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These Are the Companies the FAA Has Sent notices To For Using Drones
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Just as soon as the Minnesota-based Lakemaid Beer company excited everyone by delivering beer to ice fisherman with drones, the Federal Aviation Administration ruined their fun by demanding that they cease operations. But Lakemaid isn't the only company that's been harassed by the agency. Since 2012, the agency has sent official notices to 13 companies for the commercial use of drones."
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What's the difference? The evil name?
Government tells YOU what you can do.
FIrst 'Beta Sucks!'
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
We want the code for the Beta dragged into the street and shot. We will burn the Slashdot editors in effigy.
Do you here the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men!
Time to start a petition on change.org we need to get Obama's take on this.
That is all.
"Government is like fire; a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington
At what point does a remote-control helicopter become a 'drone'? Also, Beta doesn't provide sufficient functional improvement to necessitate its continuation, or indeed, its conception
The interesting thing about drones is that FUCK BETA!!!!
After MS going the stupid Metro way, it's slashdot's turn to turn on its users too. This place is so dead to me now.
Ok, I like the "Leave comment" box right at the top instead of having to pick a random thing to reply to.
I don't like the fact that there are two boxes, and neither are labelled. It's obvious to me that the first one is a subject but it's not explained. Not a good UI.
The "From you're-grounded dept" is below the article, that doesn't make sense.
The comment box isn't a wysiwyg editor. Can't I just highlight text and hit control-B and make it bold? C'mon, this is 2014, we had this functionality 20 years ago.
Menu bar static at the top of the screen? Pointless. If I need that I'd scroll to the top.
Ok I've previewed my comment... newlines aren't converted to BR's. What the hell. Apart from a slightly different CSS what the hell is this beta all about?
"Delivery of goods is expected to be a small segment of future drone market. The bigger commercial uses will focus on agriculture, law enforcement and aerial photography."
Says a petty idiotic beaucracy expressing it's utter lack of creativity.
-Azi
Sorry guys... your PR heavy "response" isn't going to cut it. We, the COMMUNITY, are the one's that provide you with content and allow you to earn a living from our debates all in exchange for simple access to a site that we can use and like. Your Beta site has broken the implicit contract you had between your community and the business. In the end you are responsible for all hell breaking loose and people rioting in the comment threads. We are trying to provide you the opportunity to correct this situation but you seem to have received crisis response training from the Apple people who came up with "you're holding it wrong." Only you can fix Slashdot. If the community has to fix it, then the solution will be a new home. The clock is ticking.
#IamSlashdot
altslashdot.org - Join the movement -
Silence is a state of mime.
We're winning, keep this up till they agree to shit can that shit!
They're flying craft with a long range. Sure they're small but that's not important.
01/01/01
If you were browsing in Beta, you might see:
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"Load More"??? What the hell??? When I post my comment I expect to be able to see it, not have to click "Load more" 3 times and then hunt around to find it.
Some of the comments use font size 0.85rem (never heard of REM before for a font size), and some of them use 1.5em. Can't work out why some are different. Don't care either.
Scrolling through the comments the big problem is that the important stuff, like you know, the actual content of the comment, isn't given prime position. It's hard to find the actual comment inside all of the "subject, commenter, whitespace". It's hidden. Stupid, very hard to read. Notice how reddit comments the actual comment text is bigger? That's so you can read it. They should also condense the subject into the "who" section, and be in the same line. There's enough room.
Oh and I can't see the member ID now of the commenter. That sucks. I liked looking at it to see how long the person had been a member for.
I like the "comment threshold" gears icon to make it easier to filter per level. But damn, it uses Ajax. Could be nice, but I bet if it runs on a post with 500 comments it's going to run slower than a snail. When I choose one of those thresholds I just get a "load more" button - what the hell? There's nothing to load. So those filter options are pointless as well if there's nothing to show.
Ok I can see what people are complaining about now.
When I hit "ok" on my reply, I have to then reload the page. C'mon guys, get a clue! Add my comment to the page so that I don't have to refresh it!
You can't take the sky from me.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
I hope so, then the FAA can shut it down.
Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
Beta isn't that bad.
This story was posted over 30 minutes ago. Did the new version break posting. Let's see...
God damn it if that Ex-SLASHDOT BETA user wasn't absolutely right: this red snow is to die for!!
But I'm not browsing in Beta, because Beta sucks!
FuckBeta.com
I am Beta Spartacus!
the problem with fpv drones in genrel be it for rc use or anything else is we have no real laws on them when the fcc made the regulations for rc aircraft they where short range low atultued visual flight only craft. now we got units that can fly pretty much anywhere it can get a cell single fly much higher and longer.
Really WTF.
x
But Lakemaid isn't the only company that's been harassed by the agency.
It isn't harassment to be told by the agency responsible for regulating aviation to put on the brakes until the rules are in place. It isn't difficult to imagine that alcohol deliveries on inland and coastal waters are going to present some special problems.
On average four or five ice fishing deaths occur in North America every winter, usually the result of a combination of thin ice, too much booze and not enough brains. Ice Fishing
I'll just let my Beretta Onyx Pro do the talking when it comes to drones. Pull!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
There have been a few FOIA request lately that show the FAA is full of it. They're simply trying to intimidate people.
"The most significant misrepresentation is the repeated assertion that flying unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes is prohibited. The FAA repeatedly states that commercial operators are using UAS "without proper authorization" and are therefore "in violation of FAA guidance for UAS," or "in violation of FAA mandates for UAS," warns UAS operators that "operations of this kind may be in violation of the Federal Aviation Regulations and result in legal enforcement action," speaks of "devastating liability" in the event of an accident, and concludes with a command either requiring or "advising" the subject to cease UAS operations.
Each of these letters is premised on the notion that the FAA's 2007 Policy Notice creates a mandatory prohibition that is binding on the general public. However, by law a mere "policy notice" by a federal agency cannot create legally binding and enforceable obligations on the general public. Only "regulations," passed through the proper notice and comment procedures dictated by the Administrative Procedures Act, can be considered mandatory.
This is one of the central issues in the ongoing case regarding Raphael Pirker ("Trappy"). In fact, in a legal filing in that case, the FAA even admitted:
"To the extent that the Respondent is arguing that the information contained in the AC 9157 and
the 2007 Notice supersede the operational requirements contained in 14 CFR part 91 regulations, it
2 is clear that compliance with the regulations is mandatory, while the policies addressed in AC 91-57
and the 2007 Notice are not mandatory."
Despite this admission, the FAA continues to label failure to abide by the 2007 Policy Statement's prohibition on commercial use of unmanned aircraft as a "violation" which could subject operators to legal enforcement action. This begs the question, how can someone be penalized for failure to obey a non-mandatory policy? What regulation are they violating, and on what basis could the FAA initiate an enforcement action if compliance is not mandatory? The FAA has no answers to these questions, which is likely why they have never initiated an enforcement action against someone solely for operating a commercial UAS. Yet they continue to misrepresent the law and tell people such operation is illegal, despite having no legal basis for this claim."
yepp, dont like beta either
The NSA, current US administration, DHS, FAA, and Dice are in cahoots to make sure no slashdotters get possession of drones for a preemptive strike on shashdot beta!
This is probably about to come out in a new Snowden Files episode next week.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
The post button is already right at the top, right below the summary and the BS, right where you adjust your viewing threshold.
I've said this before and I'll say it here again, since it's on-topic: Slashdot is dying. It began its death spiral before Malda left. Once he quit, its fate became certain.
A bunch of shit has happened over the years, from FIRST POST!, Natalie Portman, and hot grits in the early days; to Roland Piquepaille's story spamming in more recent history. Eventually, ZDnet or Gizmodo or some other tech site will buy Slashdot and begin integrating it into their own website. Eventually, Slashdot's URL will be only a redirect to the website of its corporate overlords.
Sent from my iPhone
The hexacopter is great, but it's a radio-controlled device. You can do first-person-view (FPV) stuff with it but it's still 100% controlled by a human. That's not a drone.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU SAY "WHO CARES", RC helicopters up to 400ft are not regulated by the FAA. That means the FAA lacks authority to do so. The beer thing is a fun gag. HOAX if you prefer. The hexacopter can lift almost 4lbs, and a six-pack weighs 4.5lbs. It wasn't real. The GPS coordinates... also not real. It's a gag. A gimmick. An advertisement for some future product. Didn't happen.
The point of this is.
1. The FAA has no authority over RC stuff.
2. Drone/UAS means there's nobody controlling it. That's not the case here.
3. A six pack of beer is a great thing, but it's too heavy for even a hexacopter.
Ehud :)
helicopter pilot (the real kind, 1 R44, and about 7 electrical RC and 1 nitro methane RC
Democracy is for the people; you only vote once per season and we'll do the rest of the work for you don't have to.
It's a crappy beta with nothing good.
IMO the date-writing skills are ok, but there seems to be a mismatch in the format used and the format expected.
And the USA does look a bit alone in the format it uses for writing dates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country
While I can recognise /. as being a US-based website and whatnot, this is still the Internet where worldwide communication and participation [is / used to be] expected [and encouraged]. So cut him some slack and know that there are 7 days from 2/10 to 2/17 (in that format), which would be the same as 10/2 to 17/2 in other formats, maybe even yours.
it's just a fucking layout with the exact same content.
Beta is fine
True, but commercial helicopters don't fly that high. And if a drone struck a rotor, the helicopter would be lucky to make it to the ground. Commercial helicopters can fly with 1/2 their engines, but not 1/2 of their rotors. Nobody should have to die because somebody's beer didn't get there on time.
How is sending a notice to a company to cease breaking the law harassment ?
Honestly. Bad Vice.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Surely there's solid medical need for beer while ice fishing and the FAA by blocking said delivery is putting the lives of those who do it in serious danger. I mean obviously anyone who Ice Fishes is nearly insane, and probably near hypothermic death. In addition it's been scientifically proven that you'd be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a bellyfull of mead.
You've just missed it, it's been there for years.
... to use drones for something dangerous. Drones are for the military, to kill people safely!