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December 2015
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
L
ast year at this time we reported on the grow-
ing excitement – and controversy – at the
North Pole over Unmanned Santa Systems
(USS).* Santa’s Elves had just created a
Drone Section (a/k/a Section “D”) to comple-
ment Section S (sleigh), Section R (reindeer),
Section T (technology), and the all-important
P-Section (presents). See the December, 2014
issue of
PE&RS
for the full scoop.**
At that time it was unclear exactly how Santa planned to in-
corporate UAS (or as he calls them, USS) into his operations.
Santa’s Chief Elf Technologist merely said, “North Pole oper-
ations are magic, and we don’t disclose how magic is done. Do
you want to spoil Christmas for everyone?”
Since then, however, several developments have occurred
which may shed light on Santa’s plans.
On the commercial front, two of Santa’s biggest alleged con-
tractors have formed drone delivery businesses — Amazon
Prime Air and Google Express. Additionally, Walmart has
asked FAA for a Section 333 exemption to fly UAS to deliver
packages. Lastly, the United States Postal Services is enter-
taining proposals from third parties to support their next gen-
eration delivery vehicles, which apparently includes drones.
In testimony before FAA, Amazon vice president Paul Misen-
er stated, “we’d like to begin delivering to our customers as
soon as it’s approved.” Many children of FAA employees have
demanded of their parents that Amazon get approval before
Christmas, but rivals at Google suspect that Amazon primed
the kids to say that.
Meanwhile, there is already a reported gray market of UAS
being used to deliver packages without FAA’s blessing. Anec-
dotally, many people have reported unsafe or unpleasant ex-
periences while walking under a mulberry bush or looking up
at mistletoe. They say they have received unwanted packages
delivered from the sky. Fortunately for Santa’s reputation,
none believed that the package was a present from Santa.
When Santa’s Chief Strategy Elf (nicknamed “Selfie”) was
asked about these commercial developments, he denied the
existence of Section “D”, or any of the other operational sec-
