Catawba Island-to-Port Clinton Operation Lollipop Drop brings drone deliveries closer

CATAWBA ISLAND ― Operation Lollipop Drop was a success.

A drone carrying a box of Spangler Candy Dum-Dum lollipops took the first official flight across Lake Erie with cargo from Catawba Island to Put-in-Bay on Friday afternoon.

“It was a perfect landing! We got it,” Cody Kowalski, a junior at Put-in-Bay High School, said at 1:35 p.m.

“The box is still attached,” said Grant Dunfee, a junior from Danbury High School, as he watched video footage of the landing on the Catawba Island dock.

The test was part of an inaugural drone training class taken by Northern Ohio high school students.

Grant has spent a lot of time on the water, Rescue Marine is the family business, and has done deliveries by boat to the islands.

“I think it’s really cool that I got to be a part of the first cargo delivery by drone to the islands,” he said. “I think it’s really cool to be doing it by drone, much more efficiently and in a much cooler way, in my opinion, than in a boat.”

Erie-Ottawa International Airport Director Clay Finken organized the flight, getting all the necessary permits from the Federal Aviation Administration. Among the preparations was a waiver for the Dum-Dum payload.

“This drone is not designed for a payload like this, but this camera carriage allows us to fasten the cargo to it, where there would normally be a camera,” Finken said of the small craft, about two feet wide, with the four small rotors.

Craig Iaboni, from Eagle Robotics, was the drone pilot.

“We do a lot of work around drones and with drones for vision tasks and mobility tasks in the air,” Iaboni said. “For today’s mission, we have it set up as a waypoint mission. We define certain waypoints along the route that we want the drone to hit, and it handles the rest.”

He had full control over the drone as it flies during the pre-programmed mission. The drone has a camera that allows the operator to see and monitor what is happening. At one point during the flight, Iaboni did have to override the programming, taking manual control of the drone.

The drone flew approximately 7 miles from the Catawba Island State Park Boat Launch on E. Moore’s Dock Road to Put-in-Bay. The drone took off for the 16-minute trip at 1:19 p.m. and landed at approximately 1:35 p.m. It flew at a height of 69.8 feet, with a tailwind. The estimated speed was between 15 mph and 20 mph.

The flight was delayed several times in the week leading up to the event due to weather issues. It was delayed several times that morning because of rain, but Finken’s tracking indicated a window with clear weather between the two islands, both by air and water. FAA regulations require a line-of-sight from the drone operator, so Iaboni was in a boat, following the drone all the way to Put-in-Bay.

The Dum-Dums were chosen because of their light weight and long association with Ohio. Spangler Candy celebrates the iconic candy’s 100th anniversary this year.

Iaboni said the drone could carry up to approximately 15 pounds, but the weight also takes a toll on the drone’s electric lithium battery life. The Dum-Dum cargo will allow approximately 30 minutes of battery power.

“A lot of potential delivery use cases fit within those bounds,” Iaboni said.

Finken said that early potential uses include possible medical and rescue situations.

“It’s been amazing to be a part of this history-making event. You jump ahead 30 years and these things are going to be like flies. Drones will be everywhere,” said Bill Martin, Spangler Candy president. “Dum-Dums started out being delivered by horse and buggy, then it was car. I’m sure at some point there was a plane, and now by drone.”

The connection between the flight and the candy was put together by Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted’s office.

“To be delivered by drone? I never would have imagined it, even a few weeks ago,” Martin said. “So many people have a connection to it, kind of an emotional attachment to it. It’s something their grandparents gave to them, or they got at the bank, at the doctor’s office, or it’s something their Sunday school teacher gave them. The connections are unbelievable.”

Austin Leis, a junior at Port Clinton High School, attended.

“I think drones are really cool. I’m really into drones. I think it’s great, what they are doing here. I’m excited about what we can do in the future, transporting things.

The students will be getting their commercial drone pilot licenses. Austin said he has his own drone.

“For at least four years I’ve had my own drone flying around. But now I can do it commercially, which will be really cool,” Leis said.

Teachers from the student’s school picked out who would take part after an application process.

“Austin is on my robotics team at the high school,” said Bobby Good, the teacher advisor for the team. “He’s also one of the leaders on the team. He’s also got a background with drones, so when the (Ottawa County Improvement Corporation) reached out to our school, our curriculum advisor reached out to me and Austin immediately came to mind because of his background with robotics and drones.”

“There were five (students), in total. The only one that was not here was Cody, because he actually lives in Put-in-Bay, so he was with the Put-in-Bay contingent,” Finken said.

Rose Fanning, a junior from Perkins High School, Sandusky, explained that they had two days of training for the Part 107 commercial drone pilot (license class).

“Today is the actual mission day, but we’ve been training for 6 hours per day,” Rose said.

She sees her future in drone technology.

“I have a big passion for aviation. Before that, I wanted to be a commercial pilot for one of the major airlines, but now, through drone camp, it has opened my eyes to all the possibilities in my life that I have, because, let’s face it, drones are the technology. We’ve already had autopilot, and now we have unmanned aircraft. I think it’s an amazing opportunity to be a part of,” Rose said.

Jessica Grzechowiak, with the Ottawa County Improvement Corp., was there to see the lift-off and the took the boat with Ioboni for the visual line-of-sight requirements.

“This is going to put Ottawa County on the map. We are in a new age of technology,” Grzechowiak said. “We want Ottawa County and Port Clinton to not miss the opportunity of this growing technology.”

“We have drone deliveries on the horizon. You should look forward to your Grubhub and CVS deliveries very soon, by drone,” Iaboni said.

rlapointe@gannett.com

419-332-2674

This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Catawba Island-to-Port Clinton Operation Lollipop Drop brings drone deliveries closer