back to article FAA approves Amazon US drone flight just months after firm gave up and went to Canada

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has cut its response time to a measly ten months in approving Amazon's most recent drone flight request. In a letter to Paul Misener, public policy veep for the Sultans of Seattle, the FAA stunned all witnesses in granting permission for delivery drone test flights only ten months after the …

  1. Stuart 18
    Holmes

    "many other companies' requests were approved at the same time"...

    .

    .

    The Register?? LOHAN??

    .

    .

    We need to know.

    .

    .

    The Register has not replied to this request at the time of posting :-)

    1. Chris 244
      Thumb Up

      Where to launch a rocket in Canada?

      Yes, we even have Spaceport Canada you can use! Perfect for putting LOHAN into a polar orbit, in fact. Just mind the polar bears and mosquitoes. Oh, and the black flies that can bite you through your jeans. Oh, and there's a few (hundred) small lakes you may wish to avoid, as well as a modest-sized bay (admittedly attached to a larger but still modest one, not like that gaudy Bay of Bengal). Oh, and it's been shuttered for a decade or two. Oh, and you can't drive there on account of the lack of a road. Oh, and ...

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Where to launch a rocket in Canada?

        Trees. You forgot to mention the trees. In the case of the SPB and their devices traditional liking for arboreal perches, Canada may not be the best place to launch from.

      2. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: Where to launch a rocket in Canada?

        Oh and they have a flying machine you drone!

  2. elDog

    I wonder if the US Border Patrol (Homeland/Fatherland Security) can shoot them down

    I'd much rather our border agents take pot shots at Brown Boxes With A Smile slung under a drone than the poor immigrants from down south.

    Just to register a personal opinion (as if the rest isn't): This whole drone thing is going to make life around the world a lot more "interesting". There are all sorts of things that can be delivered when the carriers don't need to travel in flatland - and it's much harder to monitor that extra dimension.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wonder if the US Border Patrol (Homeland/Fatherland Security) can shoot them down

      why would someone buy an expensive, short range drone that no one cares about when they can force a "poor immigrant" to mule the cargo and gain all the protective sympathy that almost guarantees successful delivery for free, like they've been doing for decades?

      Coyotes make almost as much from the extra cargo as they do the human cargo.

    2. Sanctimonious Prick
      Happy

      Re: I wonder if the US Border Patrol (Homeland/Fatherland Security) can shoot them down

      @elDog

      Yes. I can imagine Cloned Amazon Drones delivering all sorts of things... a few grams of this, a few grams of that... Then we'll start to see Cloned Amazon Drone wars, muggings in the sky - at least they'll be 'victimless' muggings, that is, unless we start to develop emotions/feelings for these machines (<<--that was silly).

      1. elDog

        Re: I wonder if the US Border Patrol (Homeland/Fatherland Security) can shoot them down

        Only giving you an uptick because your tagline is honest, or at least halfway so....

    3. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

      Re: I wonder if the US Border Patrol (Homeland/Fatherland Security) can shoot them down

      But that would be illegal except in a land of the free where congress makes no law where the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall be infringed (such as Canada.)

      That is the difference between American and Canadian: For Canadians can is the first thing.

      That and in Canada only criminals and those with a right to bear arms carry guns. Apparently anyone can play with toys though.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    money talks

    so Amazon can spam the airspace, yet if I wanna FPV my TREX I gotta file a flight plan and fight City Hall who decide electric helicopters and play quads are "too noisy".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: money talks

      especially when your entire culture is built on corporatism

  4. Haku

    I see Amazon are getting more advertising they didn't directly pay for...

    /eternal cynic

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow, this is bad news

    Wait until the problems start and it will be in a matter of days once these devices are allowed to fly. I suspect that a lot of hunters are going to enjoy the fun. The FAA and other agencies allowing this foolishness to progress have no idea the genie they have let out of the bottle. Soon you'll wish sanity had prevailed.

    1. Keven E.

      Investment opportunity

      http://www.netgunforsale.com/

      <snicker>

    2. Mark 85

      Re: Wow, this is bad news

      You forgot the first rule: "There is no Sanity Clause."

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wow, this is bad news

      .... I suspect that a lot of hunters are going to enjoy the fun. ...

      You see, I have this 1908 Mouser that I'm trying to sight in.. makes the cheapest clay 'round.

      1. Breen Whitman

        Re: Wow, this is bad news

        Well if the US authorities make a drone attack a terrorist offense and you enjoy seeing yourself and your family reduced to a smoking crater then go ahead there Mikey. Or should I say Mustafa.

  6. Gannettt

    Does this mean that packages will be delivered outside of normal working hours? That cannot be allowed, surely?

    I still think this whole delivery-by-drone idea is an April Fool's prank gone wrong.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      The technology was waiting for the acceleration needed for the drone to ring the doorbell, drop a "we tried to deliver a package while you were out" and get away before you can respond.

      Drones are perfectly practical, if like citylink, you never intend to actually deliver the actual package.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well done El Reg for choosing the US for LOHAN launch

    Perhaps greasing the palms of the corrupt Spanish authorities is beginning to look like a better idea than dealing with the inept US government that only serves those with money.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    LOHAN

    You'll need a name change if you move the mission to Canada:

    British

    Intra-atmosphere

    Exploratory

    Balloon

    Ejected

    Rocket

    ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: LOHAN

      One other option, if you don't like shilling for Justin Bieber. Perhaps you can get Vulture 2 carried into near-space by an Amazon.com drone?

  9. The Grump
    FAIL

    And now - the rest of the story

    I see El Reg forgot one little teesy weesy detail - is the "operator must maintain line of sight" provision still attached to the Amazon approval ?

    "Line of sight" - the operator, Amazon, must be able to actually see the drone diring its entire flight - is a deal killer. That provision blows Amazon's dream of automated drone delivery "out of the water". As usual, the devil is in the details.

    El Reg fail.

    1. Leeroy

      Re: And now - the rest of the story

      Next up the Goodyear sorry Amazon balloon as a mobile depot that launches the drones with a few operators on board. From that height line of sight is plausible even if the drone is a tiny speck in the distance.

      Or maybe not....

    2. elDog

      Re: And now - the rest of the story

      If 5-10 satellites in orbit have a "line-of-site" to the drones, does this count?

      Even this lowly plebe could probably afford (if the lady allowed me to mortgage her house) a few cube sats and a few "fun" whirlybirds.

      Now, I'm looking for some good KickFunDieGoGo ideas and $$$ (or Euros - no bitchoins, please.)

    3. <shakes head>

      Re: And now - the rest of the story

      hmmm not really it needs to be in "line of sight" so a small SAT with a rubbish camera would make in in line of sight but not visible due to the crummy camera

  10. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    How does a drone knock on the door and get a signature?

    Or will it simply drop your newest iThingy onto the front lawn and leave?

    Anyone compared max range of such drones to the number of depots required? Maybe they could deploy the drones from a hovering mothership. Maybe they could simply put 3D printers on the Fusion Powered endlessly-hovering mothership, and simply 3D print your new iWatch in 15 seconds and drone-deliver it to you a minute after you ordered it. Maybe they could drone-deliver a new 3D printer and I won't need to buy anything from Amazon ever again. Except cartridges of 3D printer paste.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How does a drone knock on the door and get a signature?

      "Or will it simply drop your newest iThingy onto the front lawn and leave?"

      Well, that's how UPS delivers stuff to my home - they just leave it on the front steps. Nothing disappeared yet, but every time they do this it makes me uneasy...

  11. Sureo

    So....

    Where is the "Deliver by Drone" check box on the amazon.ca website?

  12. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

    Or should I say Mustafa.

    No you definitely should not say Mustafa.

    If you will be saying it as the US/UK forces did the day before Mustapha's friends attacked Paris. At least not if you are relying on the US/UK/French or even German police to protect you. They don't have a reputation for good police work.

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