On September 22, 2016, the United Parcel Service (UPS), a NEC member, tested a commercial drone delivery to an island off of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
The mock delivery simulated a situation in which urgent medicine needed to be delivered to an inaccessible location. The test brought an asthma inhaler from Beverly to a YMCA camp three miles off the coastline on Children’s Island. The delivery is the first of its kind in the United States since the Federal Aviation Administration released guidelines for commercial drone use in August.
“Our focus is on real-world applications that benefit our customers,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability. “We think drones offer a great solution to deliver to hard-to-reach locations in urgent situations where other modes of transportation are not readily available.”