UPS Granted Airline Status for Drones

[PatR]

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[NorWiscPilot]

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Just saw this via an email feed.

If the article's image is of their current "fleet"... first thing comes to mind: "Where are the other two rotors?"

 

[Grumpy]

Just saw this via an email feed.

If the article's image is of their current "fleet"... first thing comes to mind: "Where are the other two rotors?"

Exactly, where's is the redundancy? Maybe a parachute? If not then it's just a crash waiting for a place to happen. Another thing that chaps my a** is that they said it would put tens of thousands of UPS workers out of a job, now that's just brilliant

 

[PatR]

Multirotor flyers tend to develop a somewhat myopic view of “drones”, expecting them all to have three or more rotors. Drones can be land vehicles, surface boats, submersibles, jets, gliders, helicopters, and fixed wing planes. They only need to be remotely operated or programmed to operate autonomously to qualify.

Whomever made the “tens of thousands” statement was just another sensationalist fear monger. They forgot to mention that for every driver/carrier losing their position another opening will be available for pilots, drone package prep, systems and repair techs.

People have to change with advancements in technology. The ability to adapt, along with opposing thumbs, is what separates humans from animals. Species that fail to adapt tend to become extinct.

The part of that authorization I found most interesting is the FAA based the requirements around full scale Part 135 regulations. They did the same with Amazon. So the FAA is telling us they have no intentions to modify full scale regulations to admit drones. Drones will have to meet regs already developed for manned aviation. That is something that will not be good for drones as they will have to meet the standards that bankrupted full scale general aviation manufacturers. To stay in business and turn a profit drone manufacturers will have to raise prices 100 fold, which forces buyers out of the market.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Multirotor flyers tend to develop a somewhat myopic view of “drones”, expecting them all to have three or more rotors. Drones can be land vehicles, surface boats, submersibles, jets, gliders, helicopters, and fixed wing planes. They only need to be remotely operated or programmed to operate autonomously to qualify.
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I don’t think anyone was implying “only aircraft can be classified as drone.” At least not in the first couple of replies.

I, for one, was simply making an observation of the image posted in the article.

[emoji41]

Jeff

 

[PatR]

It’s a quad, and considering the maker I have almost no concerns about redundancy. Matternet makes extremely high quality aircraft. They don’t do consumer level stuff. Then we have to consider UPS, an outfit that has a massive safety department and very likely worked with the maker to determine a mean time between failure for every component in the system. They know how long every part is good for and will replace them before reaching that point.

I know that UPS is recruiting pilots from the ranks of established commercial operators as they contacted me three months ago via Linkedin, and have rather high entry standards.

Overall I’m pretty certain they’ve looked at this every way from Sunday and a few ways others haven’t thought of yet. They don’t care all that much about a package but for human injury/death liability they will go to the ends of the earth to mitigate.

 

[PatR]

Unbelievable, Amazon has reached out to interview for an operator position...

The folks that have been actively seeking operator positions should keep an eye on their e-mail in and spam boxes.,