Mumbai Pizza delivered by unmanned drone, police not amused

On May 11, the Francesco’s Pizzeria used a four-rotor drone to deliver a pizza from its outlet in Lower Parel to a building in Worli 1.5 km away. A video of the flight was later released online and went viral.

“We are calling for reports from Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the pizza company to check if permission from ATC was taken for the use of the drone. We are awaiting a report from ATC,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Madhukar Pandey, Central region.

Pandey added, “We plan to insist upon a police clearance before any ATC permissions for any intra-city aerial movements are given.”

When contacted, Mikhel Rajani, owner of Francesco’s Pizzeria, said, “The person who helped me put the drone together is a hobbyist and tests his drones in the city. As the drone flew below 400 feet and was in visual range, we didn’t feel the need to seek permission We conducted this experiment to market the pizzeria. We didn’t know that it would attract so much attention.”

The police have always been additionally careful about flying of unmanned aerial vehicles and other forms of flying such as paragliding and parasailing in light of the possible threat perception that they carry.

Such activities are routinely banned on occasions such as Independence Day and Republic Day as a precautionary measure.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com