Amazon's Delivery Drones Are Dropping Packages From 10 Feet, Customers Say

Amazon Prime Air drones are facing renewed scrutiny following customer complaints about packages being dropped from perilous heights.
Videos show Amazon’s aircraft dropping packages from roughly 10 feet in the air, leaving items smashed on impact. Some depict drones hovering above driveways and backyards before letting boxes fall to the ground, causing goods to arrive cracked, leaking, or otherwise visibly damaged, per Gizmodo.
Prime Air is Amazon’s drone delivery program that ostensibly brings small, lightweight orders to select US addresses in 60 minutes or less. The company says its MK30 drones use cameras, radar, and other sensors to detect obstacles, select clear drop zones, and keep people and animals on the ground safe. Instead of landing, drones often hover and drop packages from a controlled height. Amazon says this reduces the risks from spinning rotors and complex landings in tight spaces.
But as convenient as Prime Air may sound, customers are far less likely to find it useful if their deliveries arrive broken.
“I guess it depends on how badly you need it,” Tamara Hancock, whose bottle of blueberry-flavored syrup cracked during delivery, said in a YouTube video.
In the past, federal reports regarding Prime Air have cited test crashes that caused brush fires, hardware failures that sent drones plummeting from over 100 feet, and incidents involving wires and other obstacles. In Arizona, two drones struck a crane, triggering investigations by US regulators. In Texas, one of Amazon’s MK30s hit an apartment building before crashing to the ground. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.
In September, Amazon said it would continue refining how drones select and handle drop zones…but 7 months later, that doesn’t seem to have helped a whole lot.
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