Amazon gets FAA approval for new drone as it starts tests in Arizona

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gets FAA approval for new drone as it starts tests in Arizona

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said Tuesday it received regulatory approval to begin flying a smaller, quieter version of its delivery drone, the latest step in its long-running efforts to get the futuristic program off the ground.

The company unveiled the new drone, called the MK30, in November 2022. It said then that the MK30, in addition to the other changes, would fly through light rain and have twice the range of earlier models.

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said the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval includes permission to fly the MK30 over longer distances and beyond the visual line of sight of pilots. The agency granted a similar waiver for

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’s Prime Air program in May, though that was limited to flights in College Station, Texas, one of the cities where it has been conducting tests.

Alongside the FAA approval, Matt McCardle, head of regulatory affairs for Prime Air,

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the company is starting to make drone deliveries Tuesday near Phoenix, Arizona. In April,

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said it planned to spin up drone operations in Tolleson, a city west of Phoenix, after it shut down an earlier test site in Lockeford, California. The company will dispatch the drones near one of its warehouses in Tolleson as it looks to integrate Prime Air more closely into its existing logistics network and further speed up deliveries.

An FAA spokesperson said the agency granted

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permission to conduct beyond visual line of sight deliveries in Tolleson on Oct. 31.

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founder Jeff Bezos

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for the ambitious service more than a decade ago, remarking at the time that the program could be up and running within five years. Despite

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investing billions of dollars into the program, progress has been slow.

Prime Air encountered regulatory hurdles, missed deadlines and had layoffs last year, coinciding with widespread cost-cutting efforts by CEO Andy Jassy. The program also lost some key executives, including its primary liaison with the FAA and

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.

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hired former Boeing executive David Carbon to run the operation.

It has also encountered pushback from some residents in the cities where it is trialing drone deliveries. Residents in College Station complained about the noise levels enough that it prompted the city’s mayor to mention the concerns in a letter to the FAA, CNBC previously reported. In response,

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executives told residents the company would identify a new drone delivery launch site by October 2025.

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is not the only company trying to ****** delivery by drone. It is competing with Wing, owned by

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parent Alphabet; UPS; Walmart; and a host of startups including Zipline and Matternet.

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#

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#FAA #approval #drone #starts #tests #Arizona

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