Wisconsin Brewer Wanted To Deliver Beverage To Ice Fishermen, Others

The president of the Stevens Point, WI brewery Lakemaid Beer took a cue from Amazon.com and has released a video on YouTube of an unmanned aircraft delivering beer to fishermen on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota ... and the video has drawn the wrath of the FAA.

The brewer has several distributers in Minnesota. In the video, a clerk is seen taking an order and attaching a 12 pack (with two bottles removed so the aircraft could actually fly) to a six-rotor copter, which then flies off to a fishing shack on the frozen lake.

Jack Supple, the brewery president, said in a recent television interview relayed by Mashable.com that he felt that it was smarter and safer to deliver on a frozen lake than to a congested city.

That was not, however, the opinion of the FAA, which contacted the company to tell them that they were conducting a commercial enterprise with a UAV in U.S. airspace. That is still verboten, the agency said. They referred Supple to the agency's roadmap for integration of UAVs into the NAS. New rules are supposed to be in place by 2015 that could allow the airborne beer delivery to take place. Until then, fishermen on Mille Lacs Lake will have to get their beer the old fashioned way.

(Image from YouTube video)

FMI: www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/uas_roadmap_2013.pd