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RC planes carrying Airmail

All over country
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These RC planes will have microprocessor onboard. They will also carry airmail. They will RC controlled through cellphone towers or dedicated towers. Using same technology of "cells" just like cellphones enables them to fly large distances without humans needing to do remote controlling. Since there will be not pilots/humans, it should be lot cheaper. Size of the RC plane will matched to carry the load. Cellphone towers will have additional software built into them for this purpose.
VJW, Jan 31 2012

Penguins with wings for [FlyingToaster] http://www.worth100...ries/89746/penguins
[normzone, Feb 01 2012]

Teaching ravens to fly underwater. http://www.youtube....watch?v=JhS35f015SQ
Can't be any harder than teaching penguins to fly in air. [mouseposture, Feb 02 2012]

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       Why not just use GPS ?
8th of 7, Jan 31 2012
  

       Thats, a good idea. In that case case plane would navigate itself with the help of GPS; No external navigation/control required. Making planes unmanned, would also bring down insurance costs down.
VJW, Jan 31 2012
  

       The costs to run it might be lower, but there are good reasons why drones are not used in commercial or civil air travel. Having a pilot in control of the plane is crucial in the event of an emergency, particularly for a plane that flies regularly over populated areas.   

       Besides, I'm not sure what's particularly new about this idea. The concept of unmanned drones has been around for a long time, as has the notion of using them in non-military settings. Every time it has been floated so far, it has been rejected (for the above mentioned reason, among others). That may change in the future, but even as it stands I'd have to say this has been baked.
ytk, Jan 31 2012
  

       I think what's new about this idea is the concept of having vast numbers of drones buzzing about at a relatively low altitude, each carrying an item of airmail, and not crashing into each other.
hippo, Jan 31 2012
  

       //an emergency, particularly for a plane that flies regularly over populated areas. //   

       Parachute.
VJW, Jan 31 2012
  

       Excellent idea, [VJW]! Didn't the Pony Express start out this way?   

       It would be great if competing mail companies sprang up all over the country -- each drone would have to worry about another drone swooping in, shooting it down, and intercepting the mail delivery for itself! Any flaming wreckage could be explained away on annual municipal budgets as "Urban Renewal: Other" [+]
Grogster, Jan 31 2012
  

       Come up with a neat way for the drones to deliver airmail, or retrieve it from your mailbox, and I'll bun.
DIYMatt, Jan 31 2012
  

       // Didn't the Pony Express start out this way?//   

       I'm pretty sure the Pony Express started out by using some sort of animal to carry the mail. I'd have to google to find out which.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 31 2012
  

       Wikipedia says they used cows.
hippo, Jan 31 2012
  

       ...wearing Pony brand shoes.
RayfordSteele, Jan 31 2012
  

       I thought it started as the huod express, run by the huod tribe from the central patagonia-bohemia border mountains. However the printers for their first big order of corporate branded stationary got the artwork upside down.
pocmloc, Jan 31 2012
  

       Post offices in remote parts of Orisa, India still use pegions for sending telegrams to rural villages in deep jungles.
VJW, Jan 31 2012
  

       // Since there will be not pilots/humans, it should be lot cheaper. //   

       I'm not sure what led you to that conclusion; a human being and a reasonably comfortable seat cost much less than a cockpit full of high-tech guidance systems. Using drone aircraft to carry mail and packages is a cool idea, but the last time I checked, a Cessna was still much cheaper than a Global Hawk, and the USPS runs on a shoestring budget at the best of times.
Alterother, Jan 31 2012
  

       //pegions// sp. penquins
pocmloc, Jan 31 2012
  

       Penguin Post ?
8th of 7, Jan 31 2012
  

       QQQ
pocmloc, Jan 31 2012
  

       Penguins don't come in the post, they come from the Antarctic!
Alterother, Jan 31 2012
  

       They might come from Antarctic outposts.
mouseposture, Feb 01 2012
  

       Possibly, but are any of them qualified pilots?
Alterother, Feb 01 2012
  

       Only underwater.
mouseposture, Feb 01 2012
  

       Fit them with prosthetic wings; see what happens.
FlyingToaster, Feb 01 2012
  

       It's been tried (link). Ethyl methane sulfonate is an alkylating agent and a potent mutagen -- it created a virus so lethal the subject was destroyed before we left the table.
normzone, Feb 01 2012
  

       Sounds like a job for Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling <link>.
mouseposture, Feb 02 2012
  

       One possible downside to be considered is that all the RC drones might end up on display in Tehran.
AusCan531, Feb 02 2012
  

       North Vietnam had one for John McCain.
AusCan531, Feb 02 2012
  


 

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