If only there was a term for these

"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
12/13/2018 at 18:10 • Filed to: Fedex, flying trucks

FedEx is buying up to 100 new flying delivery trucks

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

FedEx is keen on Cessna’s newest small plane.

Cessna on Tuesday unveiled an all-new design for a small freighter and passenger aircraft, dubbed the SkyCourier.

FedEx Express has agreed to buy 50 of the flying delivery trucks, adding roughly one per month for four years, and holds options for 50 more. The global delivery company is rapidly modernizing its fleet of small planes to stay ahead of competitors like Amazon ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), which are trying to fly and deliver more orders themselves.

FedEx ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), whose planes crisscross the globe with your packages, operates one of the largest aircraft fleets on the planet.

But its enormous freight aircraft can’t pickup and deliver in every community, so the company uses a feeder network of smaller planes to get parcels closer to their final destination, where they can be delivered by ground transportation.

With a top speed of 200 knots (230 miles per hour), the SkyCourier will be able to haul 6,000 pounds of cargo as far as 900 nautical miles. That range would enable FedEx to fly packages from its main hub in Memphis to locations as far off as North Dakota, New Mexico, Connecticut or even the Caribbean.

While the design is all new, the SkyCourier isn’t the most high-tech plane around.

Cessna is using long-proven engines and non-computerized pilot controls to keep development costs down. And the aircraft gets by without some of the standard features of larger planes like retractable landing gear. That saves weight and allows the aircraft to operate in more rugged conditions.

The body of the plane is designed to fit three specially shaped containers that will slot directly into the belly of larger freight airliner to speed up airport connections.

The SkyCourier will fly first as a freighter, but the aircraft also comes in a model designed to carry up to 19 passengers and two crew.

The new planes be delivered to FedEx starting in mid-2020.

Cessna, which is a unit of Textron ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.

DISCUSSION (8)

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 18:14

I got one: flying delivery PLANES. Because you have to specify that the plane flies because that is not normally implied/assumed.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 18:14

HammerheadFistpunch > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 18:18

They are air Land trucks

I tame them.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 18:19

And it won’t require a pilot.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 18:24

Oooh...can't wait for the off road camper version. Soooooooooo excited!

TheRealBicycleBuck > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
12/13/2018 at 20:17

$5.5 million per plane. Two engines burning roughly 50 gal/hr each, so roughly $500/hr to power the engines.

That’s some expensive camping!

Grindintosecond > CaptDale - is secretly British
12/13/2018 at 21:15

The pilots used for such planes are usually within their contract feeder network (regional system for boxes) and such companies have inherent limitations. Two of which are the category and class of plane. Somewhere not far o ver 7,000 pounds cargo makes the plane required to be certified as transport category and the pilot therefore ATP rated. Both are large expenses for the company to incur especially acquiring the plane. The caravan they used previously is great but somewhat weight limited so they use ATRs (42 and 72) and those are former regional planes and therefore transport category. They are also getting old. They have quite a bit of complicated systems as well to maintain and a fixed gear “ twin caravan” solves MANY problems of the future. Especially when Amazon comes in and says, hey...about these new planes with modern autopilot systems.....pilots?

So this plane will probably work out fantastic. If it does, they will refit their regional services with them where loads are appropriately heavy. I used to run UPS feeder stuff, 4,000 pounds at a time and I did see a void between 3,000 pounds and 7k pounds where a simple plane would work great but none existed other than complicated second hand retired regional planes.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > TheRealBicycleBuck
12/13/2018 at 21:58

Logical enhancement on EarthRoamer XV HD!