 will be made to accommodate this scenario!?
It appears the closest airport to Tolleson is Phoenix Goodyear. I took a quick look at the NOTAMs for that airport. There is a crane-obstruction NOTAM, but it’s not due to start for another three weeks.
In any case, one wonders if Amazon checks the NOTAMs prior to launching its drones. Unless one considers a drone an “Air Man,” technically they wouldn’t have to (unless you consider a drone an “air man”). Should have had a more generic title…hmmm, like “Notices to Air Missions”
No doubt Part 108 will require checking and compliance with NOTAMs.
And…just wait until these so-called air “taxis” start flying all over the place…
Thats funny, all my drones have crash avoidance sensors on them. Its impossible to “run into” something…
And we have to see and avoid them. Is the FAA genius guy who proposed the Part 108 regs the same guy that designed MTRs that run a couple of fee below the glide slope for DCA’s precision approach corridors?
The Part 108 NPRM mandates we see and void them and they can weigh over half a ton. Probably because the drones are not equipped with cameras/sensors to see and avoid each other or apparently anything else. Everyone should be expressing their thoughts on the NPRM before comments close next week.
These drones are BIG! !
I’m not current on NOTAMS and must ask how UAVs used for delivery purposes like Amazon utilize NOTAMS if they’re launched at their facilities, not airports, and whether NOTAMS apply to them when they’re navigating away from airports at whatever assigned aititudes used. It appears to me that drone operators are informed on low level obstructions like temporary cranes, power transmission structures, power lines, etc. Do NOTAMS list cranes when they’re nowhere near airports? It’s obvious when a crane is erected, drone delivery systems should be aware but what di they use to stay informed on low level temporary structures?
In one of their news releases Amazon actually said “The beauty of this system is it can sense and avoid objects that weren’t there the day before, for example, a freshly planted tree, or mobile crane moved into its path”
Hoo boy.
Crane operator should be fined for interfering with the operation of an aircraft in the NAS.
Amazon drones use cameras, radar, lidar, thermal and ultrasonic sensors for static and moving obstacle avoidance. They also check NOTAMS for obstacles and TFRs before a flight. It sounds like the complex algorithms that they use to integrate this data into a 3D map couldn’t recognize the crane arm as an obstacle. Although their drones have more sensors than a human pilot, their algorithms can’t match a human brain in interpreting sensor data. A similar thing is true of self-driving cars.
As both a often low flying pilot AND a long time crane operator, this hits home. 80 pounds?!!!
Nowhere does the article define the term “crane.” It could have been a several hundred foot high tower crane, or (more likely) a boom truck with 100’ of stick setting a HVAC unit, with the boom tip nowhere near that height. They can set up in minutes, and be gone in minutes. I do it several times a week, no way the NOTAM procedure is going to keep track.
All it takes is a little bit of research to get yo the nuts and bolts of who is wrong here. The crane was parked in a company’s commercial yard along with a few different cranes and other high lift or high working pieces of equipment are stored before being hired out on jobs. Because the crane’s arm is not over 100m in the air and it is not located within either the OLS of the airport or within the approach or departure paths of an airport, there is no requirement for a NOTAM. Therefore, it is squarely on the drone operator, i.e. Amazon, to be aware of this facility and to avoid flying either over it or within a safe distance of it.
This is basic safety management stuff and i know that Amazon is aware of this. However, it appears that somebody dropped the ball in the Amazon drone department and they hadn’t programmed to avoid the potential safety issue.
As for the rules and regs, for a drone to operate BVLOS, there are a number of procedures and considerations that a drone operator has to employ to receive an authorisation to conduct BVLOS operations. If these were not followed in this instance and there was a total reliance on the sensors, then the BVLOS authorisation should be withdrawn.
Yes people, i have been one of the team developing the rules and regulations for BVLOS ops overseas and they are all very similar. For these type of operations to be safe there has to always be a human in the loop, especially to be conducting the aviation risk management processes. AI just cant do this!
Yes, heavy drones custom made by Amazon for their drone delivery program. These are not personal drones being reported flying everywhere. As delivery drones, Amazon must have design criteria for loads to carry, battery capacity, zero line of sight flights, autonomous control, cameras for live feedback, etc. Expensive delivery systems. I was curious and searched since delivering small packages via drones may supplement their delivery systems with recognizable Rivian ev vans.
Read the article again. “Two Amazon delivery drones crashed into a construction crane Wednesday morning in Tolleson, Arizona, landing in two separate parking lots near a business park.” I don’t know if the drone operator was using the feedback camera or if their drones have them. Two drones crashing into cranes are just the tip of the iceberg with commercial drones being used as delivery systems.
In other news two commercial jets with 4 pilots aboard collided on a taxiway at LaGuardia.