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FAA Approves Blood Toting Drones at North Carolina Hospital

posted by martyb on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:20AM   
from the beware-the-circling-vampires dept.

RandomFactor writes:

For the first time ever, the FAA has approved the routine commercial use of drones to carry a product.

The WakeMed program will start by flying patients’ medical samples one-third of a mile (.5 kilometer) from a medical park to the main hospital building for lab testing at least six times a day five days a week, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in an interview. Vials of blood or other specimens will be loaded into a secure box and carried to a drone launching pad, where they will be fastened to the aircraft and flown to another building. He said the flights will technically be within sight of operators on either end of the route, and they are authorized to fly above people.

Samples are typically driven on the ground and the goal of this project is to cut down how long it typically takes to transport time-sensitive samples to their destination for testing.

the North Carolina program could expand to flying miles-long routes between Raleigh-area WakeMed buildings in the coming months, Raptopoulos said. He also said medical specimen flights could start at one or two more hospitals in other cities later in 2019.

Other approvals by the FAA have been for limited tests and demos.

North Carolina is one of nine sites participating in the FAA’s pilot program to accelerate integrating drones for new uses ranging from utility inspections to insurance claims. The test sites get leeway trying new innovations while working closely with the federal officials in charge of regulating the drones.

Can we get a black-helicopter drone that doesn't make any noise?

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Original Submission

• O'Bomber was like a magician. He had one trick. O'Bomber was like a magician. He had one trick. (Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:45AM (2 children)

  by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 27 2019, @09:45AM (#820558) Homepage Journal

  They said he could turn a wedding into a funeral with his Drones. And they gave him a Nobel Peace Prize, can you believe it?

  I'm the first guy to say, just a minute, what if we used our Drones to save lives? Instead of kill, kill, killing. We call it, Droning for Peace. And if the Nobel Prizes are fair I'll be getting one for approving the beautiful Blood Drones. To go with the prizes for bringing Peace to Israel, to Korea, to Venezuela & Middle East. Need a bigger mantelpiece!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:O'Bomber was like a magician. He had one trick. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:38AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:38AM (#820571)

  We call it, Droning for Peace.

  Meh, whatevs. Better then droning for piss I s'ppose.

  Parent

• Re:O'Bomber was like a magician. He had one trick. (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:33PM

  by DannyB (5839) on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:33PM (#820659) Journal

  Dear Mr. President,

  Your Peace Drones should use a telescoping camera lens.

  I saw a cell phone camera with a telescoping lens. The best lens. I promise. The telescoping lens pops out a tiny bit. Like the president's tiny misshapen mushroom.

  --
  To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.

  Parent