North Carolina Town Eyes Drones as Future of Package Delivery

[AviationBroker]

North Carolina Town Eyes Drones as Future of Package Delivery

Thanks,

Joe Ernster
[email protected]
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[R Martin]

I think the article is a little optimistic in scope but it will be great when a UAS has that autonomy to perform a role like a delivery vehicle. Of course, you'll need to get past the flight over people issue, BVLOS issue and a host of technical issues like range, battery capability, remote piloting and realistically being able to operate multiple aircraft at the same time in order for the business model to be economically feasible.

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

I think the article is a little optimistic in scope but it will be great when a UAS has that autonomy to perform a role like a delivery vehicle. Of course, you'll need to get past the flight over people issue, BVLOS issue and a host of technical issues like range, battery capability, remote piloting and realistically being able to operate multiple aircraft at the same time in order for the business model to be economically feasible.

You are so right. Remember Amazon's premature ads on drone delivery? I tried to explain to people I knew who believed it was going to be easy and soon, all the hurdles you mentioned but they simply didn't understand the challenges. Without a workable UTM network in place this is all pie in the sky today. It will happen, but unlikely in my lifetime

 

[R Martin]

You are so right. Remember Amazon's premature ads on drone delivery? I tried to explain to people I knew who believed it was going to be easy and soon, all the hurdles you mentioned but they simply didn't understand the challenges. Without a workable UTM network in place this is all pie in the sky today. It will happen, but unlikely in my lifetime

A lot of the regulation issues can be overcome but the real question is, how is this going to affect the bottom line? Are delivery drivers going to be made obsolete? Surely if you rely on drone delivery there is going to be an increase in cost to pay the pilots. I doubt they are going to work for $8-10 dollars an hour. And there is still the safety issue; how are you going to safely, remotely, operate over the public? I know there is a push to get services like this off the ground but there are a ton of hurdles to cross before we get there.

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

After watching all 9 episode of the FAA's webinars it is quite obvious to me the shackles won't be removed until the FAA gets a new administration. Their narrow interpretation of rules and insistence on expensive silly testing no small operator can afford is suffocating the business.

 

[R Martin]

And we haven't even addressed the ADS-B issue yet for UAS operations. I looked into a Ping setup for the new aircraft and it looks like it is going to run around $3500 and an additional laptop to run the real time display on my end. Not a huge deal but the prosumer market is going to take a hit if the prices suddenly double or triple in order to be compliant with the regs. Only time will tell...

 

[Outta Control]

Would it be something like this?

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[R Martin]

Would it be something like this?

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Somewhat, but with someone like Amazon or Dominos Pizza or other business the flight paths would not be as defined as a point to point service doing the medical delivery.