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Amazon wants commercial drones to have a place in the sky

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - on 30 Jul 2015, 10:46am

Amazon wants commercial drones to have a place in the sky

 Don't worry, we'll probably still get old fashion manual deliveries in Singapore. We doubt Amazon has plans to expand their drone business right now. Image source: Amazon.

Drones are a booming industry right now. Interest in the flying machines are skyrocketing and even relatively high end drones are getting cheaper as time goes by. There's no better time to be a drone enthusiast.

Despite the popularity of drones, regulation regarding the flying devices are still in the nascent stages. There are barely any public laws regarding drone operation. Amazon wants that to change, and it's even proposing some rather logical suggestions on what should be established.

For one, it wants the establishment of a controlled airspace for commercial drones, with all the flight control duties handled by computers. Like normal aircraft, commercial drone operators would need to submit their flight plans to the controller before every flight, which should ensure accidents be kept to a minimum, especially since the whole process is done by computers.

Amazon also proposes that airspace be segregated into different zones.

Airspace up to 200 feet (around 60 meters) will be open to all low level drone traffic, like hobbyist drones. From 200 to 400 feet ( 60 - 121 meters), the airspace would be reserved only for commercial drone flights. These are high traffic, high speed sections, where commercial companies can use drones to transport items over long distances. The next hundred feet (between 121 meters to 152 meters) are a buffer no-fly zone, to separate drone traffic from aircraft, which fly above that altitude.

One has to wonder though, with the skies filling up with flying objects, what about the birds?

Source: BBC

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