El Reg reports
The trial is a DHL Parcel research project [Google translation] that flies to Juist, a tiny North Sea island (just 7km long) off the German mainland, from Norddeich harbour. Flights take place only at certain times of day with the parcelcopter flying the 12km in airspace restricted for the parcelcopter with no overflying of houses. There is a ground station for the flight which is in constant contact with regional air traffic controllers.
[...]During the trial, it will fly when ferries from Norddeich and piloted flights are not available. DHL envisages it being used to deliver up to 1.2kg of medications -- pills and so forth -- and other urgent deliveries to Juist, where there is a parcelcopter-only landing field. From there DHL couriers will complete the delivery by using cars or bicycles -- high-tech meets low-tech.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday September 27 2014, @09:18PM
It's weird how some new things are embraced wholeheartedly, without knowing their perils, while other things seem scary and are restricted with tons of rules and harsh penalties for breaking them. Computers are still scary, and hackers get heavy punishments. Early cars had all kinds of restrictions, and to be fair, they could be very dangerous. Yet the laws covered the perceived dangers, which weren't exactly the same as the real dangers. But all kinds of dangerous chemicals go unnoticed for years. Heroin, cocaine, and radioactive substances (radium watch dials) used to be in consumer products, then things went to the other extreme with Prohibition banning even alcohol. Asbestos was used for years, then banned. For 70 years, doubts about Bisphenol A were ignored or hushed up. Now at last we're aware and doing something about BPA. There are still lots of chemicals that need a harder look.
Seems drones are in the same camp as computers. Scary, overly restricted, and problems handled too harshly. They could be dangerous, yes. Death from above could happen just by a drone malfunctioning and crashing or dropping cargo. Not sure what safety measures are feasible. Autorotate? Padding? Emergency parachutes?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 27 2014, @09:47PM
If you think the companies that those sold products which have been identified as health hazards didn't know about the dangers (having had workers being exposed to the substances daily for years), you might be interested in the giant bridge I have for sale at a bargain price.
...and I miss the tritium backlight I had on my watch back in 1977.
(I was in a planetarium and, right before the show started, my watch was the only thing visible.)
what safety measures are feasible. Autorotate?
Well, for starters, the thing is quadruple-redundant--or is that only triple-redundant?
-- gewg_
(Score: 1) by Flyingmoose on Sunday September 28 2014, @12:43AM
There are still plenty of tritium watches available, just do a search.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @03:21AM
It was more of a conversation piece decades ago.
I can't remember any time in the last decade that I've needed to know exactly what time it is when my surroundings are that dark.
It was also a wristwatch and I've carried my timepiece in my pocket since the mid '80s.
The Timex also cost me over 10x what I've paid ($1) for any timepiece I've purchased in recent memory.
...but, yeah. They're available.
-- gewg_