Amazon drone delivery area12/3/2023 In a separate report, Holden noted that he was prompted to make an in-person visit to the crash site in order to "remedy" Amazon's "slow and cautious release of details about incidents."Īmazon was "confused as to why we are looking into" drone crashes "in so much detail," Holden wrote, speculating that "Amazon legal is likely communicating their concerns of our elevated involvement directly to FAA Headquarters personnel." An FAA spokesperson declined to comment on the agency's communications with Amazon. Holden wrote in the same report that Amazon's representative had tried to put off the crash inspection by saying he had a dentist appointment. In one report, he noted that he was still waiting for "photos and information" about a crash a month after it occurred. The company also seemed reluctant to release details about crashes, Holden wrote. Amazon's spokesperson did not respond to questions about jurisdiction over crash investigations. Last July, Amazon told an FAA inspector who had been sent to investigate crashes at Amazon's drone test site in Pendleton, Oregon, that the agency's involvement was unnecessary because Amazon was conducting its own crash investigations, the inspector, Jim Holden, wrote in notes appended to two crash reports.Īn FAA spokesperson said the agency has the ultimate authority to investigate aircraft crashes when it decides it is necessary to do so. Amazon, however, has insisted the FAA did not need to be involved in investigating the cause of some of its drone crashes, according to public records. Obtaining those approvals requires the FAA to sign off on the drones' safety. The approvals would allow the drones to fly beyond the sight-lines of Prime Air operators and observers, over cities and towns, and to take off and land in close proximity to people, according to internal company documents obtained by Insider. ![]() To adhere to its timeline of unveiling drone delivery by 2024, Amazon needs a suite of FAA approvals within the next two years. Doing so involves meeting very high internal, technical, and regulatory bars," Nantel said. Some employees have left amid concerns about Prime Air's safety culture, Bloomberg reported last month.Īmazon has taken so long to unveil its drone delivery program because its engineers are "working to solve complicated problems and are committed to extensive testing to ensure our drone delivery service is safe and reliable. But changing goals, frequent delays, and a shifting culture has led to low morale, employee burnout, and an attrition rate as high as 70% on the company's test team, Insider previously reported. Prime Air VP David Carbon, a former Boeing executive, has spent the past two years pushing the division to complete testing needed to obtain regulatory approval for its autonomous drones. These findings come as the company seeks FAA approval to fly its drones in residential areas ahead of a potential mid-2024 customer debut. Taken together, the documents suggest that Amazon has at times begrudged federal inspections of its experimental drone crashes. During another investigation, Amazon told the FAA that the agency's involvement was unnecessary.Īt least eight Amazon drones crashed during testing in the past year, Insider previously reported, including one that sparked a 20-acre brush fire in eastern Oregon last June after the drone's motors failed. ![]() On at least two occasions, inspectors for the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates drone flights, were surprised to learn that Amazon had moved crash evidence, which an inspector said inhibited at least one of the investigations, according to the documents. ![]() The company has also been slow to turn over data related to crashes, the documents show. It often indicates a user profile.Īmazon's Prime Air autonomous drone delivery program has tried to put off federal investigations into some of its drone crashes by claiming that the company has the authority to investigate its own crashes, according to federal documents obtained through a public records request. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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