Have you ever wanted that cute pair of boots so bad, but had to wait three days before Amazon could deliver it? If the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approves of Amazon’s launch of Amazon Prime Air, you will get those boots in less than thirty minutes from the time you purchased. What’s more, a person won’t be delivering the boots...a drone will. A drone is an unmanned, small, spider-like vehicle that can zip around in the air. These drones will be able to perform many tasks from food delivery to package delivery. However, proper laws haven’t been established for what drone operators can and cannot do. Some say, however, that collisions in the airspace and privacy issues make drones out of the question, as their risks are just too dangerous to tamper with. On the other hand, drones beneficiality make agriculture, food delivery, online purchases and even the entertainment business successful. Their countless purposes would improve so many lives, making it impossible for drones to not be implemented in the airspace. Drones’ benefits far suffice the negatives of drones.

Primarily, drones would be useful in agriculture. For one, they would help crop dusting much easier, efficient and less laborious for the farmers. If drones can do the job of crop dusting and surveillance of the fields from in the air, farmers can spend “less time...scouting, and more time treating the plants that need” care (from senseFly, a team of robotics researchers and member of the Small UAV Coalition). Not only will the use of drones free up their time from surveillance of fields, but it will increase their efficiency in the fields and will allow them to focus on more individual things, like plants and trees.

Secondly, drones security and monitoring purposes are far more effective than any human is capable of. Security is an issue that in the past has been maintained by the presence of a person. However, this can soon be changed. For example, in the past, “drones were mostly used by the military for top-secret missions and then for bombing and surveillance in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Newsela). With drones, the military could spy on enemies and prevent potential attacks from occurring. However, not only can drones be used by the military, they can also be used in search and rescue missions. This is better than a person trying to look through an area for someone as the drone has an aerial view in the sky and could detect a moving object(s). “ ‘Instead, we can use it to narrow the territory we have to search manually, which saves a lot of time and effort’ “ (Ban). As you can see, drones will improve how we observe a setting in the sky.

Lastly, the drones can be used in delivery. This is especially useful for when you want those boots! The most recent news of delivery by drones is from Amazon Prime Air. Amazon advertises that the “goal of prime Air would be to get packages to customers in as little as 30 minutes,” says Cara Griffith, expert on state tax issues and policy. This delivery purpose is not holding any boundaries, as many places all over the world are using drones to their advantage. Not your typical Amazon package...but teabags. The largest Asian Internet company will be “partnering with Shanghai YTO Express...to deliver ginger tea packets to 450 Chinese customers” (Chen). Drones can change how companies can help their customers to receive products faster and more efficiently.

While drones have many purposes and features, some say that drones just enkindle more safety hazards and dangers. Currently, drones have a short battery life of about 10-12 mins at the most (Berg, Scharr). With short battery life, there is a high probability that the drone may fall from the sky onto a person, home, etc. However, while it has a short battery life right now, drones haven’t been fully implemented into the airspace. Drastic changes and improvements will be made, way before the FAA approves any companies, especially Amazon, to fly in the airspace. In addition, others say that it is possible for complication or collisions to happen in the airspace, specifically with airplanes and other aircraft. Currently, there are no laws established for drones that restrict the space they fly in. However,  The FAA is still in the process of establishing laws to govern the drones and punish any drone users disobeying any laws or restrictions.

If this amazing type of technology is in our grasp, why aren’t we taking advantage of it? Drones bring not only more efficiency in the commercial business, but can also save many lives. With so many purposes and functions, a drone’s versatility can be shown through agriculture, deliveries, security, and so many more (too many to name). Drones are the future and they are worth the establishing of restrictions and laws if it will be helpful  multitudinously. As you can see, drones’ benefits far exceed the negatives of drones. Drones can be “saving time, saving money, and, most importantly, saving lives” (Whittle).

Works Cited

Ban, Charlie. " Drones Assist County Sheriffs' Search and Rescue Missions."Drones Assist County Sheriffs' Search and Rescue Missions. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. .

Chen, Lulu Yilun. "Alibaba Drones Fly Over Beijing While Amazon Pleads for U.S. Tests." Bloomberg. N.p., 4 Feb. 2015. Web. .

"Drones Are Fun, Drones Are Popular, but Drones Can Also Be Dangerous."Newsela. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. .

"Drones for." SenseFly: Agriculture. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. .

Whittle, Richard. "Are We Ready for Drones in American Airspace?" Popular Mechanics. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. .