AT&T: We wanna be a drone company, not just a phone company AT&T is planning to rapidly expand its use of drones – it can already put one of the gizmos in the air virtually anywhere over continental United States. Speaking at its Shape tech expo in San Francisco on Friday, Art Pregler, AT&T's drone program director, said the telco giant is using the flying gadgets to augment its 20,000 …
Tethered drones seem like a good idea for some inspection jobs and for some of the Cell on Wings proposals - the flight time limit for almost all drones is determined by battery capacity. Between the cable weight and the lifting power of the drone (even with its battery removed) the range will probably be no more than about 500 ft.
"Between the cable weight and the lifting power of the drone (even with its battery removed) the range will probably be no more than about 500 ft."
I was thinking the same, then I remembered those wire guided missiles and wondered just how light a cable you can get away with. And then there's those significantly large currents supported by USB3 through tiny wee little connections. Not sure how delicate the cable would be since the insulation would have to be minimal to save weight too. Those wire guided missile didn't have to worry about repeat use or re-coiling the wire after use ;-)
> Any commercial flights with drones should be done with licenced pilots only! IMO.
Why? Should anyone operating a remote controlled ground based vehicle need a driving licence? What level - would an automatic transmission licence be enough, or should it be full manual? You do know there are multiple levels of pilots' licences, right? Which are you thinking is appropriate? Or are you suggesting a new class of licence just for drones? What has changed, and why do you think this hasn't been required for r/c aircraft up until now (since these have been around in fairly large numbers for 30-40 years plus)?
I've flown fixed wing aircraft (gliders, piston and turbo-prop), helicopters, and many types of RC aircraft including all the above and also quadcopters (drones). Proving you can fly a Cessna safely would be no use at all for flying a drone, and vice versa, and I don't see any need to licence a new class of r/c aircraft just because it has suddenly got more accessible and useful. There are already laws against doing stupid things that could, or do, cause injury or damage - these laws still apply, and are sufficient.
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