by wezank

Drone Delivery: the first one ever

Drone Delivery

Forget Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon or Felix Baumgartner’s freefall from the edge of space, a new, tech accomplishment has made history: the first ever legal drone delivery. Fedex and all delivery service companies should read this news carefully.

Imagine hearing the bell ring, opening the door and finding a flying drone there to deliver the Michael Jordan shaped potato chips you ordered from eBay (yes, some people do actually buy stuff like that).

The First Drone Delivery

On Friday July 17, 2015 the first official/legal drone delivery took place in the US. part of a project called “Let’s Fly Wisely”. Australia’s drone startup company, Flirtey in partnership with Virginia Tech and NASA  collaborated to make the event possible. The delivery was aimed at showcasing the difficulties faced in delivering healthcare to rural areas and highlight the power of drones and what the future holds for all of us tech savvy freaks.

The drone carried 24 packages of medicine from a pharmacy in Oakwood, Virginia to Lonesome Pine Airport in Wise, Virginia. Although the distance wasn’t immense, it gave us a preview into what the future holds and how effective drones can be in making our lives easier.

Note that in February the Federal Aviation Administration banned drone delivery, however an exception was made for this specific event after the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech gained authorization for the research flights. Flirtey labelled the successful delivery as “a Kitty Hawk moment” referring to the first ever man controlled flight in 1903 by the Wright brothers.

Amazon has previously announced that the company plans to launch its own flying drone delivery:

 

Is there a future for drone delivery? Let us know what you think.

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