UPS Gets FAA Approval To Operate an Entire Drone Delivery Airline (techcrunch.com) 25
UPS said today that it is the first to receive the official nod from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a full "drone airline," that will allow it to expand its current small drone delivery service pilots into a country-wide network. From a report: In its announcement of the news, UPS said that it will start by building out its drone delivery solutions specific to hospital campuses nationwide in the U.S., and then to other industries outside of healthcare. UPS racks up a number of firsts as a result of this milestone, thanks to how closely it has been working with the FAA throughout its development and testing process for drone deliveries. As soon as it was awarded the certification, it did a delivery for WakeMed hospital in Raleigh, N.C. using a Matternet drone, and it also became the first commercial operator to perform a drone delivery for an actual paying customer outside of line of sight thanks to an exemption it received from the government. This certification, officially titled FAA's "Part 135 Standard certification," offers far-reaching and broad license to companies who attain it -- much more freedom than any commercial drone operation has had previously in the U.S.
Legal for me, not for you (Score:1)
read much? (Score:3)
... and it also became the first commercial operator to perform a drone delivery for an actual paying customer outside of line of sight thanks to an exemption it received from the government....
Read summary? (Score:1)
You might want to read the *whole* summary, not just the first letter.
Re: (Score:2)
Part of the subject line says all you need to know.
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If you let them starve and be malnourished, then you have a market of people needing health care deliveries.
Simple economics.
Hospitals make a lot of sense... (Score:2)
Many hospitals have unused helipads due to liability issues. Seems like a pretty easy slam-dunk for them.
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Plus, you know, if there are bystander injuries, help should be readily available.
OK, so they can deliver drones... (Score:2)
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I'm waiting for when they are going to use drones to deliver drones. Stuff just went meta. =P
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Yo dawg, I heard you liked drones, so I droned a drone so that you can drone your drones with drones.
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I just wonder if the drones will steal fewer of my packages than the actual UPS employees do.
There's a reason we don't have flying cars... (Score:2)
I'm guessing these can only fly over poor neighborhoods, because the first one of these that crashes into a rich neighborhood will see it sued out of existence.
Any bets for how long it is before someone has a way to force them down, and steal whatever it's delivering? :)
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Well, there is an upside to it crashing in a poor neighborhood...
Hey, wanna buy a watch... it fell off a drone!
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Ted might have been right. (Score:2)
A Brave New World -- of CRIME. (Score:2)
Drone delivery? (Score:1)
Why would you need to deliver a drone by airline? Aren't there lower cost means to deliver drones? I bet they sometimes are just put in shipping containers and delivered by ship.
Spare parts. (Score:2)
So I can order a $2.00 item and receive a drone tuned for distance and cargo for free? What a deal!