Amazon pauses drone deliveries in Arizona after crash at Oregon test site

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Amazon has paused all drone deliveries in Arizona.

Currently, Amazon’s Tolleson, Arizona, facility and College Station, Texas, facility are the only ones in the country that offer Air Prime.

Air Prime uses autonomous drones to deliver packages weighing up to 5lbs to customers in 30 minutes or less.

Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson says that part of the reason why the company decided to pause drone deliveries was an accident at its test site in Pendleton, Oregon, in December.

“Safety underscores everything we do in Prime Air, and our MK30 drone is safe and compliant. It’s designed to safely respond to unknown events in a known way, and the overall architecture of the drone has performed as expected,” he said. “We’re currently in the process of making software changes to the drone and will be voluntarily pausing our commercial operations on Friday, Jan. 17. Our services will resume once these updates are completed and approved by the FAA.”

Stephenson emphasized that the employees at the Tolleson and College Station facilities will remain working and get paid through the pause in service.

He said that although the incident in Oregon was part of the reason for the pause, it was not the main cause.

“The incident that occurred at our Pendleton, Oregon, facility in Dec. 2024 is not the primary reason for our voluntary operational pause. Prime Air continued to deliver to customers safely and within federal compliance until we voluntarily paused the service on Jan. 17,” Stephenson said.

Mike Fraietta, an FAA-certified drone pilot for Gargoyle Systems, said while this appears to be a step back in drone deliveries, he is optimistic about its future.

“Fortunately, it happened in the lab before it happened in public,” said Fraietta. “With any kind of technology, we’re going to have these hiccups. It’s still in its early stages. These challenges highlight that we need to ensure improvement, ensure safety and reliability.”

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