Drones for Delivering Packages....

[fengshuidrone]

Bear in mind that 90% of engineers are not creators, they are parts shoppers. Too few have personal "hand's on" experience, which is necessary for effective comprehension.
That's just the way it is. If you lack the credential you're not given any credit. Just be satisfied for a job well done as our companies continue to remain in business and generating our salaries.

Our company hired kids right out of community college as engineers. They got them at way below going rate and most of them never built anything in their lives before coming to work there. The one older guy they hired was originally an architect.
Fortunately I was given credit for my hard work there. I was promoted to supervisor (hated doing that and went back to building machines) and given top rate pay there. Management knew my abilities and invited me to join the engineering staff but I couldn't see myself at a computer 3D screen all day. When I hit 60 years old my COPD and kidney failure caught up with me and I ended upon disability. I retired and the entire company threw me an awesome retirement party. I'm really glad I never joined the engineering department now that I understand more about what they were going through.

 

[Old Man]

Our company hired kids right out of community college as engineers. They got them at way below going rate and most of them never built anything in their lives before coming to work there. .

Your company was not alone in that practice. Cheap beats experience in the Harvard school of business, and is why expensive mistakes are repeated so often.

When I was a field service rep I frequently railed the engineers for their shortfalls and failures. When injuries took me out of the field and into the shop environment there was still a separation that prevented a direct view of what the engineers experienced. It wasn't until some of the engineers found they liked getting their hands "dirty" and were more closely integrated with the technicians that a better understanding began development. Becoming a part of the engineering department at the R&D level generated a much broader perspective, that engineering can be woefully understaffed, underfunded, and be denied the time necessary to complete a project. Even worse if that project is something totally new and untried. I also found that in some companies multiple managing hands often don't know what the others are doing, and that many of them are more concerned with personal power and prestige than business development. I suppose that old 80/20 rule is the same everywhere. 20% of the the work force provides 80% of the results and benefits.

 

[fengshuidrone]

Well, to get things back on subject, I just found this posted on Yahoo: http://hsrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0SO4l20uVtWZzoA4v.bvZx4;_ylu=X3oDMTNzdXB1OGg0BGJwb3MDMQRjY29kZQNnYQRjcG9zAzEEY3QDMQRnA2FmZmUyYmM2LTRiM2MtMzEwZi1hNmM2LTcxNTZiZGVlZDQ2NgRpbnRsA3VzBGl0YwMwBHBrZ3QDNARwb3MDMQRzZWMDdGQtc3RybQRzbGsDdGl0bGUEdGVzdAM5MDE-/RV=1/RE=1450061493/RH=aHNyZC55YWhvby5jb20-/RO=2/RU=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jbmV0LmNvbS9uZXdzL2FtYXpvbi1zaG93cy1vZmYtbmV3LXByaW1lLWFpci1wcm90b3R5cGUtZGVsaXZlcnktZHJvbmUvI2Z0YWc9WUhGNjVjYmRhMA--/RS=^ADAyGwY6GAEBge4_42f4sJ4f4zcaig-
Apparently the publicity push continues.

 

[Old Man]

And apparently they are thinking abut a more practically designed lifting body. I was wondering when someone would stop using motors for the primary thrust source once the aircraft was off the ground. You only really need to vertical lift motors for landing and lift off, or hover operations. The rest of the time a smaller motor or pair of motors is sufficient for thrust when wings are used for the lift coefficient during flight. The lift motors can simply windmill with little aerodynamic loss.

 

[ProfEngr]

I still see a lot of marketing hype in the video. It might not be a "simulated" run as they claim, but the behavior that's actually shown in the video tells me they never turned off the vertical thrust for any of the shots. Can that single motor really propel that thing sufficiently with the wing surface shown? I remember 20yrs ago when I was looking into fixed-wing craft that a 10ft span, piper design was needed to carry a 5kg or so payload w/ moderate wing loading. Just my skepticism showing through on a Monday morning.

Definitely going to get them more ad revenue either way. I'm just not buying into it yet. The concept has a glimmer of feasibility though.

 

[Old Man]

Without knowing the details for the single motor and the propeller design it's hard to say but using a high aspect ratio wing a 1200w engine can handle a 50 pound plane for hours on end with no problem. No rolling take off or landing but once launched it can fly with authority until the fuel supply is exhausted. In this case it appears they traded wing span for quantity to obtain area. Ultimately I know it's possible but I also think the video depicted a proof of concept vehicle more than the actual final design.