FAA probes Amazon after delivery drone snaps internet cable in Texas
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Amazon began delivering prescription medications by drones to customers in College Station, Texas in 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Nov 25 it is probing Amazon after one of its delivery drones downed an internet cable in central Texas last week.
“An MK30 drone struck a wire line in Waco, Texas, around 12.45pm local time on Tuesday, Nov 18,” the regulator said in a statement to Reuters, adding that it is investigating.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is not investigating the incident.
On Nov 18, after completing a delivery, a drone clipped a thin, overhead internet cable then performed a “Safe Contingent Landing,” as designed, an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed response, adding that “there were no injuries or widespread internet service outages.”
Video footage reviewed by CNBC, which first reported the incident, showed one of Amazon’s MK30 drones ascending from a customer’s yard when one of its six propellers became entangled in a utility line.
The drone’s motors shut down, resulting in a controlled descent.
This comes after the NTSB and FAA said in October that they would investigate an incident in which two Amazon Prime Air drones collided with a crane boom in Arizona.
Amazon began delivering prescription medications by drones in partnership with Amazon Pharmacy to customers in College Station, Texas in 2023.
It aims to deliver 500 million packages annually by drone by the end of 2030. REUTERS
