Will Deliver Packages Up To Five Pounds As Far As 10 Miles In 30 Minutes

Amazon Prime is very bullish on its plan to use drones to deliver packages to people's homes and offices ... so much so that one executive predicts that seeing the delivery drones will be as "normal as seeing a delivery truck driving down the street someday."

That prediction came from Paul Misener, Amazon's VP for global public policy in an interview with Yahoo News. Ars Technica reports that in that interview, Misener said that the goal is to get packages to customers within 30 minutes of clicking "buy" on Amazon.com. "The goals we’ve set for ourselves are: The range has to be over 10 miles. These things will weigh about 55 pounds each, but they’ll be able to deliver parcels that weigh up to five pounds. It turns out that the vast majority of the things we sell at Amazon weigh less than five pounds."

Misener said he's not particularly concerned about the anti-drone crowd that might seek to damage the aircraft. He said those people could shoot at trucks as easily as they could shoot at drones, and "we want to make deliveries."

Misener says that Amazon has proposed that the FAA carve out a portion of airspace that would be exclusively for drones. He said they have proposed to the FAA and other regulatory agencies that manned aircraft be restricted to 500 feet and above, and that there be a 100-foot safety buffer between 400 and 500 feet. Delivery drones would operate between 200 and 400 feet, and below 200 feet would be a "transit zone" for things like takeoffs and landing, aerial photography, and other such operations.

Of course, it is all contingent on the FAA figuring out how to integrate UAVs into the National Airspace system ... but the smart money is probably betting on companies like Amazon to eventually offer airborne delivery services right to your door.

(Image from Amazon Prime YouTube video)

FMI: www.amazon.com/Prime