FAA Stops Drone Beer Delivery Service

Even NPR was talking about this stuff this morning! o_O

Fantail-Goldfish-2.jpg
 
Out of curiosity, I wonder about the feasability of building a beer *cannon*. You've already got a roughly bullet-shaped container of considerable mass. Just add a couple of fins and I'll bet you could get a decent projectile that would fly a considerable distance. How much of an area could you cover with a stabilized beer can projectile delivery system? :D
 
Wait, why? Seriously though, this kinda pisses me off. This should be at altitudes where its a non-issue regarding interference with other aircraft. :mad:
 
Looks like their store was right on the lake, that drone only flew about 30-50 feet in the air and probably less than a 1/4 mile. Genious idea, shame they got shut down.
 
unless the dude was running this right next to an airport -- what's the issue?

are we really getting to the point where we can't fly things in reasonable spaces? The FAA should have not have it's nose into anything this small.

What's next? I can't have any sort of item, toy, model plane, above the roof line of my house?
 
I was always surprised that the drone could carry package that heavy. One could say, something seems fishy about that.
 
The Feds just haven't figured out how to Tax it/get thier slice of the pie. Once that's done, all will be hunky dory.

Just like elec. cigarettes. No Tax = constant government crying about "they are untested for safety"
 
The box was probably empty in the video, but I guess they were planning on doing it....probably with a different drone, that one didn't seem "hefty" enough to do the lifting.

Fact is....The FAA is going to have to do something about civilian and commercial drones. Last time I checked, planes don't normally fly 200 feet off the ground except around airports when taking off or landing. There's no reason that they cannot allocate that airspace to drones. I would expect the operators to have some hefty insurance though just in case of an accident. (Boy killed by falling box of beer type stuff).

Then again, you have to wonder how long it will be until someone shoots one down.
 
Term-X said:
I was always surprised that the drone could carry package that heavy. One could say, something seems fishy about that.
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I could see one of those model air planes carrying a 22oz or a 6 pack maybe, but not a 30 case LOL. I could see liquor kind of being a problem if it were to crash and some how catch fire, but beer would just put it out.
 
Beer delivery by drone? Just walk your fat ass to the nearest store.

This "everything delivered to your door" mentality is not good for you guys.
 
There are a couple issues here:
1) The FAA doesn't allow commercial use of drones at this point. Of any sort. Period. Doesn't matter if they're short range, or low altitude.
2) If you're not commercial, you're ok up to 400 feet. Above that, you *could* get into trouble, although it's gonna be awful hard for them to enforce that.

There was a story a year or two ago about a realty company that took aerial pictures of properties using drones. Great idea, good way to give a unique view of the house, etc. But they got shut down. Not because they were causing any problems, but because it was a commercial use.
 
Scythe said:
Fact is....The FAA is going to have to do something about civilian and commercial drones. Last time I checked, planes don't normally fly 200 feet off the ground except around airports when taking off or landing. There's no reason that they cannot allocate that airspace to drones. I would expect the operators to have some hefty insurance though just in case of an accident. (Boy killed by falling box of beer type stuff).
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I imagine they'll have to limit airspace not only around airports and airfields, but also around hospitals (helicopters), fire and police stations, considerations for utility right of ways, etc. I wonder what will be the first thing stolen when someone shoots one down. ;)

From a privacy issue, I'm really on this fence on drone deliveries because it's a given that local, state and federal agencies will piggy back on this. You have to suspect that the feds will set up shell delivery companies to use delivery drones for intelligence gathering. For liability reasons, and quite possibly to provide a black box equivalent, there will have to be cameras and other telemetry collection devices on the drones. So, it's just a tiny step from delivery vehicles to aerial reconnaissance drones collecting data; whether it's through subpoena or "other" means.
 
Mohonri said:
There are a couple issues here:
1) The FAA doesn't allow commercial use of drones at this point. Of any sort. Period. Doesn't matter if they're short range, or low altitude.
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We need to set rules and regulations in place of an outright ban ASAP. We have known drones were coming for years, and there's no excuse to stagnate this long on a new aviation technology that can create new economic opportunities both here and abroad for American companies.
 
mashie said:
I'm not sure why anyone would like to receive an empty cardboard box. :confused: That drone would not lift it if it actually contained beer bottles.
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It's not a question of where he grips it, it's a simple question of weight ratio. A five-ounce drone could not carry a one-pound beer bottle.
 
mashie said:
I'm not sure why anyone would like to receive an empty cardboard box. :confused: That drone would not lift it if it actually contained beer bottles.
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Can you really tell from the components though? There are certainly quad-copters around that size that could EASILY carry six beer bottles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F0Q0v7H_9Q

Here's one carrying a full bigass fifty pound watercooler jug PLUS four waterbottles ducked taped to it. People tend to underestimate how powerful the brushless motors and how much current that modern lithium batteries can provide. The only issue in that video is that they are using a tether lift, so the huge mass of the object compared to the copter swinging back and forth below makes control difficult. A mere 6-beer bottles held securely in a carriage so it doesn't swing around would be no problem.
 
Ducman69 said:
We need to set rules and regulations in place of an outright ban ASAP. We have known drones were coming for years, and there's no excuse to stagnate this long on a new aviation technology that can create new economic opportunities both here and abroad for American companies.
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RC aircraft and drones are known as Unmanned Aircraft System's (UA or UAS) and have been around since before the FAA was founded. It hasn't been an issue until now since wide spread access to UA's that could be used commercially didn't readily exist until the last decade.

FAA is working on getting commercial UA's into the National Aircraft System (NAS). They are currently running tests in different regions of the US to see UA's impact on the NAS. The 14 CFR's, Federal Aviation Regs, for UA's are suppose to be completed and added into the regs in 2015. They will include rules on certification of the UA, owners, operators/pilots, and required training/maintenance.

So theoretically in a year or two operators should be able to get commercial UA's into the air. It all depends on the FAA actually getting the new 14 CFR's adopted and operators jumping through the new hoops.



The current grey area's in the FAR's have allowed UA's to be used unofficially for commercial purposes. Aerial video/photo/mapping companies have been successful using UA's to collect images and video, however, they don't charge you for the use of the aircraft but rather editing or some other non-aviation related activity. There cannot be a paper trail that shows money going back to the UA.

The only way the FAA can ding you is if they find you are demanding compensation for the use the aircraft or if you operate the UA in a careless or reckless manner. Careless and reckless is the FAA's catch all.
 
The box was probably empty in the video, ...
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Really! OMG! Fake?!?! Say it isn't so! :rolleyes:


:D
Seriously though, it's amazing how the GP is totally clueless when it comes to physics 101 and actually thinks this sort of thing is possible/practical.

While these drones are neat and all, the one shown in the vid has a max lift capacity of a couple bottles of beer for any real distance (useable lift/cargo capacity of 2-3 lbs max)... and then staying airborne with that kind of payload is going to be limited to a few minutes before fully depleting battery reserves... a serious problem when it comes to any kind of practical delivery range... much less making the return trip back.

While the idea is cool, delivering anything of substantial weight (5+ lbs) by drone is going to take a much larger drone, and then the cost of the drone itself starts making a teenager with a car sound like a much more sane/cheaper deliver mechanism.
 
dgz said:
Beer delivery by drone? Just walk your fat ass to the nearest store.

This "everything delivered to your door" mentality is not good for you guys.
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Who are you to tell me what is good and isn't good for me, if I want beer, food and anything else delivered to my door so I can gain 200 lbs then so be it, my right to do so :p.
 
Mohonri said:
Out of curiosity, I wonder about the feasability of building a beer *cannon*. You've already got a roughly bullet-shaped container of considerable mass. Just add a couple of fins and I'll bet you could get a decent projectile that would fly a considerable distance. How much of an area could you cover with a stabilized beer can projectile delivery system? :D
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It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop.
 
collegeboy69us said:
unless the dude was running this right next to an airport -- what's the issue?

are we really getting to the point where we can't fly things in reasonable spaces? The FAA should have not have it's nose into anything this small.

What's next? I can't have any sort of item, toy, model plane, above the roof line of my house?
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You can for recreational purposes but not commercial.
 
We need to set rules and regulations in place of an outright ban ASAP. We have known drones were coming for years, and there's no excuse to stagnate this long on a new aviation technology that can create new economic opportunities both here and abroad for American companies.
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Well a few decades ago it wouldn't have been a problem. Business and entrepreneurs would have done it first, and government regulators would have played catch-up. But this is now what we get when everything has to be done by the Government, ie ...
http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=15575
 
If it was me, I would have refused the order and told the FAA to see me in court, to challenge whether the FAA can even claim authority over airspace below 50 feet.
 
If it was me, I would have refused the order and told the FAA to see me in court, to challenge whether the FAA can even claim authority over airspace below 50 feet.
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They don't claim authority over the airspace, they claim authority over commercial aircraft. All Commercial Aircraft are regulated by the FAA, all of them.
 
Of course man, if it turns out to be a criminal penalty you'll need a different link :eek:
 
If they were killing people in 3rd world countries it would be OK, but it gets stopped when they are used to carry beer?
 
Mohonri said:
Out of curiosity, I wonder about the feasability of building a beer *cannon*. You've already got a roughly bullet-shaped container of considerable mass. Just add a couple of fins and I'll bet you could get a decent projectile that would fly a considerable distance. How much of an area could you cover with a stabilized beer can projectile delivery system? :D
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You'd need a parachute too. The real concern would be slowing down the can once it had reached its destination....as ...the can would puncture and your precious would be lost....if it hit the ground, house, wall, person or other object too hard.
 
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