Who says drone deliveries not viable?

[Deleted member 114292]

I found this humorous.

Drone Solutions | Zing Drone Solutions

Zing provides turnkey drone delivery solutions that reduce operational risk and complexity.

zingdrones.com

 

[FlyoverDRN]

Interesting, but ..... what if ....
- it starts raining?
- Wind gust? and loose the package.
- Neighborhood kids .... "look a drone delivery, lets get it"
- Birds attack? and crash .... on someone's head.
- RTH on head wind? and crash from low battery .... on someone's head.
I am just playing Devil's advocate here, but I sincerely think it's not ready yet. Too much liability, limited range, weather dependent, animals and people dependent, weight/range dependent, and things we never thought of will happen. We are still a long way off.
As you stated "it was humorous"

 

[Gringorio]

There are several threads about this concept. Here's one of them: Zing Drone Delivery app

Their youtube videos aren't very convincing either...

 

[Deleted member 114292]

There are several threads about this concept. Here's one of them: Zing Drone Delivery app

Their youtube videos aren't very convincing either...

The youtube videos are well, one of the most humorous parts.
You would think they would at least get a video production student to help. them.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Interesting, but ..... what if ....
- it starts raining?
- Wind gust? and loose the package.
- Neighborhood kids .... "look a drone delivery, lets get it"
- Birds attack? and crash .... on someone's head.
- RTH on head wind? and crash from low battery .... on someone's head.
I am just playing Devil's advocate here, but I sincerely think it's not ready yet. Too much liability, limited range, weather dependent, animals and people dependent, weight/range dependent, and things we never thought of will happen. We are still a long way off.
As you stated "it was humorous"

The real kicker is you are supposed to have the landing pad there. How did it get there?
While you are delivering the landing pad why not just drop the stuff off?
And who picks up the landing pad?

 

[DanMan32]

The real kicker is you are supposed to have the landing pad there. How did it get there?
While you are delivering the landing pad why not just drop the stuff off?
And who picks up the landing pad?

If a special pad is needed, could be used for frequent deliveries to a specific location.

 

[old man mavic]

i am afraid the whole Zing concept is fantasy island stuff ,and i feel sorry for anyone who parted with any money for their kit
if you lived in a remote area and all the land around was yours for several miles then it would be fun to deliver something not to heavy to a family member or employee out on the land if you knew where they were and the battery would last long enough to get there and back,really the drones we fly for recreational purposes ,are really not up to the job ,i firmly believe that as a concept drone delivery will never happen in heavily populated areas ,it has some uses in sparsely populated places for medical supplies deliveries ,where a fixed destination is flown and then after a recharge the drone can be returned back to the distribution center ,something like a flying pharmacy delivery service in remote places this is just my take on the subject
there are many many issues to overcome for it to become a commonplace thing

 

[maelstrom]

To address the title of this thread, I think that there's a difference between what's possible and what's viable. Looking at their news page at Zing Launches Contactless Drone Delivery Platform in 21 Cities Across The United States, it states:

"Users select which items they want, ranging from OTC medication to food, and check out. A drone pilot is dispatched to the restaurant or pharmacy to pick up the food, then stations themselves at a location near the customer where they can effectively complete a Visual Line-of-Sight delivery. The drone pilot earns $15 for each delivery that they complete."

If the drone pilot is going to station themselves at a location near the customer, why not just drop off the delivery without using the drone? One drone=one delivery. One van=many deliveries (not affected by weather, birds, interference, angry neighbours etc). What the drone pilot earns is obviously at least a part of the delivery cost. The Apple app store page for the Zing app shows a small box of tylenol costing $19.99 - really?

 

[vindibona1]

I seriously doubt that drone deliveries are coming soon to this neighborhood (pictured below).

 

[Otisangb]

i am afraid the whole Zing concept is fantasy island stuff

de plane! de plane! boss, Tattoo, that ain't no plane.

Don't see it happening like old man magic said. I do see it being used for EMS though. We have an island near us that has a winter population of like 10-15 people. I can see a drone delivering emergency prescriptions if the ferry broke down. Many more small islands like that up in Maine. Cheaper than flying a helo and less dangerous in in climate weather. The drone just needs it to make it there.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Having said that all our "expert opinions" are most likely wrong.
It wasn't that long ago expert opinion held that man would never fly.
Even after the Wright brothers flight it was generally held that it was just basically a stunt and commercial flights would never happen.
And of course we can't make it to the moon, for a 1000 technical reasons.

Who knows? Maybe these starry eyed kids will someday be considered pioneers of drone delivery.
More unlikely things have happened.

 

[Redvers]

Interesting, but ..... what if ....
- it starts raining?
- Wind gust? and loose the package.
- Neighborhood kids .... "look a drone delivery, lets get it"
- Birds attack? and crash .... on someone's head.
- RTH on head wind? and crash from low battery .... on someone's head.
I am just playing Devil's advocate here, but I sincerely think it's not ready yet. Too much liability, limited range, weather dependent, animals and people dependent, weight/range dependent, and things we never thought of will happen. We are still a long way off.
As you stated "it was humorous"

Absolutely- i reckon there will be a surge in air rifle and catapult sales with a new type of 'hunting' being born!

 

[FlyoverDRN]

Having said that all our "expert opinions" are most likely wrong.
It wasn't that long ago expert opinion held that man would never fly.
Even after the Wright brothers flight it was generally held that it was just basically a stunt and commercial flights would never happen.
And of course we can't make it to the moon, for a 1000 technical reasons.

Who knows? Maybe these starry eyed kids will someday be considered pioneers of drone delivery.
More unlikely things have happened.

With a small exception, the people that said we can't and will never fly had no experience in the flying concept, WE have flown drones and RC planes for a very long time, and have a very good understanding of its capabilities, but it will certainly be very exciting to be proven wrong.

 

[Thomas B]

Let me scrape my boots off..,

 

[ZingDroneDelivery]

I found this humorous.

Drone Solutions | Zing Drone Solutions

Zing provides turnkey drone delivery solutions that reduce operational risk and complexity.

zingdrones.com

Hi there!

Zing Drone Delivery has recently been on an exciting growth trajectory! Some of our recent most notable successes include joining the FAA's BEYOND program, securing strategic partnerships (Airspace Link, Te Whaanga Resort, just to name a few), and developing our winch device for the DJI Inspire model.

We have a lot of exciting developments coming this year as well! You can follow along our campaign here for updates. You'll also find some of our most recent delivery demonstration videos which have been featured by several media outlets!

Have a great day!