Have you tested the drone delivery app yet?

[Meta4]

Thank you for pointing that out. Normally LOS and VLOS are used interchangeably.

Unfortunately they are here, although they are completely different animals.

 

[Thomas B]

No Ill intended, but thinking about cost effectivenes from the standpoint of not wearing out/risking my drone, the drone would have to be long to the company. That said, USPS, FedEx, and UPS trucks are les expensive to operate and carry a lot more packages of a lot more weight. Even food delivery is quick by car.
... and I don’t want further restrictions on the airspace I can use.

 

[Gringorio]

...that could enable more than 90,000 certified drone pilots...

How did you come up with this number?

 

[deleted member 877]

This article from Forbes is a good read - the last paragraph is telling:-

What Drones are doing in the U.S.

 

[PropSpin]

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

That's nice of you. Your statement shows that you have pretty much zero consideration for others that you would inconvenience just so you could make a buck. If allowed, drone delivery would be an unsightly nuisance. It would also lead to increased congestion that would then hamper hobbyists and others using drones. I would lead a coalition of citizens to ban it from any neighborhood that I lived in. We need drone delivery services like we need a hole in our heads. No thanks.

 

[deleted member 877]

That's nice of you. Your statement shows that you have pretty much zero consideration for others that you would inconvenience just so you could make a buck.

Don't worry, they won't be making a buck - at least not any time in the foreseeable future.

 

[PropSpin]

Currently you have full authorization to perform deliveries within line of sight. Drone deliveries outside line of sight are already possible with waivers, and eventually they will not require them. Drone delivery is inevitable.

§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.

I watched the demo on your website. Anything a consumer sized drone can deliver reliably is pretty much useless. Do you really think someone is going to want to pay an extra five bucks to have a snack sized box of cereal delivered to them on a whim? Do you really think it's even safe to have a bunch of these types and size drones whizzing all over the place traveling any significant distance from the operator and flying indiscriminately over people and property? This is a horrible, horrible idea. I hope it fails miserably as we do not need all the trouble that something like this would bring even if it was financially viable just so a bunch of lazy people can have something flown in on a whim.

 

[PropSpin]

Don't worry, they won't be making a buck - at least not any time in the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I watched the demo. Nice fantasy. LOL.

 

[Kilrah]

Plus Alphabet has the influence (financially) to make changes to US policies on their side.

That confirms you're in a worthless position. You have no way of getting things done to allow your business to run, so you rely on the fact other big guys will do the work for you - but the day they've done it they'll crush you like a bulldozer crushes an ant.

 

[Meta4]

A change in line of sight regulations is right on the horizon ...

You are still saying line of sight when you mean VLOS. They are two different things.

I'd be interested to hear how Zing would deal with the problem of the drone losing line of sight to make deliveries.
It would be common for a delivery or pickup to be made where LOS is blocked by buildings etc.
How is control of the drone maintained for these parts of a flight?

 

[Thomas B]

Time’s up I gues in more ways than one. Should this come to pass I will actively avoid companies which use it. I have written my congressman and FAA.

 

[Meta4]

Along with a change in line of sight regulations will also be a nationwide agreed upon UTM system meant to control drone traffic and prevent collisions. NASA has been working on this for over three years and will be submitting their final results to the FAA this September. We will have to see the system they have tested and propose to use in urban environments.

Huh ??
Again you are using LOS when you mean VLOS - you should get that straight.
VLOS relates to the FAA regulations. LOS relates to the laws of physics.
I meant how is the drone controlled when it descends below the building line and the owner no longer has line of sight to his drone, and thus has no way to control or monitor it?

 

[Kilrah]

We will enable drone pilots to have their own sole proprietorship similar to how Uber Drivers can earn an income. All you will have to do is sign up for our app.

A change in line of sight regulations is right on the horizon

Yes, but there's almost no chance it's going to be something an "uber driver" can afford. It will take significant inestment, training, licensing, certification etc that big companies will be able to go through with no problem but that will be out of reach of individuals. Like a 30 person company operating 5 airplanes can for sure get passenger transport certification, but a single guy with his own plane would have no chance of being economically viable.

You'll be offering peanuts per delivery (becasue that's all people will pay, especially since big companies will be able to do it for cheap by "sponsoring" the activity for PR/marketing reasons and they're not gonna go with you if you cost more) to individual people who each will have to bear massive costs to be able to work for you.

The only reason Uber works (and doesn't in places) is directly linked to whether the "freelancers" can go work with just their normal driving license, if there's anything else that's legally required in a country they're out, it's not economically viable anymore.

Drones will need 4G/5G connection to work best in these environments.

Again you're talking of developments you can't afford, and machines "uber drivers" likely won't be able to afford either with what you're going to pay them.

 

[Meta4]

As long as the drone pilot has radio link with his controller they will be able to monitor the FPV view. If signal is lost the drone will either return home at a pre-set altitude or complete the waypoint mission using its internal GPS. High density urban environments are not ideal with current controllers because of all the buildings. Drones will need 4G/5G connection to work best in these environments.

So the drone owner would have to trust someone to plot a waypoint mission to negotiate the hazards of an urban area and descend blindly into an unknown landing spot without running into any wires, trees, buildings and people?
And then trust the waypoint programming to launch from that location, fly to another unknown landing spot and repeat the process.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
Have you considered GPS difficulties in pickup/delivery locations where the skyview may be restricted?

 

[Bigbird48]

As long as the drone pilot has radio link with his controller they will be able to monitor the FPV view. If signal is lost the drone will either return home at a pre-set altitude or complete the waypoint mission using its internal GPS. High density urban environments are not ideal with current controllers because of all the buildings. Drones will need 4G/5G connection to work best in these environments.

yea what drones that we have have this capability. No mp mav air or anyother consumer drone has 4 or 5 g so good luck with that.

 

[Kilrah]

There are over 80,000 drone pilots in the US who are already certified

For BVLOS? That's what I'm talking about. It's going to be much more complicated and expensive than 107.

Within LOS the whole thing is pointless. It would litereally be "delivery guy drives to within 200m of the destination and takes 15 minutes to set up and use a drone for no reason at all" when it would take 2 minutes to actually deliver the thing "normally" directly at the destination.

the delivery fee ($5-$10)

Hum. The delivery guy still has to drive to pick up the goods and go to some place close enough to the location to use the drone. So everything drone-related comes on top of the normal expenses of a delivery.

 

[naiku]

If signal is lost the drone will either return home at a pre-set altitude or complete the waypoint mission using its internal GPS.

Imagine how pissed the consumer is going to be, when they order a Taco Bell, pay that $5 - $10 delivery fee, then watch as the drone gets about 20' away from them, loses connection and returns home. Will be kind of funny to watch in all honesty.

 

[deleted member 877]

For BVLOS? That's what I'm talking about. It's going to be much more complicated and expensive than 107.

Within LOS the whole thing is pointless. It would litereally be "delivery guy drives to within 200m of the destination and takes 15 minutes to set up and use a drone for no reason at all" when it would take 2 minutes to actually deliver the thing "normally" directly at the destination.


Hum. The delivery guy still has to drive to pick up the goods and go to some place close enough to the location to use the drone. So everything drone-related comes on top of the normal expenses of a delivery.

Where possible the drone will pickup from the vendor but, for all of the reasons repeated over and over again in this thread, widespread Drone delivery involving everyday consumer goods such as fast food, is simply not on the practical radar.

So long as the “investors” who threw money at this thing are happy to wait a long time before realising any sort of ROI, then it’s all good.

 

[PropSpin]

Where possible the drone will pickup from the vendor but, for all of the reasons repeated over and over again in this thread, widespread Drone delivery involving everyday consumer goods such as fast food, is simply not on the practical radar.

So long as the “investors” who threw money at this thing are happy to wait a long time before realising any sort of ROI, then it’s all good.

Yes, it's total fantasy. Pilot flies to vendor, lands/hovers or whatever, and then flies to delivery site. At that point the battery is pretty much gone - keep in mind it's lugging extra weight AND is dealing with extra drag. And we're talking about a near windless day. If pilot has enough battery to get back it has to be immediately swapped out for a fresh one. Basically one battery per flight IF that's even possible. How many batteries will an operator need to have on hand to be able to always have a fresh one ready to go every 15 to 20 minutes? Oh, and the current sensors on prosumer drones are going to be good enough to deal with all of the real world obstacles out there? Fat chance. And what are you going to do about people inevitably knocking them out of the sky? I doubt it'll really be that hard to take them down w/out getting caught. Look at the rage directed at the electric scooters in some cities. A lot of people are sick of them being left everywhere. I doubt many people will like stupid drones buzzing all over the place to make stupid deliveries.

 

[Thomas B]

Yes, it's total fantasy. Pilot flies to vendor, lands/hovers or whatever, and then flies to delivery site. At that point the battery is pretty much gone - keep in mind it's lugging extra weight AND is dealing with extra drag. And we're talking about a near windless day. If pilot has enough battery to get back it has to be immediately swapped out for a fresh one. Basically one battery per flight IF that's even possible. How many batteries will an operator need to have on hand to be able to always have a fresh one ready to go every 15 to 20 minutes? Oh, and the current sensors on prosumer drones are going to be good enough to deal with all of the real world obstacles out there? Fat chance. And what are you going to do about people inevitably knocking them out of the sky? I doubt it'll really be that hard to take them down w/out getting caught. Look at the rage directed at the electric scooters in some cities. A lot of people are sick of them being left everywhere. I doubt many people will like stupid drones buzzing all over the place to make stupid deliveries.

All moot now. UPS is in an experimental program approved already by the government... they are using large drones that belong to them.

Don’t invest... Lobby your congressmen to preserve recreational flying!