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FAA Stops Beer Drone Delivery — Parallax Forums

FAA Stops Beer Drone Delivery

dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
edited 2014-02-05 19:58 in General Discussion
The Lakemaid micro brewery started delivering beer to ice fishers using drones, at least until the FAA coldly shut their operation down. The FAA is currently reviewing their policies.
According to the beer company’s president, Jack Supple, “They think it’s a great idea, though they’re telling me to stop.”
Here is a video of the drone delivering the beer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qmHwXf8JUOw

How much does a 12 pack of bottled beer weigh? I'm kinda skeptical of this one...
Don
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Comments

  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2014-01-30 08:45
    HobbyKing did a beerlift competition, results here. Based on those it seems that the Lakemaid beer box must be empty.
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-01-30 08:55
    My impression, exactly. The winner in the unlimited lifted 129 lbs, but it was a huge quad. The two I looked at only barely got them off the ground for 10 seconds, hardly "delivering" them anywhere. Did some looking on line and a 12 pack of bottles should weigh around 18 lbs.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-01-30 09:11
    Must have been "lite" beer.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2014-01-30 09:33
    Who needs a drone? I have some Zeppelin Pilot's beer at home which should fly itself most anywhere. But then it might just try to bomb London...

    de_pilots%20graf.jpg
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2014-01-30 09:45
    Great marketing.

    According to my old crazy marketing friend, there is no such thing as bad advertising :)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-30 10:04
    erco,

    Good grief, where can we get Zeppelin Pilot's beer? That's 7%, never mind about London!

    I don't get the 50cl = 1pt, 1fl.oz thing.

    As far as I know one pint is     568cl. It's even a big thing to sell beer cans in Scandinavia in pints now because they are bigger than the 500ml.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2014-01-30 10:13
    You can have mine when you pry it out of my cold dead hand! I got mine in Freidrichshafen, Germany,when I toured the Zeppelin plant & museum.

    My beer bottle does a cameo in my "robot room" video at the 4:00 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMOtGYprBRQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=239
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-30 10:46
    erco,

    My God. You really are insane!

    How come there is no Marvin the Paranoid Android in there?

    Not sure if we can count Daleks as robots but not even a single Dalek.

    And the ED-209?

    Amazing collection nonetheless.
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-01-30 11:00
    We were right, sort of. Actually, the 12 pack contained "a few brews". The guy was all excited that it worked so well that he was ready to order a $15,000 octocoper that could handle the full weight of a 12 pack. Then he got 87 pages of regs from the FAA. His video was deemed "a commercial use" they are getting press (a lot) out of it. Plus he was inside the MSP terminal airspace. Full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/food/drone-beer-delivery-to-ice-fishermen-here-is-a-74966526266.html
    Darn. Around where I live this could be a good little side business - I've got LOTS of ice fishing lakes nearby and, hmmm, I could put a landing zone on my boat on the St. Croix River in the summer, delivering to the throngs of boaters who don't want to leave their prime spots on the sandbars and beaches. Doggonit! 'nother million dollar idea crushed.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-30 11:06
    What's up with these ice fishers?

    In Scandinavia they spend the day on the ice fishing and take a bottle of vodka with them. Compact, light weight, effective. No drone delivery required.

    Beer is no good as it tends to freeze solid.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2014-01-30 15:38
    dmagnus wrote: »
    The Lakemaid micro brewery started delivering beer to ice fishers using drones, at least until the FAA coldly shut their operation down.

    I support execssive government regulation as much as the next guy, but this is clearly going too far.
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-01-30 15:51
    Nah, the brewskis don't freeze solid unless you leave 'em outside - then they're hard to reach. Just put the 12 pack on the floor of the shack and they stay nice and cool. With a couple guys in the shack a 12 pack doesn't last too long anyway, thus requiring another drone run. Of course, some of the shacks have refrigerators.
  • Too_Many_ToolsToo_Many_Tools Posts: 765
    edited 2014-01-30 15:57
    RDL2004 wrote: »
    Must have been "lite" beer.

    LOL...good one.
  • Too_Many_ToolsToo_Many_Tools Posts: 765
    edited 2014-01-30 15:58
    dmagnus wrote: »
    We were right, sort of. Actually, the 12 pack contained "a few brews". The guy was all excited that it worked so well that he was ready to order a $15,000 octocoper that could handle the full weight of a 12 pack. Then he got 87 pages of regs from the FAA. His video was deemed "a commercial use" they are getting press (a lot) out of it. Plus he was inside the MSP terminal airspace. Full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/food/drone-beer-delivery-to-ice-fishermen-here-is-a-74966526266.html
    Darn. Around where I live this could be a good little side business - I've got LOTS of ice fishing lakes nearby and, hmmm, I could put a landing zone on my boat on the St. Croix River in the summer, delivering to the throngs of boaters who don't want to leave their prime spots on the sandbars and beaches. Doggonit! 'nother million dollar idea crushed.

    As I said before, the FAA needs to get off their thumbs and actually do something...drones are not going away.
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-01-30 16:56
    erco wrote: »
    You can have mine when you pry it out of my cold dead hand! I got mine in Freidrichshafen, Germany,when I toured the Zeppelin plant & museum.

    My beer bottle does a cameo in my "robot room" video at the 4:00 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMOtGYprBRQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=239

    Erco, I'm truly impressed. And a little scared :)

    Do you ever dream that they all wake up and demand batteries at the same time? :)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 00:04
    dmagnus,

    What shack? I thought we were ice fishing.
  • ErlendErlend Posts: 612
    edited 2014-01-31 00:39
    Heater. wrote: »


    ...As far as I know one pint is     568cl. It's even a big thing to sell beer cans in Scandinavia in pints now because they are bigger than the 500ml.



    Yes, we do thank the Brits for the Pint - it is the perfect volume of beer.

    Erlend
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 00:44
    Erland,

    It's funny, lot's of locally made beers come in pint sizes now. seems to be all the rage all of a sudden. However I don't think I have yet seen a beer imported from Britain in a pint can or bottle. The stupid Brits are still going out of their way to make 500ml bottles and cans for export!
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-01-31 05:08
    Around here, they sleep in the ice shacks. None of that sittin on the bare ice for a few hours stuff. These guys are serious. Sometimes the traffic gets so busy in the ice shack towns they have to put up traffic signs. :lol:
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 05:40
    Few hours! This is serious stuff, no running back for a six pack when you are out all day:
    Lake_Kallavesi_Finnish_Championships.jpg
    510 x 340 - 147K
  • ErlendErlend Posts: 612
    edited 2014-01-31 05:43
    Heater. wrote: »
    It's funny, lot's of locally made beers come in pint sizes now. seems to be all the rage all of a sudden. However I don't think I have yet seen a beer imported from Britain in a pint can or bottle. The stupid Brits are still going out of their way to make 500ml bottles and cans for export!

    I think it is probably part of the retro trend. The folks who grew up in the sterile nineties are starved for something. A pint is kind-of part of our heritage, it carries something. 500ml is rational only, it carries nothing (well, besides 500ml). Gah, this makes me thirsty for an IPA - draft!

    Erlend
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 05:49
    Perhaps a retro trend. But in Finland it's would be nostalgia for a time that never existed. I don't think they have ever seen pints here before.

    Whenever I have tried to buy a beer in Norway it has arrived in a tiny little glass that is half empty and cost a weeks salary. (Only slight exaggeration!). Did they have pints there once?
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2014-01-31 07:22
    Heater. wrote: »
    Whenever I have tried to buy a beer in Norway it has arrived in a tiny little glass that is half empty and cost a weeks salary. (Only slight exaggeration!). Did they have pints there once?
    50cl used to be very common. But I remember one place from my youth, they served only 33cl glasses. Cheap though.. but I've always preferred 50cl (now pints, but pints didn't come until relatively recently). However, lots of places (particularly the expensive places in areas like Oslo, but also hotel bars and the like) serve 40cl. The idea is to make you pay much more per litre, but make it look like it's cheaper (so barely lower price than the prices in a proper 50cl-beers pub).Anyway there are still 50cl places around, mostly pub types as opposed to bar types. And those who sell Guinness and similar beer on tap usually do that with pint-sized glasses (they weren't around when I was younger).Anyway I remember the coastal bars in Spain.. they sold beer in what must have been 15cl glasses. And you were supposed to pay when you left, hours later. I remember one occasion where we were about 10 persons, we arrived around 20:00 and left around 01:00. I would go to the bar and and buy beers (in 15cl glasses) for all of us, all night. The bartender never wrote anything down. The place was choking full of people. Bartenders didn't write down _anything_. When it was time to leave I talked to the bartender and we tried to figure out how many glasses I had bought.. so I would say "Well, I think I bought this many glasses around that time", and the bartender would say "Yes, that sounds right, and I think maybe you bought that number of glasses somewhen later", and so on. And we agreed on a price at the end. Worst of all, I think it wasn't that far from the truth, in the end.Back to ice fishing.. why would you drink _beer_ for hours and hours, in the cold? You do know it wants to come out after a while.. particularly when it's cold. That's not good for ice fishing. The vodka-drinking Finns probably know what they're doing. Much less trouble..-Tor
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 07:45
    The problem I have with Spain is that you go to take a beer on a terrace, just when the beer is done the waiter is there with a new one, when that one is done, there is another one. Eventually you don't notice the waiter coming and going and it just seems that class is always full. That's it you are stuck. Many hours later the waiter has to call a taxi for you.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2014-01-31 10:27
    Heater. wrote: »
    The problem I have with Spain is that you go to take a beer on a terrace, just when the beer is done the waiter is there with a new one, when that one is done, there is another one. Eventually you don't notice the waiter coming and going and it just seems that class is always full. That's it you are stuck. Many hours later the waiter has to call a taxi for you.

    Which part is problem again?
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-01-31 10:36
    I forget now!
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-02-01 05:44
    This is Ice Fishing in Minnesota. I have never experienced this kind of ice fishing. The last time I went was in a contest on a local lake. They drilled holes about 10 feet part in a huge area on the lake. You "bought" a hole for $5 and sat there all day. I didn't see too many fish, but somebody eventually won. Turns out drilling that many holes that close together was a really dumb idea - it started to flood as the weight of the vehicles and fishermen depressed the ice. I decided I had better things to do with my time like build Parallax robots.
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2014-02-01 16:39
    Someone's confusing cl with cc! 15cl is a small glass, 15cc is a spoonful!
  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    edited 2014-02-01 19:05
    Mark_T,

    well - maybe they have really small glasses up there in Norway ...

    But technically you are right - for those who do not do the metric system I will elaborate.

    A lot o the metric system is based on water. Easy available.

    1 liter water will have the volume of 1000 cc and the weight of 1 kg. (1000 g) - so 1 ml (1/1000 liter) has the volume of 1 cc (cubic cm) and weights 1 gram.

    1 cl (1/100 liter) contains 10 ml (1/1000 liter) and (if water) will have the volume of 10 cc (cubic cm) and the weight of 10 gram.

    so hopefully them glasses are either 15cl or 150cc. Or they are really, really small.

    BTW. Those Degrees Celsius are also based on water... 0 is when it freezes and 100 when it boils. (at 1 bar atmospheric pressure to be exact)

    I am living since 6 years in the US of A and still fight almost every day with them imperial units. How confusing...

    Enjoy!

    Mike
  • ErlendErlend Posts: 612
    edited 2014-02-02 02:13
    msrobots wrote: »
    Mark_T,

    well - maybe they have really small glasses up there in Norway ... !

    Mike

    Norway is a tiny population, but beer is big here. And happily the years of Lager dominance is over, and now we can get all sorts of real micro-brewed beer - in large glasses if we want. It will set you back around 10$/glass, though. Better enjoy every drop of it.

    Erlend
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