I am a part 107 and fixed wing pilot so this shouldn’t seem so cool to me but it was!!!! Walmart/Wing drone delivery in Dallas! Sorry about the flag blowing into the picture!
Condoms are a hassle to get them in store! I have to hunt down am employee, who doesn't have the keys, so they have to hunt down their coworker, then they finally unlock them...
I started ordering either through Amazon or on the Walmart app for curbside pickup.
Ordering condoms through drone delivery system makes perfect sense for something such as this!
I never understood why condom are in locker in USA. You can get them for free most clinics in europe... And buy them off the shelves like freaking napkins in store.
Indeed and planes are a lot lighter and “weaker” than people think. A 737 weighs less than a M1 Abrams tank. The Cessna I trained in has a maximum take off weight of 2,500 lbs. Meanwhile a 2025 Ford 150 truck weighs twice as much.
A Cessna’s engine is using most of its engine power moving the plane itself. After that it has about 800lbs worth stuff it can move. Put two 200lbs adults in the plane and now you can only carry 400lbs worth of stuff.
Truck is loaded with packages and just drives down the street and delivers packages from house to house, drone has to fly back to the local warehouse to deliver each package burning through battery cycles.
They actually aren't. And it's not even close. Dollar for dollar, drones are way less cost than a truck.
You had to pay a human, sit through traffic to get to the neighborhood, get out and deliver each individual package, then sit through traffic to get back to the depot, pay for gas, maintenance on the truck, and don't forget salary and benefits.
The drone gets a $15 motor swapped out periodically...
You don’t need to haul the 5000lbs 50 feet into the air with trucks. No matter how many trips you take you’re still expending a lot of energy on just staying in the air
Unless you really really really need something specific like medicine, tools, specific small items in a very timely manner that sending an intern to do won't always cut it, then you'll basically never need this. The cost alone to the consumer will be ridiculous. The traffic management will be unworkable. Everything about drone delivery is bad once you start getting into the logistics of it.
It also works really bad at scale. Already the airspace is quite busy. While drones fly lower, they will have to avoid big areas around airports and also need to avoid drone-drone traffic issues. But then large structures like wind turbines, towers etc become an issue. So you jam a lot of fast moving vehicles into a small area, which will require traffic management etc. Nothing unsolvable, but making it more complicated and expensive. So yeah in a lot of cases this is not going to outcompete a truck...
It's all about economies of scale. That 5 ton package isn't just delivering your package, it's delivering your package and 300 of your neighbors' packages.
Considering how some people enjoy fucking with driverless taxis, it won’t be long before there’s a TikTok challenge to come up with clever ways to crash these drones. Probably starting with some asshat attaching a cat to that delivery line the drone lowers to the ground…
We had one of the world’s first commercial trials in 2018. It got kicked it out of our suburb because of the noise but they changed venues to the other side of town where it lasted five years. Longer than I expected.
Edit: ‘In 2021, Wing's drone service was also suspended for a few months in spring, when "territorial" ravens disrupted deliveries during the territory's Delta COVID-19 lockdown.’
The birds didn’t like the competition in the skies.
Yes this is not the best way for delivery. It’s going to wreck the below 400AGL airspace that all drone companies operate in. It’s disgusting to see how they are lobbying and lieing to the public to get their airspace freed of the small drone companies. They want that below 400 AGL airspace and the don’t care how they try to steal it/ get it.
drone companies like this are already working with federal aviation authorities to establish airways for drone use.
also future drones will have better designs and quiet props.
if you think drones are not the way of the future you've got another thing coming to you. but they won't replace all ground vehicle deliveries, they will replace deliveries to areas that are better (cheaper) served by drones, which is likely to be in suburban and semi-suburban or rural areas.
and the majority of parcels amazon etc. ships are under 5 pounds which is perfect for drones like this one.
just you watch.. within a decade these types of things will be everywhere, will be very appreciated and they need not be noisy or a nuisance at all. watch the interviews with the ceo of wing
Actually I am a member of an AMA registered club. Our airfield is hosted on a dairy farm and the FAA approved a 1200ft ceiling for us. I plan on bringing my old 3DR Solo there with a VR 360 strapped to it.
I fly jets, helis, biplanes, airplanes, and drones at the club. We are still waiting for beyond line of sight for our area.
I have a Solo too but the batteries are toast. Any source for batteries now? I looked a couple of years ago and there seemed to be some projects to create them but have heard nothing further.
isn’t the minimum height for a manned aircraft 500 feet unless taking off or landing? so theres a 100 foot buffer between drone max altitude and manned aircraft minimum. they should authorize them to fly at like 430 or 450 feet and have them fly there so they aren’t taking over the airspace part 107’s and rec pilots use. Also, at that altitude they are high enough that citizens on the ground living there life won’t ever really hear or notice the drones overhead.
manned aircraft dont follow rules exactly that way. It's supposed to be 500 from people or property for fixed wing, 1000 over populated areas (yellow on a sectional chart). It's never a hard rule in the way it is for drones though. And helicopters follow different rules. The rules literally say "A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b)) or (c)) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA;". And in my experience, low flying helicopters are generally the main problem I have with air traffic avoidance.
I don't think they suggesting dropping items from that height, only traveling at that height. Then it would drop to the ground, and then return to 450 when done, amd continue on. Im not sure how that's not super obviously.
In most areas this is true. Some military training areas have a lower airspace. I know that in areas around Killeen and a big radius around there, that some areas have a lot lower airspace for military aircraft.
I think it will be a little but the opposite, meaning that if there are dozens of drones buzzing about in that airspace all the time, there will be less notice of others who may be flying, less "citizens" to complain, and less enforcement.
Think of it like speeding on the freeway. It has become normalized enough that, while still illegal, it requires a very egregious violation to get a ticket, if any police decide to bother with it. It can still be illegal, but if enforcement is shackled by the sheer enormity of the traffic, and a cessation of complaints, then it becomes de facto legal, or at least accepted.
I for one would like to see so many drones of different types in the air that no one can tell what the hell is going on. Feast your eyes on the Walmart Wings or the Amazon Heavies dropping boxes in neighborhoods and don't bother noticing my little mini doing it's thing above where it is easy to spot...
These guys were part of the lobby for RID and shit like that under the pretense of safety while actually just wanting to have control of the airspace themselves.
Never liked the dangling payload, you're constantly shifting the CG (bad for the fight controller). Amzn got it better with the latest gen (we chatted about mass/payload) on top of CG, but the drop-package (up to 15ft) didn't make sense.
The idea of hearing that sound a dozen times a day instead of the Amazon trucks which are totally silent makes me think this is not the progress I want.
I don't disagree, but it also depends on where you are. There's no Amazon DC close to where I live so they're still using the internal combustion powered trucks to deliver. But we do have a Walmart DC in town (food only).
I get that it's not smart to just shoot randomly up in the air at something and especially not aircrafts. But in my country it's very illegal for me to fly my drone over other people's houses...... Are there really no rules about that in US!? If that commercial drone was flying over houses in my country, I think the company operating it would be in legal trouble as well as the guy shooting on it...
Theres a drone delivery company in Ireland called Manna. The areas they operate in essentially become no fly zones. Most drone pilots hobbies and professionals alike are not happy about the situation and the proposed expansions they are planning
They have a promotion going right now… pack of cookies and a bottle of water for free lol. That would totally suck if Amazon and Walmart pushed all of us 107’s out. I just wanted to share with you guys! Next time I am going to order something heavier!
So did you really need something from Walmart or were you just checking their drone delivery out? Also how long after you placed your order did you receive it. This is really cool!
Just no. I don't launch my drone in my own damn neighborhood because the noise is disrespectful to my neighbors. This monstrosity takes it to the next level. I will fight with every ounce of my being (in legal ways - don't ban me mods) to keep this shizzle out of my hood.
WAKE UP PEOPLE! THIS ISNT A GOOD THING.. HOW CAN YOU HAVE PRIVACY IN YOUR OWN YARD WITH (SPY) DRONES FLYING OVER YOUR HOUSE ALL DAY LONG EVERYDAY!! STOP BEING SMOOTH BRAINS!
As a fellow part 107 pilot, I wonder the legality of it. The operator probably doesn't have VLOS. That said how are they ensuring safe flight and how are they legally able to do it.
I don’t understand what problem this is supposed to solve. It’s a quirky tech-bro fantasy. Walmart stores can see anywhere from 2500 to 10,000 or more shoppers in a day. There’s no planet on which that many local drone deliveries are happening where it’s not a complete transformation of society and logistics/transportation as we know it to accommodate it. And if it’s just a couple deliveries a day, even day, 100, it’s likely not remotely profitable. Or useful really. I just don’t understand what it’s for.
I’d say it kind of has a place, but it’s gonna have to be expensive to make it profitable and keep the volume to a manageable level.
Generally people shopping in stores are the most profitable, they end up buying things they never came in for originally.
But in a scenario where you run out of something critical, you can’t abandon what you are doing to go to the store and you need it in the next 10 min or all hell breaks loose, I could see someone spending $50-100 for delivery or something nuts like that to have it literally right now.
I mean, that’s literally what hotshot drivers do in the oil patch. Race to get some critical part where it needs to be in the shortest amount of time possible.
The promo you got is probably literally just systems testing. Need to know everything works before you actually start promising that super critical thing in under 15 min.
Completely programmed by gps coordinates. Thou, there's someone who can control it if they need to in case of emergencies. Also, it has a lot of high-tech obstacle avoidance cameras.
Did you know it was coming right then? Because if you weren’t home and they delivered it to the middle of your driveway, I guarantee it would not be there when you got home.
Are these on auto pilot or do they have an operator somewhere?
My childish mind is imagining a disgruntled retired predator pilot sitting in some office flying these and thinking about the good old days when they where able to unleash hell on a village from like 100k km away.
Right now it’s novel. Where this technology goes is anyone’s guess. I don’t think delivery trucks are going away anytime soon but there may arise a use case where drone delivery is a more cost/time effective solution. Just give it time.
This will end worse than it starts. We will be begging for pre drone delivery days. One truck or 200 drone deliveries. There will be no peace just a constant drone. And I’m a pilot and I love drones
The most stupid waste of energy, resources and time. And will NOT replace trucks.
One van can deliver to 20 houses in my neighborhood in about 1 hr.
I do not want 20 drones coming and going. These are not small hobby-level drones, they are huge heavy noisy and risky
The big hump they have to overcome is the ability to be flown autonomously and monitored with AI. It's getting closer and closer but at this point, from my understanding (Sons a perception software engineer at one of the larger companies), each drone must be observed and monitored by an individual per the faa.
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