Drone deliveries working in Australia

 https://www.inceptivemind.com/wing-drone-delivery-service-hits-100000-deliveries-milestone/20797

The basis of everything is drone technology developed by the company. Its drones have 12 vertical rotors and two wings and can fly like an airplane and take off or land like a helicopter. The drones have a range of six miles – limited by their battery life – which means the trips are fairly short, so there’s not a lot of issue with foodstuffs staying hot or cold, in spite of the package being transported outside the drone. The company says its drones can carry up to three pounds (1.3 kg) of packages, and the system has had no issues carrying extremely fragile objects like eggs.

The drones fly to their destination, descend to a height of 23 feet (seven meters), and lower their goods to the ground and unhook it.

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Sort of a replacement for Door Dash?

a sort-of drone inspects rail tracks

 https://newatlas.com/drones/staaker-bg-300-railway-inspection-drone

 

Manufactured by Norwegian company Nordic Unmanned, the BG-300 is a fuel-cell-powered multicopter drone that also packs a set of four motorized rail wheels. Utilizing those, it can cruise along a rail line at an average speed of 20 km/h (12 mph), reportedly travelling up to 200 km (124 miles) at a time.

Importantly, though, if it encounters any other rail traffic, it will autonomously fly up off the tracks in order to get out of the way until that traffic passes. It can also use this functionality to move from one track to another.

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Now that is some smart thinking!  Drones seem to have endless uses.

drug dealers use drone, but it leads to their downfall

 https://interestingengineering.com/spanish-police-capture-5-engine-drone-used-for-drug-transport

 

Made in China, the drone has a total of five motors, four of them are electric and allow it to take off and land vertically. The fifth motor is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine that supports horizontal flight. With a maximum speed capacity of 105 miles per hour (170 km/h), the drone can fly at an altitude of 7000 feet (2000 m). The Spanish police, however, estimate the drone flew at lower altitudes to save fuel and avoid being detected. 

Priced between €30,000 and €150,000 (US $35,000 - $176,000), the drone was operated using an electronic system that relayed the origin and destination along with all the waypoints along the way. It could be flown remotely but the gang was not very aware of its technical capabilities, the Spanish police told the media outlet. They hollowed the front of the drone (which would typically sport equipment such as cameras) to transport their cargo from Morocco to Almáchar.  The dismantleable drone has a wingspan of 15 feet (4.5m), big enough to be detected on radar. Along with its detectable telecommunication, its large size led to its discovery and then tracking to its location. 

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This will get dangerous if people start throwing up large drones without coordinating with other planes.

 

Super sophisticated drone harasses Tucson helicopters

 https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42021/radio-transmissions-from-police-helicopters-chase-of-bizarre-craft-over-tucson-add-to-mystery?utm_source=digg

 

PILOT OF TROY164 (AS50) REPORTED A NMAC ON FREQ 118.3. REPORTED UNKNOWN UAS LESS THAN 100 FEET, 12 O'CLOCK. HAD TO DESCEND IMMEDIATELY AND TURN TO AVOID. MADE 360'S TO LOCATE THE DRONE. DID LOCATE THE DRONE ABOVE HIM AND TRACKED IT UNTIL AIRE 2 ARRIVED. DRONE CIRCLED BETWEEN BOTH HELOS AND CLIMBED UP TO AND ABOVE AN ESTIMATED 12000 FEET AND TRAVELED 10 MILES NORTH/NORTHEAST TOWARDS MT. LEMMON. PILOTS UNABLE TO FULLY IDENTIFY TYPE OR COLOR OF DRONE DUE TO NIGHTTIME CONDITIONS AND MANEUVERABILITY OF UAS. ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE CAMERA FOOTAGE BUT UNABLE, PURSUED FOR OVER 60 MINUTES UNTIL CONTACT LOST IN VICINITY OF MARANA AIRPORT.