It Came Out Of The Sky ... Amazon Drone Deliveries

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Dale Andee
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/12/amazon-begins-drone-deliveries-in-california-and-texas/

"Amazon has begun delivering orders by drone. Amazon Prime Air is now operating in Lockeford, Calif. and College Station, Texas ... "

Latest update:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...0-miles-in-30-minutes/?itm_source=parsely-api

From the article ...

And how will Amazon deal with drone haters with shotguns? Misener isn't worried. "I suppose they could shoot at trucks, too," he said. "
 
In the article; "The drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer's backyard, and hover at a safe height," Amazon said. "It will then safely release the package and rise back up to altitude."

How soon before the first lawsuit about Amazon dropping a package on an unsuspecting customer? :dunno:

How long before I can get a pizza delivered by a drone that's still hot and fresh and only slightly mangled after an 8' drop into the yard ...
 
I’ll believe this when I see it for myself. Even then I won’t believe it’s anything but a publicity stunt.
 
Can’t envision it working in busy city areas.
 
I foresee one tiny problem.....


high-voltage-electricity-power-lines-from-sizewell-over-suburban-houses-J014AF.jpg
 
I'm wondering how well these drones would handle a 1500 watt linear driving a signal through an 11 element Yagi pointed at them ...
 
I foresee numerous 5lb packages being dropped onto family pets, children, automobiles, piles of pet poop, ant hills, and into swimming pools. Can’t wait for the YouTube videos.
 
What I wonder about is if the prop blades are shielded. Pet and child flying Cuisinart if not.
 
I'm wondering how well these drones would handle a 1500 watt linear driving a signal through an 11 element Yagi pointed at them ...

To the extent its GPS is still receiving, pretty well. They have a preprogrammed home mode in the case of lost comms.

Now if you are able to jam its GPS, it would be like hitting a fly with a direct shot of Raid.
 
There's a European operation that runs a drone pick-up and deliver service for medical lab samples from several locations relatively close to each other. Last I looked into it (a few years back) it was up and running OK. But they use fixed routes that are regularly surveyed for changes. Some impetus to use it in "outback" areas for the same purpose, plus other critical deliveries.
 
I wonder when airplanes first started to become available how many farmers had the attitude of “if one of them flying machines comes over my land it’ll get some bird shot!” I’m willing to bet it wasn’t an uncommon attitude…
 
I wonder when airplanes first started to become available how many farmers had the attitude of “if one of them flying machines comes over my land it’ll get some bird shot!” I’m willing to bet it wasn’t an uncommon attitude…
And that was without Amazon’s reputation for invading people‘s lives.
 
Wing, formerly a Google X bet, has been doing drone deliveries in various parts of the world for some time now. Zipline as well, IIRC. While it may not be the answer to everyone's supply chain issues it definitely has its uses.

Nauga,
who wonders if people fear technology or just change
 
So ... stupid questions:

How low are drones allowed to fly over a residence? Does a property owner have any control over the airspace above his property or home? I have read various places stating that property owners have 365' of airspace above their property that they control but I haven't found any legal precedence for that statement.

How's this for an answer?

https://aviation.uslegal.com/ownership-of-airspace-over-property/
 
What I wonder about is if the prop blades are shielded. Pet and child flying Cuisinart if not.

It drops the load from like 14 feet. Size limited and only drops in specific areas. Seems like a gimmick to me.

And I’m definitely keeping it if I bag one.
 
Yeah, same as you'd keep someone's airplane.

Yep, you crash a drone, airplane, frisbee, or golf ball in my back yard its mine. Unless you care to scale my pointy fence posts and brave my dogs for it. Kites too. I will cut your kite string.

8AC87B23-2EDA-410A-A0A6-51A89A597740.gif


Mark,
Who is mostly joking
 
But did they get it?

I found this public comment to be particularly good, not that it will impact the FAA decision making process any.

As a private pilot, but also a Part 107 Remote Pilot, I'm concerned about this proposed exemption. My primary issue is that a specific entity is seeking an exception to regulations to which everyone else must adhere. Rather than exempting a specific, commercial entity, why not create rules that would support these activities in a safe way for all commercial drone operations rather than by implementing carve-outs for a specific company? It would seem unfair that Amazon would get a competitive advantage by using regulatory relief that is unavailable to the public under the CFRs. Allowing an exemption for Amazon is anti-competitive and, frankly has some constitutional questions as one entity would be exempt while others would not. Laws and regulations should apply equally and specific companies should not get exemptions unless it's within a time-limited, specific, experimental scope.

I don't subscribe to all of the anti-drone hysteria -- the basis of my objection is about a single company being able to bend the CFRs to suit their business purpose while other, less lawyer-filled companies are unable to compete because they don't have the clout to get exemptions for their specific business need. This isn't about drones, it's about one entity being able to request exemptions unavailable to other operators.

Either change the CFRs to accommodate commercial drone delivery operations or keep things as they are -- but a company specific exemption goes against the idea of equal protection. Essentially, an exemption would be a state-sponsored monopoly -- shutting down competition from those unable to achieve a similar favoritism from the FAA.

To be clear, I support the furtherance of commercial drone innovation, I do not support company-specific exemptions. Improve the CFRs, don't abandon them at the whims of a specific operator.
 
Last winter, a large tree had fallen across my driveway. While I was working to move some of the debris, I heard a whining sound..a pretty large drone was hovering about 20 feet above me. I looked up, gave it the "you are number one sign " and it flew away. It was about 2 feet in diameter. I live less than 2 miles from an airport.
 
Last winter, a large tree had fallen across my driveway. While I was working to move some of the debris, I heard a whining sound..a pretty large drone was hovering about 20 feet above me. I looked up, gave it the "you are number one sign " and it flew away. It was about 2 feet in diameter. I live less than 2 miles from an airport.
What’s your point?
 
safety officers (SO) deploy at the takeoff and delivery sites to observe the UA and scan for hazards on the ground
like I said, a publicity stunt. Someone has to drive within visual range of the delivery site. Hmmm, why not just give them the package?
 
like I said, a publicity stunt. Someone has to drive within visual range of the delivery site. Hmmm, why not just give them the package?
Apparently, you'd prefer that they don't see observe how their autonomous UAV handles both known and unexpected problems at the delivery site and "wave it off" if needed.
 
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