Repeating what I heard – just to make sure I got it right…

Amazon would like to use airborne drones to make deliveries. They claim to have emergency and special circumstance markets in mind. Though I suspect our skies will one day be darkened with clouds of “special circumstances”.

So, our hired-hands at the FAA have come up with a few zany rules regarding testing the flying package thing. Restrictions like a low altitude flight ceiling, line-of-sight monitoring and only-during-daylight operation are, of course, making Amazon a little crazy. But there is money to be made, so I’m pretty sure Amazon will survive the indignity of having to prove remote controlled flying packages are, of course, safe.

Yup, swarms of consumer goods cruising at low altitude, landing and taking off all around us, joyfully fulfilling the Amazon American Dream. I can see them now, flying low over the homes and property of the most heavily armed population on the planet. Small packages of joy, buzzing over a land where there are a nearly as many guns as people.

This could prove entertaining.

osv 3/29/2015

PS – I just saw an ad for a bean bag gun – designed especially for shooting at drones. Silly me, I failed to anticipate that a new hunting prey would, obviously, spur on new technology . (And another reason to get another gun!) In a meager attempt to contribute, I emailed the inventor asking if they had considered making retractable net cannons. Just as a suggestion.