NORTH CAROLINA USING DRONES TO DELIVER MEDICAL SUPPLIES

[E90RAW]

Zipline’s drones are delivering medical supplies and PPE in North Carolina

 

[Formosa Straight]

And now you know why so many restrictions are being imposed on recreational operators and flights. It has nothing to do (at least very little to do) with the sharing of airspace with manned aviation and everything to do with the commercialization of the airspace below 500' where recreational flights are supposed to take place. Money wins in the end on every occasion.

 

[maelstrom]

It has nothing to do (at least very little to do) with the sharing of airspace with manned aviation

I don’t agree. I flew helicopters for a living until I retired and I’ve ticked the “near miss with a drone” box. Even something as small as a Mavic Mini can do significant damage to a rotor blade. Drones are incredibly difficult to spot from an aircraft so the onus is on the drone flyer to deconflict. It always makes me frustrated when people seem happy to fly them beyond VLOS for this very reason.

Back on topic, I can understand using drones in remote, inaccessible areas but it doesn’t make sense to me to use them if there’s a perfectly good road network in place. One delivery van can probably carry the equivalent of 100 or more drones and there’s much less chance of something being lost in the process. The only situation I could see that may justify a drone is perhaps if something was time-critical and going in a straight line may be quicker. Having said that, I’m not sure I would want to trust something vital to a drone. Without knowing all the details, it does look like this is being done more because they can than because there‘s a real need to.

 

[JAW]

According to the cited article, the deliveries are not made via drones as we know them to be, rather with fixed wing RC models. What I find interesting is the FAA has approved BVLOS deliveries....

 

[maelstrom]

According to the cited article, the deliveries are not made via drones as we know them to be, rather with fixed wing RC models. What I find interesting is the FAA has approved BVLOS deliveries....

I'd love to know how they intend to deconflict them from full sized aircraft.

 

[JAW]

This is their delivery "drone"