Amazon Drone Crashes Into Texas Apartment Building

Incident adds to recent series of Prime Air drone accidents in Texas and Arizona.

Amazon Drone Crashes Into Texas Apartment Building
[Credit: Amazon]
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Key Takeaways:

  • An Amazon Prime Air delivery drone crashed into an apartment building in Richardson, Texas, causing minimal damage and no reported fire.
  • A resident witnessed and recorded the incident, while Amazon stated they are investigating the cause and coordinating repairs.
  • This crash follows other recent incidents involving Amazon's MK30 delivery drones, including collisions with a cable in Waco and a construction crane in Arizona.
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An Amazon Prime Air delivery drone crashed into an apartment building in Richardson, Texas, last week. One of the building’s residents witnessed the incident and recorded video showing the aircraft near the building moments before debris fell to the ground. The Richardson Fire Department responded and officials reported no fire and minimal damage to the structure. Amazon said it is investigating the cause and coordinating repairs.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and are actively investigating the cause of this incident,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to media.

Cessy Johnson told NBC5 that she began filming because she had not previously seen one of the delivery drones in operation, adding that the drone appeared to move slowly toward the building before fragments fell, the drone crashed below and smoke appeared from the wreckage.

The Richardson crash follows other recent incidents involving the company’s MK30 drones. In November, a drone contacted a cable in Waco, Texas, and two MK30 aircraft struck a construction crane minutes apart in Tolleson, Arizona, in October.

Amazon’s MK30 drone is designed to carry packages weighing up to 5 pounds and operates within a limited service radius at low altitude as part of the company’s delivery program.

Matt Ryan

Matt is AVweb's lead editor. His eyes have been turned to the sky for as long as he can remember. Now a fixed-wing pilot, instructor and aviation writer, Matt also leads and teaches a high school aviation program in the Dallas area. Beyond his lifelong obsession with aviation, Matt loves to travel and has lived in Greece, Czechia and Germany for studies and for work.

6 thoughts on “Amazon Drone Crashes Into Texas Apartment Building

  1. I have mixed feelings about the delivery drones. We have traffic on the streets, I do not relish looking around the sky to see drones carrying packages all day everywhere!

    “Honey, be careful walking to the store, make sure you look both ways crossing the street, and don’t forget to be aware of the sky traffic!”

    I really think making our skies cluttered by flying mail has gone too far. They won’t even stop Junk mail.

    Just because you can do this, it does not make it is a wise move.

    Drones are great, we can see views, explore places we have never seen up close before. Drones have great attributes.
    I love drones… they have in most part been used respectfully. Let’s keep it that way.

    Our cities are littered….they have issues fixing problems with trash on the ground! So what makes you think, this will be any different?

    Did you rent or buy that place with a window view to look out to see flying trash, even if they are “low” flying? Right now you only see a couple flying delivery drones. Tell me, what do you think the near future holds?

    “Hey look up there John! Look at that beautiful flying trash!!”

  2. Why didn’t the drone deploy a drag chute like the Learjet should have? Will Amazon be suing because someone placed a building in the way?

  3. why in the heck is AMAZON investigating ..these should fall under NTS oversight. there is a real risk to human safety therefore these should be regulated as if aircraft which they are!

  4. If an operator must be watching each drone individually this drone operation should not be crashing into cranes, buildings or cables/wires. If one operator is “controlling” multiple drones simultaneously, that is simply an unacceptable rule. AND, if one person is operating each drone, they might as well be using ground delivery instead – for safety reasons.

  5. Agree NTSB should be investigating. Are they even notified when something like this happens? Imagine if there was a small child standing where that drone crashed.

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