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back to article FAA rules out fast-tracking drone regulations

America's Federal Aviation Administration has ruled out changing low-altitude airspace rules for drones at least until 2019. Organisations like Amazon, which is dead-set convinced it can handle the economics of drone deliveries if only regulators would do their bidding. Last year, Bezos' bros asked the FAA to segregate …

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  1. Mark 85
    Flame

    Now how did Amazon, who obviously filed long after LOHAN) get a ruling (even if it's a blow-off ruling) before LOHAN? Do we need a kickstarter to fund a lobbyist?

    Flame for LOHAN's rocket ------------------------------->

    5 0 Reply
  2. NotBob
    Coat

    Of course, there's no mention of hobby uas fliers. They figure to have us driven out by then.

    Mine's the one with the tin foil...

    0 0 Reply
    1. Eddy Ito
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Don't worry it won't be long before the retail hobby shops, manufacturers and flyers figure out they'll need to stump up some coin for their own lobby. Then it's a short trip until the anti-droners from Drone Control Inc are cursing the NDA (National Drone Association) and saying that they enable criminals and terrorists to roam our skys dealing death from above.

      0 0 Reply
  3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    I'm not even sure how drone delivery is going to work. I can't see it working other than in rural areas in good conditions. Or is this drone going to drop your parcel in the back or front garden and fly off, even if it's pissing down with rain?

    What if you haven't got a garden? How will they know?

    Just as an example, the house down our street are 1880's terraced houses with a concrete back yard. Over the years most people have dug up significant portions for gardens or put in raised beds. The council simply WILL NOT supply "green" bins for garden waste "because you don't have a garden" or collect if you buy your own. So where will Amazon gets it's data from? You bought gardening tools so they decide they can ship by drone to your 14th floor flat because they don't know you have an allotment 3 miles away?

    "Big data" is great for generating statistics or dealing with populations but not so good with specifics or individuals.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Haku
      Reply Icon

      I expect they'll have to make some sort of rule for customers:

      No Amazon landing pad, no drone deliveries.

      And the landing pad will have to be a specific size which is no closer than x meters away from any drone-unfriendly obstacles such as trees, lightpoles, overhead cables, buildings etc.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Haku
        Reply Icon

        Also I expect they'll send someone round to specifically check the place where you want your deliveries dropped is suitable for a drone landing, then marking the GPS coordinates in their delivery database if they're satisfied, because they're under the spotlight on this one and they won't leave anything to chance that they can help - people are just itching to say they fucked up and it was a stupid idea.

        Personally I only care that they don't screw things up for the airborne hobbyists.

        0 0 Reply

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