Amazon: Amazon shows off drone deliveries as they resume in Tolleson area

TOLLESON, AZ (AZFamily) - Amazon is back to using drones to deliver packages in the West Valley. "This is about ultra-fast delivery. It's now integrating prime drone delivery into the Amazon supply chain," said Chris Preston, the director of Amazon Prime Air operations. Known as the MK30, these drones have six propellers and carry items that weigh up to 5 pounds, from batteries to AirPods, toiletries, Chapstick and more. Amazon workers will package, load up, and launch your items all within one hour of placing an order. "You have the ability to go online for an urgent need, stay in your house, click to order and within 60 minutes, that order is delivered in your front yard, in your backyard, in your driveway," Preston said. Right now, the deliveries are only happening within a 7-mile radius of the Tolleson fulfillment center , where the drone center operates out of. But local leaders say that these drones are likely the future of deliveries. "Technology is emerging. It is quite clearly here to stay. I feel like our students are lucky to be on the cutting edge and see technology before their peers are. It's going to give us a competitive advantage," Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said. Customers can choose from up to 50,000 items that can be delivered through Amazon drone within 60 minutes. Before and after every flight, ground crews inspect and give the drones a new battery before each flight. The drones are also monitored by crews during takeoff and flight to make sure that the drones have a safe landing area before dropping off a package. "It's a little different, I'll be honest with you. Watching a foreign object fly over your air space and it's got a buzzing sound. I was like, OK, that's kind of weird. I was looking for bees at first, but then when you see it it's kind of cool," said Tolleson Mayor Juan Rodriguez . By the end of the decade, Amazon plans on delivering more than 500 million packages using drones every year. See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it . Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.