Drone delivery startup Flytrex and partner Causey Aviation Unmanned (CAU), announced today they had received Standard Part 135 Air Carrier Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) according to an announcement sent to The Spoon. According to the FAA, Part 135 “certification is the only path for small drones to carry the property of another for compensation beyond visual line of sight.”
With this notch in its belt, Causey and Flytex become just the fifth group to receive Part 135 certification, joining Amazon/Prime Air, Google/Wing, UPS, and Zipline. According to the company, this certification will allow Flytrex to complete long-range commercial drone deliveries across the U.S. and expand its delivery service to all eligible back and front yards nationwide.
“We live in an era of instant gratification, where consumers want to get their food or goods faster, more reliably, more economically and more sustainably – and drone delivery has risen to the occasion,” said Yariv Bash, Flytrex CEO. “Flytrex’s continued success delivering to customers throughout North Carolina and Texas has put us ahead of the curve. With this certification, we look forward to bringing our super swift, sustainable and safe airborne delivery systems to every backyard across the U.S.”
Flytrex and CAU currently have five operational delivery stations in North Carolina and one in Texas, delivering tens of thousands of items to hundreds of thousands of homes. Flytrex says it has worked closely with regulators, including participating in the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program and BEYOND initiative, to ensure the highest safety standards for drone delivery.
In case you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to order food delivery via a Flytrex drone, it’s a somewhat involved process that factors in a safety and viability analysis of each customer’s backyard. First, the company analyzes available space in a given backyard, whether there are power lines, and once a safety review is passed, the address is added to the Flytrex flight network.
You can watch the drone (and an explanation of the customer onboarding process below):
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