Advertisement

2015: The Year Of The Commercial Drone

The first U.S. government-sanctioned drone flight was a success, beating Amazon and Facebook in the race to deliver goods to doorsteps via drone technology.

Australian manufacturer Flirtey carried out the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved drone delivery Friday, transporting 24 packages — about 30 pounds total — of medical supplies from Virginia’s Lonseome Pine Airport to a rural health clinic at the Wise County (Virginia) Fairgrounds in three separate three-minute trips.

“Proving that unmanned aircraft can deliver lifesaving medicines is an important step toward a future where unmanned aircraft make routine autonomous deliveries of your everyday purchases,” said Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeny in a statement, likening Friday’s flight success to that the Wright Brothers’ in Kitty Hawk, N.C. in 1903.

Flirtey’s medical deliveries were part of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, which joins NASA and Virginia Tech University researchers to test unmanned aviation systems for the FAA.

Advertisement

Friday’s flight — which happened as unauthorized drones reportedly interfered with wildfire rescue efforts in California — announced last month after a judge lifted the FAA ban on commercial drone flight earlier this year.

Drones have previously been noted for their surveying ability, usefulness in providing disaster or emergency relief, police surveillance and border patrol, and their prowess for stealing smartphone passwords.

But the summer of 2015 has been key for drone use with tech companies, most notably Google, Facebook and Amazon, fervently looking to fly drones commercial use. The FAA gave Amazon the go-ahead in April to test its drones for delivering goods to customers. Facebook tested its drones WiFi-delivery service in the UK, as a part of its efforts to deliver internet access to remote parts of the world through its Internet.org project. Google is heading a similar project and also tested its internet-equipped drones this spring.

Flirtey’s landmark flight also follows another medically related delivery in Poland where reproductive rights activists shipped abortion pills to women via drone. The flight made international news for delivering abortion-inducing medication to women in a country with strict abortion prohibition laws.