[LINK] Amazon Prime Air

[Jim Birch]

...I refer, of course, to the type of machine suggested for short range
urban delivery of non-lethal payloads.

- Jim


On 3 December 2013 13:03, Jim Birch <planetjim at gmail.com> wrote:

> Is a drone more dangerous than a car?
>
> - Jim
>
>
> On 3 December 2013 12:29, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:
>
>> >>  At 11:07 +1100 3/12/13, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>> >>>  Has anybody seen a discussion on liability and/or insurance for these
>> >>>  autonomous things?
>>
>> >On 3/12/2013 11:31 AM, Roger Clarke wrote:
>> >>  That's in the third paper in the series, for the first of which I
>> >>  sent an RFC this morning, in case anyone didn't notice  (:-)}
>>
>> At 11:53 +1100 3/12/13, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>> >Roger, apart from you?
>>
>> A quick look in my current draft finds these tidbits:
>> >EC Regulation 785/2004 (EC 2004) stipulates requirements relating to
>> >accident insurance for aircraft weighing more than 20kg.  This
>> >appears to apply to drones.
>>
>> [If I'd detected anything similar in FAA and CASA provisions, I'd
>> have included that in the draft as well.
>>
>> [Very few of the micro-drones in teenagers' stockings this Christmas
>> will be >20kg.  And, at least within a campus area, a 1kg book could
>> be delivered with a sub-20kg drone as well.
>>
>> [Note too that there are various air traffic zones (described in
>> paper 3 in the series), around airports, and in inverse cones above
>> them, and across flight-paths at various altitudes.  But the 400-foot
>> max altitude rule that applies across a lot of territory leaves
>> plenty of scope for action - and congestion, and accidents, and the
>> many failure-modes that drones exhibit.
>>
>> [What, me worry??
>>
>>
>> >In the current context, no educational processes appear to be in
>> >place to communicate to drone manufacturers, retailers and
>> >commercial users that they need to undertake risk assessments,
>> >devise and implement appropriate safeguards, and establish
>> >appropriate commercial arrangements including public liability
>> >insurance. There does not even appear to be any current momentum
>> >towards encouraging hobby users to use drones within the context
>> >provided by model aircraft clubs.
>>
>> [I'm hoping to nail down the model aircraft situation more tightly.
>>
>> [I wouldn't fly a model aircraft without either being a member of a
>> club and working within their rules (which would provide me with
>> cover), or reading the public liability part of my house and contents
>> policy very, very carefully.
>>
>> [But I'm an old greybeard with an (admittedly dubious) reputation to
>> protect, and enough assets to be worth suing.  What proportion of
>> drone users will take care to get (and pay for) public liability
>> cover of an appropriate kind?  (Has anyone had a chat with AAMI or
>> NRMA about this?).
>>
>>
>> Here's another indicator of how loose analogous situations are:
>> >Satellite insurance is available for the launch, post-separation and
>> >in-orbit operation phases.  The duration of cover is short, and it
>> >appears that the impact of space debris on other satellites may not
>> >be currently insurable.  It appears that no impact of space debris
>> >on earth or in the earth's atmosphere has yet been the subject of
>> >litigation - although a couple of near-misses have already occurred,
>> >and the USSR compensated Canada for spacecraft-related nuclear
>> >contamination in 1978 - and insurance policies for satellites do not
>> >(yet) cover such risks.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
>>
>> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
>> Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
>> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
>>
>> Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
>> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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>
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