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The FAA
still has no rules that would allow drones to be used to make deliveries. Some people argue that it’s a difficult
problem because it would be hard for a drone to make a delivery to a high rise apartment
in New York or Washington, DC. For
whatever reason, the FAA has failed to meet repeated Congressional guidelines for
drone rules.
Not
everyone lives in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles. I used to live on a
ranch 6 miles outside of St. Ignatius, Montana. Our mailbox was a half
mile from the house, out by the main gate. A drone delivery would be a
great thing to have in a situation like that. Why can't the FAA declare
some large, thinly populated areas in states like Alaska, Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and similar states as drone
delivery test areas, subject to active firefighting restrictions? As
anybody who reads the news or watches movies like "Eye in the Sky"
knows, we are using drones as weapons of war to minimize collateral damage.
If that's the case, what's the problem with using drones for rural
deliveries? Did Jeff Bezos fail to make a donation to the Clinton
Foundation?
If it's illegal to fly a drone carrying a package from
Missoula to St. Ignatius, who will spend the money it would take to
develop a drone that could make the flight? Nobody. What's the
reason for prohibiting the flight, heavy helicopter traffic over US Highway 93?
I haven't been there lately, but I'm guessing there's not that much
flying up there. The FAA should set the conditions for safe flight, map some
zones and get out of the way. If the drones have to have a transponder to
show their position to secondary radar and maintain radio contact with air
traffic control in certain areas, then say so. Without any rules for even
low density low risk areas, nobody is going develop the drone technology.
To get
the FAA to act, perhaps Congress should try targeted sanctions. All
political appointees in the FAA should get a 10% pay cut for every
Congressional deadline they fail to meet on drone regulations. The cuts
would be restored only when the task was finally completed.