Amazon Prime Air has been granted permission by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This finally makes drone deliveries possible. It joins UPS, FedEx, and others in live-testing the concept, and will trial the craft in areas of low population density.

By granting permission, the FAA is stating that it believes Amazon can operate an unmanned aerial system (UAS) safely and efficiently – at least in aviation terms. Its statement added:

"The FAA’s role is to ensure that any UAS operation is performed safely. The FAA supports innovation that is beneficial to the public, especially during a health or weather-related crisis."

...A sky full of drones

But how many drones might we be talking about in this new world? In the US alone, Amazon delivers 2.5 billion packages a year – fewer than FedEx (3 billion) and UPS (4.7 billion). A combined 10 billion packages annually is roughly 27 million a day, just in the US.

If, say, just 10% of those were delivered by drone, that would be 2.7 million drone flights daily – all over local areas, given the limited range. One percent would still mean 270,000 drone flights a day, still a huge increase in air traffic.

Reported 21 September 2020 on Diginomica.com: Read the entire article here.

How Department 13 could assist in the management of all these new drones in the sky:

• Provide government and commercial premises with monitoring and detection of drones in their airspace with Department 13's Atlas and DIAL drone management technologies.
• Instantly establish the locations and identifying information of the drones and their operators.
• Identify sUAS from multiple vendors, ensuring the location of all drones are known at all times. The safety and security of our clients staff, assets and infrastructure are our priority.

Contact Department 13 for more information on effective real-time low altitude airspace situational awareness and protection of your infrastructure and assets.