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Amazon Prime Air
- Thread starter Gorn
- Start date
You spend time in the air? If anything, this reduces that intrusion. I'd rather have those than a much bigger truck in my street where I drive, taking up lots of space and making smog.
Unrepresented
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You'll still have the big truck. These are only predicted to handle stuff under five pounds and probably only to single family detached homes. Now you'll have the big truck AND a bunch of mini choppers flying overhead.
Maybe. The truck will only be in your space if it has other deliveries to make at your area though.
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I can see the mini choppers being annoying though. And they will likely be a big distraction to drivers and safety.
I saw this on 60 Minutes last night, too. I thought it was a cool idea, but yeah, I also immediately thought about teenagers with baseball bats chasing after it before it takes off after a delivery.
I remember hearing an interview on NPR a few months ago from a university administrator talking about their drone program. Apparently you can get a 4-year degree in drone operation. He explicitly said that their graduates would not be operating armed drones and that the demand for drone operators was rising (he also found the term "drone" to be pejorative). Interesting stuff, nonetheless.
I remember hearing an interview on NPR a few months ago from a university administrator talking about their drone program. Apparently you can get a 4-year degree in drone operation. He explicitly said that their graduates would not be operating armed drones and that the demand for drone operators was rising (he also found the term "drone" to be pejorative). Interesting stuff, nonetheless.
As an airplane pilot I would hate to look up and out of the windshield and see one these things coming at me. This already happens quite a bit with helium balloons floating around in the airspace. Scares the heck out of you but no damage when you hit one. Hitting one of these at high speed would be worse than hitting a large bird. Just saying
Balloons, as they have very little mass, just pass thru the turbine fans of a jet or get chopped up if it is a prop plane.
On the other hand, a 20 pound drone could take an aircraft down. More mass X high velocity = big trouble.
I'd imagine they won't be allowed near airfields and surely won't be capable of a huge amount of altitude?
Helicopters normally cruise at 500 to 1000 feet AGL, (Above Ground Level) at speeds of 120 to 150 MPH.
Just wasn't sure devices like this would be able to get to heights that are dangerous to aircraft, being flying bricks. I'm sure they'd be forced to keep them below certain levels (granted, not that things couldn't go wrong).
I guess then we will have to make it a crime for kids to fly kites and will have to tear down all those Edison power line towers. Sorry, I am just being a smart a**. In reality, it would take a few decades for the FAA to get on board with something like this. They are a very slow agency to react to change. There are many flight safety recommendations that the NTSB has given to the FAA over ten years ago, like child/infant seats for airliners, but the FAA has failed to implement. I just don't see it happening for a long time.
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You don't think lobbying money has been influential in the past? Amazon is not the first big player in airspace legislation.
Also, Trees, electrical/telephone cables, antennae, and other miscellaneous hazards might present a problem for these drones.
You don't think lobbying money has been influential in the past? Amazon is not the first big player in airspace legislation.
True...but you would have UPS and Fed-X, plus others, on the other side of the fence in Washington.
