Posted on 01/30/2014 11:59:11 AM PST by MeshugeMikey
The Lakemaid micro brewery started delivering beer to ice fishers using drones, at least until the FAA coldly shut their operation down. The FAA is currently reviewing their policies. According to the beer company’s president, Jack Supple, “They think it’s a great idea, though they’re telling me to stop.”
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
LOL This thread is great.
My copy of the Constitution does not have the FAA listed...
Axe it.
If we need a “standards” organization, set a private one up like the IEEE or Underwriters Laboratories.
No, it’s a way of stating the fact of the rule. It’s not a way of agreeing with it, coy or otherwise. You tried to jam words into my mouth, and I’m calling you out on it, so bite me.
The rules (meaning laws) for mixing unmanned systems with aircraft are not yet available in civilian airspace. That means that pilots in the same airspace cannot know what the drone will do, or how to react to a drone in their flight path.
They are working on the rules. Once they are set, then (presuming the drones used by the distributor comply with the rules) the beer can be delivered.
For everyone who believes that this should be unregulated, consider one question: Would you fly on an airliner that didn’t meet airworthiness requirements? I know I wouldn’t.
What FReepers are misunderstanding is that these drones will be interacting with piloted aircraft, and the pilots will have no idea what the drone will do. Potentially, the drone pilot will have no clue what the rules of the sky are.
A case of Bud Light doesn’t make a good reason for someone to die.
That’s the way I see it too, but I’ve been told that’s a coy way of saying I approve of intrusive government.
:^)
“They’re telling them to stop on what authority? If it flies, we are your master?”
Yes, that is precisely what they said.
With very few exceptions, anything flying is now under FAA regulations and operators must have a pilot’s license.
Their authority is the SWAT team that will bust through your door and take your little flying machines.
If you are flying drones up in the pattern, you’d have a point.
This doesn’t seem to be the case.
Can the drones fly above 50’? More to the point - WILL they?
Sorry - but the laws and regulations that govern flight are there for safety (for the most part). The applications of drones (given the remote delivery sites) is very cool.
But I don’t think that a mid-air collision is a great way to celebrate such an innovative delivery method.
What rules prevent drones from flying “in the pattern”?
For that matter - how is a drone supposed to react to detecting a piloted craft in its area of operations?
And will the beer drone pilots know that? Or even be looking?
As I stated above, I like the idea. But a clear method of ensuring separation of the drones from piloted craft that is understood and applied by both sides needs to be specified.
I’m sorry you don’t seem to believe that safety is worth the effort.
Can you point to the part in FAR 71 as to where these guys were in violation of the airspace rules?
Were they flying over airports? Restricted military space?
Or just within a couple hundred feet, well under Class E space, of a friggin’ lake?
I’m a pilot and I think there’s space for this. If these are allowed to operate below two hundred feet and know where all the airfields, terrain, towers and obstructions are, they can navigate, even without on-board radar or collision avoidance electronics.
RC aircraft are presently flown without a license, aren’t they? In an a/c, I’m only going to go below 200’ AGL in an airport environment, where these things should—indeed—not be allowed without a clearance, and even then, only when the entire field would be controlled.
Heck, some entrepreneur will have all the terrain, building and tree extents within 20’ as part of their databases and make a killing for all this lat/long delivery traffic whizzing by in really tight quarters.
HF
I’m not that coy! LOL
I’m comfortable flying because I know how aircraft are designed, maintained, and operated. Some on this thread seem to think that safety (of others) doesn’t matter. I disagree.
If they think that makes me a statist - that’s THEIR problem.
If your beer drone is flying above 1500’, you’ve got bigger problems.
“Safety” is often the watch word for tyranny.
And yeah, using the power of an unConstitutional organization to prevent an enterprising company from using a quad-rotor copter withing slingshot height over an iced lake is an abuse of ill-gotten power.
Can you point to the rule that states how a drone is required to react to piloted aircraft? Is the reaction part of the drone’s design, or something the pilot applies? How do we know the pilots of the drones understand their responsibilities?
How does the drone react of its control link is severed?
I would have no problem with a temporary (seasonal) restriction to keep pilots out of the airspace, but as it stands an unregulated aircraft carrying a payload that makes it a non-trivial accidental strike can mix with piloted airplanes.
As the excerpt says, the FAA doesn’t mind the idea, but they do not know how to allow the mixed use airspace safely.
I agree to an extent, but carrying a case of bud light makes the drone a much heavier target than RC aircraft. I've never seen an aircraft tested for bud strikes! LOL
So you have no issues with aircraft that are not held to any airworthiness standards, eh? For design, maintenance, or operation?
Good luck with that.
First time I’ve every been accused of being “coy,” so I really don’t know how to handle it. Usually the label I see applied to me is “Obnoxious Pr**k.”
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