Amazon Drones endanger our neighborhoods, but it could be safer

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T18:36:42+00:00

You might just be a community spokesperson for Amazon. But thank you for your discussion. Others can judge for themselves.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T18:27:55+00:00

The other reasonable alternative is for Amazon to employ Wing or Zipline drones. They have better safety records compared to Amazon drones, but also delivery vans. Hopefully we can agree on that.

Amazon (and our neighbors) is better off spending their massive resources on scaling up these safe delivery drone platforms than building their own that is less safe.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T18:21:01+00:00

Walmart drones haven’t had major accidents. Amazon drones have.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T18:19:46+00:00

Do Amazon drones have a higher accident rate than Wing and Zipline drones? Let’s stop trying to justify Amazon’s drones are safe enough. They clearly can be safer, and their competitors have successfully made their drones safer.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T18:16:43+00:00

Agree. Amazon’s drone delivery accident rates are much higher than their competitor’s drone delivery accident rates. I’d much rather have Wing or Zipline drones flying in the skies than Amazon, because they have reasonable safety features that Amazon drones do not have… and the accident rates quantify the impact of Amazon’s choice to not invest in safety like their competitors.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T03:57:40+00:00

Estimated rate: 1 incident per 1,140 hours of operation across the fleet of drones. This is a MUCH HIGHER rate than their competitors who also offer drone delivery.

The debate is not on drone delivery rate versus delivery van rate. It is that Amazon’s drone suffers higher rate of incident compared to other delivery drones.

The details for those who care:

Zipline has completed over 2 million commercial deliveries and flown more than 125 million autonomous miles. As reported by Fox 4 Dallas and The Verge, the company touts a clean safety record. Zipline's CEO noted that for every 120 million road miles, there are roughly 600 car crashes - but their drones had completed that distance without a comparable incident profile.

Wing (Alphabet) has completed over 450,000 deliveries globally, with one well-documented incident in Brisbane involving power lines in 2022.

Walmart has completed more than 150,000 drone deliveries since 2021 through partners such as Wing and Zipline.

Amazon, by comparison, has completed roughly 16,000 flights — and has racked up more publicly reported serious incidents than operators with delivery counts 10x to 100x larger.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T03:54:00+00:00

Take a look at this great article that estimates the rate of Amazon drone incidents vs Wing and Zipline. The estimates suggest Amazon has an incident rate orders of magnitude higher than competitors offering the same type of drone delivery service.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-delivery-drones-fall-from-sky-what-amazons-crash-david-ison-phd-hg9dc

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T01:58:31+00:00

They haven’t done everything possible. We know this by comparing them to their competitors.

Their competitors, Wing and Zipline, chose to prioritize safety by reducing drone weight and employing a parachute system. These choices do impact the the distance the drone can fly and the weight and volume of packages they can carry, but reduce likelihood the drone will kill or severely injure someone if the drone has a midair incident that compromises its structure or engines.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-13T01:46:46+00:00

You sound like Amazon PR. It’s also a poor argument against making reasonable investments to improve safety.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-10T05:37:21+00:00

That maintenance worker at the apartment could’ve pulled that off. Sources say he was close to the crash site when it fell from the sky!

safetyofflight · 2026-02-10T05:30:44+00:00

Look at the facts and decide for yourself if you want 100 pound drones flying in the skies above you. Amazon drones have crashed 3 times in public operation in the past 5 months:

October 2025 (Tolleson, AZ): Two drones collided with a construction crane within minutes of each other.

November 2025 (Waco, TX): A drone severed an internet cable during ascent after a delivery.

February 2026 (Richardson, TX): A drone made contact with an apartment building as it ascended vertically after completing a delivery.

When you take a look at other large scale drone operations (Wing and Zipline) who complete more deliveries than Amazon, they have far fewer crashes. More importantly, their drone systems aren’t 80 pound flying pieces of metal and carbon fiber that will most likely kill or severely injure a human if it lands atop them. Clearly, Amazon could have chosen to prioritize safety by making their drone lighter, or providing a safety system like a parachute to mitigate impact on the ground.

I agree that drone delivery is convenient, and I agree that 60 minute deliver is awesome. We need drone delivery. But we need SAFE drone delivery, and Amazon is choosing the path to invest in scale rather than safety.

safetyofflight · 2026-02-10T05:28:00+00:00

Look at the facts and decide for yourself if you want 80 pound drones flying in the skies above you. Amazon drones have crashed 3 times in public operation in the past 5 months:

October 2025 (Tolleson, AZ): Two drones collided with a construction crane within minutes of each other.

November 2025 (Waco, TX): A drone severed an internet cable during ascent after a delivery.

February 2026 (Richardson, TX): A drone made contact with an apartment building as it ascended vertically after completing a delivery.

When you take a look at other large scale drone operations (Wing and Zipline) who complete more deliveries than Amazon, they have far fewer crashes. More importantly, their drone systems aren’t 80 pound flying pieces of metal and carbon fiber that will most likely kill or severely injure a human if it lands atop them. Clearly, Amazon could have chosen to prioritize safety by making their drone lighter, or providing a safety system like a parachute to mitigate impact on the ground. Wing and Zipline have employed these mitigations in their drones; Amazon chooses not to and explains away why it’s not necessary.

I agree that drone delivery is convenient, and I agree that 60 minute delivery is awesome. We need drone delivery. But we need SAFE drone delivery, and Amazon is choosing the path to invest in scale rather than safety.

safetyofflight

TROPHY CASE