MK30 Drone Clipped an Internet Cable Two Months After Two Others Struck a Crane

Amazon’s Prime Air drones are back in the spotlight after one of its newest MK30 delivery drones struck an overhead internet cable in Waco, Texas. The incident serves as an unnerving replay of safety concerns that surfaced just two months ago involving back-to-back collisions with a crane in Arizona.

The more recent event occurred on November 18. The drone, registered N139PA, had just wrapped up a delivery when it “clipped a thin, overhead internet cable,” according to Amazon. The company says the impact triggered a built-in failsafe meant to bring the aircraft down immediately in unexpected situations. The drone descended slowly and touched down without injuries or service outages.

“We’ve paid for the cable line’s repair for the customer and have apologized for the inconvenience this caused them,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

Once public concern kicked up, Amazon stepped back in to emphasize that the drone contacted an internet cable, not a power line. Still, the collision adds to a growing file of delivery drones encountering obstacles they’re supposed to autonomously avoid.

This collection gained weight in early October, when two MK30 drones slammed into the boom of a construction crane in Tolleson, Arizona. Both aircraft were destroyed, prompting Amazon to temporarily halt Prime Air operations and sparking doubts about the reliability of the MK30’s detect-and-avoid system.

The mishaps follow years of optimistic projections for the program. In partnership with Amazon Pharmacy, Prime Air began delivering prescriptions in 2023 to customers in College Station, Texas. The company continues to tout its goal of 500 million global drone deliveries annually by the end of the decade… but every headline-making accident makes that target look increasingly like wishful thinking.

Luckily, none of the recent incidents involved injuries, and Amazon maintains that secondary safety systems worked as designed. Two crane strikes and now a cable collision in the span of eight weeks just puts the service under closer watch from regulators, especially if and when the drone fleet expands into more neighborhoods and higher-density airspace.

FMI: www.amazon.com