h a l f b a k e r yRomantic, but doomed to fail.
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Thats, a good idea. In that case case plane would navigate itself with the help of GPS; No external navigation/control required. Making planes unmanned, would also bring down insurance costs down. |
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The costs to run it might be lower, but there are good
reasons why drones are not used in commercial or civil air
travel. Having a pilot in control of the plane is crucial in
the event of an emergency, particularly for a plane that
flies regularly over populated areas. |
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Besides, I'm not sure what's particularly new about this
idea. The concept of unmanned drones has been around for
a long time, as has the notion of using them in non-military
settings. Every time it has been floated so far, it has been
rejected (for the above mentioned reason, among others).
That may change in the future, but even as it stands I'd
have to say this has been baked. |
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I think what's new about this idea is the concept of having vast numbers of drones buzzing about at a relatively low altitude, each carrying an item of airmail, and not crashing into each other. |
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//an emergency, particularly for a plane that flies regularly over populated areas. // |
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Excellent idea, [VJW]! Didn't the Pony Express start out this way? |
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It would be great if competing mail companies sprang up all over the country -- each drone would have to worry about another drone swooping in, shooting it down, and intercepting the mail delivery for itself! Any flaming wreckage could be explained away on annual municipal budgets as "Urban Renewal: Other" [+] |
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Come up with a neat way for the drones to deliver airmail,
or retrieve it from your mailbox, and I'll bun. |
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// Didn't the Pony Express start out this way?// |
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I'm pretty sure the Pony Express started out by using
some sort of animal to carry the mail. I'd have to
google to find out which. |
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Wikipedia says they used cows. |
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...wearing Pony brand shoes. |
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I thought it started as the huod express, run by the huod tribe from the central patagonia-bohemia border mountains. However the printers for their first big order of corporate branded stationary got the artwork upside down. |
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Post offices in remote parts of Orisa, India still use pegions for sending telegrams to rural villages in deep jungles. |
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// Since there will be not pilots/humans, it should be lot
cheaper. // |
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I'm not sure what led you to that conclusion; a human
being and a reasonably comfortable seat cost much less
than a cockpit full of high-tech guidance systems. Using
drone aircraft to carry mail and packages is a cool
idea, but the last time I checked, a Cessna was still much
cheaper than a Global Hawk, and the USPS runs on a
shoestring budget at the best of times. |
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Penguins don't come in the post, they come from the
Antarctic! |
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They might
come from
Antarctic outposts. |
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Possibly, but are any of them qualified pilots? |
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Fit them with prosthetic wings; see what happens. |
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It's been tried (link). Ethyl
methane sulfonate is an alkylating
agent and a potent mutagen -- it
created a virus so lethal the
subject was destroyed before we
left the table. |
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Sounds like a job for Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling
<link>. |
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One possible downside to be considered is that all the RC drones might end up on display in Tehran. |
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North Vietnam had one for John McCain. |
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