Amazon began Prime Air drone deliveries in Nampa, Idaho, on Friday, October 30, flying MK30 drones from a launch pad beside its fulfillment center on East Franklin Road to homes within 7.5 miles (12 kilometers). Nampa is Amazon’s first drone delivery site in Idaho and, by DroneXL’s count, its 13th US metro, five months after the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the launch pad by a 6-1 vote. Amazon named Boise in August as one of five metros coming next on its way to nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of the year.
The circle in Amazon’s permit application reaches Meridian, Star, Middleton and Kuna and part of Boise. The Federal Aviation Administration’s public drone environmental review index listed no document for Idaho when DroneXL checked it on November 2, and since July 28 the FAA no longer requires one for a hub that fits its national environmental finding.
Amazon Flies Nampa in Daylight Only, 30 Minutes Inside Sunrise and Sunset
Flights run from 30 minutes after sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset, Idaho News 6 reported at launch. Packages weigh 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) or less and fit a large shoebox. Amazon Prime members pay nothing on orders of $50 or more and $2.99 below that. Everyone else pays $4.99.
The window starts an hour later than the one Amazon described in May, when the company said flights would begin 30 minutes before sunrise, Idaho News 6 reported from the community meeting. It is also far narrower than the 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. day the FAA approved for Amazon’s 22 Texas hubs, or the 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. window in its Florida and Omaha decisions, the hours DroneXL summarized on its aircraft comparison page. Amazon says it hopes to land orders within 30 minutes of checkout.
KBOI put the service area at 170 square miles (440 square kilometers) around the Nampa facility. Amazon’s own August announcement says each Prime Air site covers about 175. In May, Amazon said 12 to 15 drones and about 30 jobs. Amazon has not said how many aircraft are flying from Nampa: its newsroom carried no Nampa post on November 2, and neither launch-day report gave a number. Idaho News 6 described the MK30 as an 85-pound aircraft. Amazon’s FAA filings list it at 83.2 pounds (37.8 kilograms) at takeoff carrying 5 pounds of cargo, and no filing or Amazon spec lists a parachute, a design choice Amazon has not explained since DroneXL put written questions to it in September.
Nampa Voted 6-1 in May, and the FAA Index Still Shows No Idaho File
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 on May 26 for a conditional use permit, Idaho News 6 reported. The application put the drone delivery center at 21,000 square feet on 114 parking spaces. The FAA’s index, last updated October 14, carried nothing for Idaho on November 2.
That is the same position Amazon launched from in North Randall, Ohio in September. Since July 28, a hub that fits the FAA’s national environmental finding can be cleared in an internal review with no public site document and no public comment period, as DroneXL laid out in September. Amazon says Prime Air holds a Part 135 air carrier certificate and that every operation is FAA-authorized. Nampa’s conditional use permit is the only government record of the hub DroneXL has found, and the permit’s conditions are not in the reporting DroneXL has seen.
At Amazon’s community meeting in May, residents asked about privacy, liability for a missed drop and internet connectivity. The reception after the first weekend of flights was split. “The trucks show up in plenty of time for me,” Nampa resident Ashley Roberts told Idaho News 6. Stephen White, also of Nampa, said he would try it so his kids could watch a drone show up at the house. Residents under the circle who want to reach Amazon about the flights can call 1-888-280-4331 or use the customer service chat, choosing “Something Else” and then “Amazon Drone Delivery”; DroneXL’s guide for residents walks through both and what a town can still do.
DroneXL’s Take
Nampa is the second Amazon hub since September to go live with no FAA document at all on the public index, after North Randall; Markham went live in October with only a draft. I expect Atlanta and Syracuse to follow the same way, because that is how Washington set it up in July. A local permit hearing like Nampa’s in May is the only public hearing I expect most towns to get, and some will not get that. Nampa used its. The commission voted 6-1, and the drones now fly a shorter day than the one Amazon described in May. I’m for drone delivery when the cargo justifies the flight, and a shoebox from a warehouse does not justify an 83-pound aircraft with no parachute over backyards in Meridian and Kuna. MK30s set down unplanned on a Waco lawn and beside a Baton Rouge road in September, and the Drone Delivery Tracker now lists Nampa as the 13th metro to watch.
Sources: Idaho News 6, KBOI, Hoodline, Amazon, FAA
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
