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Have you tested the drone delivery app yet?

No support here. I hope it fails, preferably before it gets any further. Nothing personal, but I don't really care to have that crap flying ANYWHERE near me. That's all we need - swarms of buzzing, unsightly nuisance drones feeding our lazy, materialistic habits.

You can hope it fails all you want but we are not stopping any time soon.
 
No support here. I hope it fails, preferably before it gets any further. Nothing personal, but I don't really care to have that crap flying ANYWHERE near me. That's all we need - swarms of buzzing, unsightly nuisance drones feeding our lazy, materialistic habits.

I tend to agree. The authorities such as the FAA are paying lip service to Uber Eats and others simply because they have to so as not to appear draconian - but that does not mean they will end up giving them the green light. They may, however, throw them a bone and allow Drone delivery in a highly restricted capacity at least until all of the blockers are sorted out. It will be like a Pilot program that goes on for years.

For starters, drone motors are currently way too loud and annoying - many people would relentlessly hammer their local politicians demanding that Drone delivery be banned from their suburbs. IMHO that is probably the most significant blocker that will not be easily overcome by suggesting that conventional Delivery mechanisms are "slow and wasteful and that Drone deliveries are quick, convenient, and eco-friendly."

Then there is the whole thing about how A.I. will take care of any issues related to Drone air-traffic control and coordination. Well, good luck with that. Tesla and Google have been testing Driverless Car technology for years and the consensus of opinion is that it's still years away from becoming anything like mainstream.
 
I tend to agree. The authorities such as the FAA are paying lip service to Uber Eats and others simply because they have to so as not to appear draconian - but that does not mean they will end up giving them the green light. They may, however, throw them a bone and allow Drone delivery in a highly restricted capacity at least until all of the blockers are sorted out. It will be like a Pilot program that goes on for years.

For starters, drone motors are currently way too loud and annoying - many people would relentlessly hammer their local politicians demanding that Drone delivery be banned from their suburbs. IMHO that is probably the most significant blocker that will not be easily overcome by suggesting that conventional Delivery mechanisms are "slow and wasteful and that Drone deliveries are quick, convenient, and eco-friendly."

Then there is the whole thing about how A.I. will take care of any issues related to Drone air-traffic control and coordination. Well, good luck with that. Tesla and Google have been testing Driverless Car technology for years and the consensus of opinion is that it's still years away from becoming anything like mainstream.


What you are describing is NASA's UTM program, which is a four year program to build an Unmanned Traffic Management system. There were four phases of testing, with the final one being completed in a couple months time. In this final phase they are testing drone operations in high density urban environments. They will be submitting their results to the FAA in September of this year.

There are two systems integrating drones into national airspace right now, these are the UPP and the IPP. Source
 
What you are describing is NASA's UTM program, which is a four year program to build an Unmanned Traffic Management system. There were four phases of testing, with the final one being completed in a couple months time. In this final phase they are testing drone operations in high density urban environments. They will be submitting their results to the FAA in September of this year.

There are two systems integrating drones into national airspace right now, these are the UPP and the IPP. Source
What you are describing is NASA's UTM program, which is a four year program to build an Unmanned Traffic Management system. There were four phases of testing, with the final one being completed in a couple months time. In this final phase they are testing drone operations in high density urban environments. They will be submitting their results to the FAA in September of this year.

There are two systems integrating drones into national airspace right now, these are the UPP and the IPP. Source

Yeah sure it's all going ahead but, as I suggested, it will more than likely be restricted to things like, for example, transporting Donor Organs to hospitals where the drone can land safely on the roof (well away from residential houses and people on the street) like helicopters already do.

Pizza delivery on the other hand ...? It ain't gonna happen in the short to medium term but that's just me looking into my crystal ball. Talk to me in 3 years time - let's see how far Drone delivery has progressed in the U.S.A. and, for that matter, Australia where similar initiatives are in progress.
 
No support here. I hope it fails, preferably before it gets any further. Nothing personal, but I don't really care to have that crap flying ANYWHERE near me. That's all we need - swarms of buzzing, unsightly nuisance drones feeding our lazy, materialistic habits.

We would also recommend that you buy some earplugs soon because drone delivery is coming
 
We would also recommend that you buy some earplugs soon because drone delivery is coming

For someone who has ZERO commercial deliveries and hopes to ride the coattails of Amazon or Google you certainly have a lot of nerve coming on a drone forum and not doing much to make friends. Oh, I know, you are too important and have too many ideas that we just don't understand to care about making friends.

Your ideas of utilizing Mavic or Phantom drones for any kind of wide scale (or any) commercial delivery just don't ring true - and many on this forum with much more knowledge than I have offered you some very good constructive ideas.

Your advertising - of which it is plentiful - is misleading at best and slightly deceptive. If a product naive person were to watch some of your advertising they might think you currently have a drone delivery business which is - and likely - simply not true. Going out on a limb here but I am slightly critical of this forum to accept your advertising dollars knowing this scheme is so unlikely and seems little more than to sell your "food cages" and separate some believers from their cash.

I hesitated to respond but your most recent snarky comment was just too much.

Take care and fly safe.
 
You have to wonder why a start-up would be wanting to raise a target of only $1,000 on Kickstarter. Cheap advertising?

In any case, the following article recently published by the BBC is worth reading:-

Why your pizza may never be delivered by drone

It essentially backs up most of what I and some others have already posted on this thread.
 
I see that I'm late to the Zing idea. My hope for this is as a simple utility. Mu son will soon live in a home approximately 1500' from mine. There are no other residents or homes between us, just trees. It is our property, our goal that we've joked about for years is to be able to share a slice or two of pie, or maybe just pass a borrowed tool back and forth.
 
I see that I'm late to the Zing idea. My hope for this is as a simple utility. Mu son will soon live in a home approximately 1500' from mine. There are no other residents or homes between us, just trees. It is our property, our goal that we've joked about for years is to be able to share a slice or two of pie, or maybe just pass a borrowed tool back and forth.

There should be nothing stopping you from realising your dream right now. Even if your land falls within a no-fly zone you would most likely be able to get an exemption to fly a drone within the boundaries of your property. You would need to maintain an unobstructed path between the drone and the remote control, so this might be challenging depending on the placement of the trees between your two houses.

Apart from the above, all you need is a drone capable of lifting and transporting the weight of your proposed packages and a compatible Payload Release mechanism of which there are many available depending on the drone make/model. You don't need to involve a third party to make this happen. All the best.
 
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You have to wonder why a start-up would be wanting to raise a target of only $1,000 on Kickstarter. Cheap advertising?

In any case, the following article recently published by the BBC is worth reading:-

Why your pizza may never be delivered by drone

It essentially backs up most of what I and some others have already posted on this thread.

I agree and wonder if they are hoping to get just far enough along to get bought out for a relatively large sum buy one of the big players?
 
I could see something like medicine where a drone is dispatched and somebody on the ground where it's going to land visually takes control to land it. However beyond VLOS to land??? It is almost impossible in so many places I just don't see it working very well. Humm it's 100 degrees outside and my milkshake has melted...hey my coffee is cold, oh it's 25 degrees out. Now if you're talking about a large enough quad to hold an insulated container that lands at a specific approved site (helipad) maybe but for now this (Mavic) thread screams scam...JMO. It's why I asked which drones or type drones are going to be accepted. If it's to grab total authority over other people set on a similar concept (like a patent) well that might be another story.
 
I agree and wonder if they are hoping to get just far enough along to get bought out for a relatively large sum buy one of the big players?

Quite possible but I’m thinking about what would make a start-up attractive in terms of being a takeover target. They would need to have successfully navigated the Approval process and probably also have secured exclusive access to territories – not to mention having built up a loyal customer base.

Otherwise, the big fish would simply set up in opposition – no need to spend money buying out a much smaller entity. They would simply do what big fish usually do to kill off their smaller competitors.

And again most of this is still essentially theoretical except for a recent development involving the legislative approval for a Drone Delivery company called Flirtey to set up operation in the City of Reno. There may be others – I’m not sure.

A couple of excerpts taken from an article posted on the City of Reno website follow:-

“Flirtey received BVLOS approval with its next-generation drone, which was specially designed to carry heavier payloads for longer distances, allowing Flirtey to deliver Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and commercial packages.”

“As one of just 10 selected governments for the highly-competitive program, the City of Reno chose Flirtey as its partner to deliver AEDs for the immediate treatment of a person experiencing cardiac arrest, and to pioneer a scalable model for commercial drone delivery.”

Latest News | City of Reno

I have spent time researching this topic but have yet to see anything offering credible evidence that mainstream retail applications such as Fast Food Drone Delivery in suburban locations are going to become commercial reality in the short to medium term.
 
Our app is compatible with all DJI drones, including the Inspire 2 (27 min flight time & 8.8 lbs payload capacity) and Matrice 600 (40 min flight time & 33.2 lbs payload capacity)

I think we can all agree that the only thing inhibiting small drone deliveries right now are regulations.

The regulatory landscape is going to be very different by the end of 2019:

§107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.
NASA UTM Program - Complete this September
NASA UPP Program - 10 Testing Sites for Commercial Drone Operations
FAA IPP Program - 13 Testing Sites for Commercial Drone Operations
3/12/19 - FAA Grant's Flirtey BVLOS Waiver

§107.39 Operation over human beings and § 107.29 Daylight operation.
1/17/19 - New FAA Rules Would Let Drone Pilots Fly at Night and Over People Without a Waiver

§107.41 Operation in certain airspace.
LAANC - 90 second approval within all classes of airspace instead of 90 days.
 
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Yeah, and all of the above is really only about the first baby steps in what will ultimately become a very long and complicated regulatory process. They'll start very soon with the Life Saving Medical deliveries and then, after that, commercial deliveries where the take-off and landing locations are CBD multi-story rooftops well away from the suburbs.

To suggest that the abovementioned Use Cases, if successful, will immediately open up a treasure chest chock full of unlimited Drone Delivery applications such as the now clichéd Pizza delivery thing, well that is really just nothing more than wishful thinking IMHO.
 
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We would also recommend that you buy some earplugs soon because drone delivery is coming

Another reason I will fight against this in my community.
 
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I think we can all agree that the only thing inhibiting small drone deliveries right now are regulations.
That and a few major issues affecting implementation in a real world environment.
I listed some in post #68 but can't see how they would be addressed.

And for the regulatory environment, it's most unlikely that the FAA would give a blanket approval for any users to ignore current regulations.
They are going to offer waivers for specific users that have been able to show they can operate with a risk level that satisfies the FAA.
Just like the very rare and hard to get waivers to fly over people are now.
 
I can understand that there are many concerns with this and I agree it is a ways off yet, but to make the statement “I hope they fail” is pretty churlish and petty in my opinion. If no one works in this area, then we will never progress. There are certainly plenty in the community that hate drones, and I’m not happy with the opinions that they may have about any of us being permitted to fly, period.
I wish these guys all the best, that they are able to progress the technology, and all of us drone flyers may benefit in some way.

Because the road is long and bumpy, is not a reason for it to not be travelled
 
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