Posted on 07/01/2024 11:02:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department in Florida reported a 72-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly shooting down a Walmart delivery drone.
Dennis Winn, 72, was arrested after he allegedly shot down a Walmart Delivery drone that was making mock deliveries in his neighborhood.
According to Local 12 News, Winn fired shots at the drone because he believed it was watching him.
Winn is being charged with”shooting at an aircraft, criminal mischief with damage over $1,000, and discharging a firearm on public or residential property.”
Despite taking a bullet, the drone was able to fly back safely to Walmart, but an investigation revealed the drone received close to $2,500 worth of damages.
Per WCTV:
A Florida man was arrested after he shot down a Walmart delivery drone in his neighborhood, according to officials.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said they received a call about a Walmart delivery drone being shot on Wednesday.
Responding deputies confirmed there was a bullet hole in the load that the drone was carrying.
Witnesses identified the shooter as Dennis Winn, 72. When speaking with deputies, Winn admitted to shooting at the drone once with a 9mm pistol, the sheriff’s office said.
Winn was arrested and charged with shooting at an aircraft, criminal mischief damage over $1,000, and discharging a firearm in public or residential property.
According to Forbes, Walmart started offering drone deliveries in 2021 and currently offers them in Arizona, Florida, and Texas.
Here’s how Walmart’s drone deliveries work:
VIDEO AT LINK..............
>> The article says you cannot discharge on public or private property. That leaves commercial and industrial property.
Commercial, industrial, and residential are generally considered to be private properties.
Not Ben Lurkin... nooooo
Notice that the Chicoms don’t fly their balloons over Florida.
That’s what I was thinking too! And it sounds like he hit it dead center if he hit the cargo.
That guy is incredible!
“ The Florida Man air defense system.”
Darn right.
Blast those filthy commie leftist drones back to the Stone Age.
HOLD MY BEER SUCKER!!!!
where is the sign that walmart drones have the right to invade peoples neighborhoods
!!! THIS !!!!
Humblegunner???
Send that man to Ukraine!
Florida man can rightly claim that a drone is a weapon of war, as evidenced by video after video in Ukraine.
So people can fly drones legally over residential properties? No rules of it hovering for 10 minutes over your property?
Did either drone operator get arrested?
Actually, Humblegunner only shoots down delivery drones in Texas.
Man
Air
Defense
System
FMADS…of course. How did I miss that?
I use Orvis Spreader Loads. You can’t miss as long as you’re pointing in a 90 degrees swath. They don’t go thru interior walls inside the home. Just point in the general direction.
Neighbor was told that his promise to put a flame thrower on his drone and "burn that sucker out of the sky" (paraphrasing for language reasons) was a bit of an over reaction and if he wanted to burn something he needed to get a proper permit.
It was a very fun council meeting. Standing room only.
I am not intentionally trying to be a pain in the butt in this conversation. But package delivery drones cost businesses in the United States typically cost $20,000 or more a piece. They are certificated commercial aircraft and have to be maintained to standards set by the FAA with repairs made by trained and authorized personnel. These companies can't just use any piece of Chinese crap found on Alibaba. They have to use a Certificated piece of Chinese crap
Companies who want to make deliveries by drone have to comply with a plethora of requirements and regulations and obtain numerous exemptions not just from the FAA, but from state and local entities. It is a complex and expensive maze of BS and red tape that few people have any comprehension of. As an aircraft owner for over 30 years, I can tell you that complying with FAA rules and regulation and their certification process causes parts and maintenance expenses to cost somewhere between 3 and 20 times what it would cost for an uncertificated aircraft in many cases. And complying with "the rules" which are constantly evolving for delivery drones are even more iffy and complex to the point that I am surprised that any business is even bothering with it.
This is why homebuilt experimental aircraft are as popular as they are... it is not so much the joy of spending months or years constructing your home-made winged hangar queen... it is the money. It is also a way to get around a whole lot of the regulatory nightmare.
If the drone was hit by a bullet; I can pretty much guarantee that the entire drone would be required to be completely torn down and inspected. Just that could easily cost over $1000. The batteries alone for these large drones’ cost $100s or $1000s and even if the case was just nicked I am certain that the entire battery would have to be replaced along with any other parts which might have been slightly damaged.
The best drone that I currently own is worth less than $500 and I am personally able to do repairs on it since it is used just for fun. But even it would face increased scrutiny if it were used for commercial purposes. All of a sudden it's a different and more expensive state of affairs.
These days when an electric vehicle gets a scratch on the underside of the battery compartment insurance companies sometime require the entire vehicle to be totaled. These days we are living in a new reality. To me $2500 sounds like it is likely right in the ballpark.
While I think that 9mm was a poor choice, he should get a shooting award of some sort but only on the condition that he stick with shotguns in the future. A few shotgun pellets dropping out of the sky would not be a big deal but a long arc with a 9mm could kill someone. Next question, does he get to keep the drone to have it mounted?
Yuppers....
I built the GA military Drones and down to the thickness of a Washer was Scrutinized.
They have Yet to get a commercial vehicle
certified,far as I know.
My Little Gray Friends-——Predator B.
They have Yet to get a commercial vehicle
certified,far as I know.
I am certain that you know a lot more about many aspects of this subject than I do, so forgive me if I inadvertently mischaracterize the situation in some way.
There are many drones under 55 pounds that are approved by the FAA under Part 177. But things get far more complicated when you start looking into Part 135 Air Carrier Certification and drones larger than 55 pounds. Part 135 certification is the only path for small drones to carry the property of another for compensation beyond visual line of sight. The companies and individuals allowed to operate under this set of regs are a very small and exclusive club which are required to work very closely with the FAA. The expenses related to doing this are high and restrictive.
In this environment $2500 is chump change. Just having employees and attorneys sort out a situation like this is going to cost more than $2500 before an employee allowed to do repair work is ever allowed to put his hands on the machine.
When an electric car has its battery compartment dented by a rock... insurance companies sometimes require the entire battery to be replaced which often results in the car being totaled. And that doesn’t even begin to compare with the BS that the FAA puts people trying to advance aviation. Our home is on a small airport and I have neighbors who work for the FAA. Some of them have attitudes that others have a hard time comprehending. Making big companies, small companies, and individuals pay through the nose and jump through endless hoops means nothing to some of them. This is typically in the name of “safety”, but there are many other reasons as well.
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