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FAA clamps down on beer drones

by on31 January 2014



Drones can only be used for spying

The US Federal Aviation Authority has clamped down on a company which was using drones to deliver beer to isolated communities.

FAA ‘blacklisted’ Minnesota brewery Lakemaid that posted video of drone delivering a 12-pack to frozen Wisconsin lake ice fishers. The FAA is looking into whether it should allow unmanned aircraft to deliver consumer goods and now using drones for commercial sales remains illegal.

Lakemaid got a lot of attention when it posted a YouTube video commercial showing a six-propeller unmanned aircraft taking off from a Wisconsin bait shop and delivering a 12-pack of Lakemaid beer to thirsty, and appreciative ice fishers (who were Lakemaid employees). The video got more than 25,000 clicks and grabbed the attention of very thirsty local journalists.

The company said that it wanted to get a leg up on consumer giants such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who stirred a media frenzy when he said in December his home-delivery company may use drones to drop shipments to people's homes, but it was mostly a publicity stunt.

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