Opinion: Drones delivering medical supplies and more can help save American lives
Drones delivering medical supplies have caught on quickly in Africa and the South Pacific. It's time for the U.S. to invest in the technology.
On July 17, 2015, a small drone traversed the mountainous terrain of Wise County, Va., and lowered a shipment of medications to a pop-up clinic offered by Remote Area Medical. This hexacopter, operated by Flirtey, an Australian company, was the first such medical flight sanctioned by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Since then, the U.S. Department of Transportation has selected to test drones as part of the FAA’s . Many of these programs focus on delivering packages of health care products. (A note on terminology: The unmanned aerial systems community generally dislikes the term “drone,” preferring “unmanned aerial vehicles” or “remotely piloted aircraft.” We use drone here because of its brevity and
