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A comment on Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires.

Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by downandout on Friday August 22, 2014 @01:24AM (#8210980)
If people want drone-based delivery, someone will make one that individuals can privately buy that will fly out to pick up packages. That's legal today. Any individual can do anything they want with a drone they own as long as it does not fly above 400 feet - it's the business owning it and using it for commercial purposes that makes it illegal under current rules.
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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by jahewson on Friday August 22, 2014 @02:24AM (#8211099)
An operator can't do anything they like, their UAS has further restrictions which would rule out automated parcel collection:

- flown a sufficient distance from populated areas

- should be kept within visual line of sight of the operator

Source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/faq/

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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by baddox on Friday August 22, 2014 @04:20AM (#8211299)
And, like many rules the FAA makes, there is debate over whether they have the legal authority or physical power to enforce them. That's why they took Trappy to NTSB court rather than arresting him. http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2014/04/12/faa-files-...
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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by furyofantares on Friday August 22, 2014 @01:29AM (#8210991)
Where is that legal today? Don't personal drones have to be manually operated by someone on the ground within line of sight among other restrictions in the US?
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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by downandout on Friday August 22, 2014 @01:34AM (#8211008)
The phrase “visual line of sight” is sometimes distinguished from “line of sight,” which can refer to operation in which a radio signal can be transmitted directly from an operator to a UAS that may be beyond visual line of sight.
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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by furyofantares on Friday August 22, 2014 @02:14AM (#8211087)
And don't you need visual line of sight according to the FAA in order to operate model aircraft / drones?
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Re:Despite FAA Setbacks, Amazon Prime Air Makes Notable Hires by ahupp on Friday August 22, 2014 @03:13AM (#8211183)
I have never seen this distinction made before. cite?
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