Many factors could slow your drone-delivered chips

Today’s question:

How does a drone deliver packages? Does it drop it on the roof? How does it ensure the package won’t be stolen?

This question has come in a few times lately, always, I suspect, from the same caller. I say “suspect” because the voice mails have been very fuzzy and it is hard to make out what she is saying. Speak clearly, people. Enunciate.

Anyway, I have not paid much heed to this matter because so far nobody is delivering packages by drone and it is unclear that anybody will anytime soon.

We all got all worked up in 2013 when Amazon announced its plans for drone delivery. Since then it has been testing such deliveries in some parts of the United Kingdom, but not much has been done in the United States.

In 2016 the Federal Aviation Administration enacted regulations on small unmanned aircraft systems, especially commercial drones. The regulations specify, among other things, that a commercial drone must be within line-ofsight of the operator at all times.

And consider that a drone operator must be aware of surface sustained winds, wind gusts, visibility and all the other weather factors plus any flight restrictions at departure, arrival and on the flight path and things get more complicated.

As for the security, who knows? Are we going to see a new interest in skeet shooting? Or pirate-ship drones?

All that is going to kind of put a crimp in your plans to get a case of Doritos dropped off at your front door by a drone anytime soon. We have never spent the summer here in the Valley. If we have windows on our home that face directly north, will we ever get direct sunlight through them?

This sounds like a trick question. You will get some sunlight, just not direct, full sunlight.