Fairfield County Business Journal 030220

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PRINT JOURNALISM: BECAUSE IT STILL MATTERS. MARCH 2, 2020 VOL. 56, No. 9

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Wave Aerospace’s Mark Strauss with one of the company’s drones.

Taking flight?

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NO MORE TOLL TALK

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CORONAVIRUS CONCERN

COMMERCIAL DRONE DELIVERY PROPOSED BETWEEN STAMFORD AND LONG ISLAND BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

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Stamford company’s proposal to formally establish a corridor across Long Island Sound for commercial drone delivery is gaining momentum, according to the firm’s co-founder. “We haven’t received FAA approval yet,” Mark Strauss, co-founder of Wave Aerospace, said at its head-

quarters at Serendipity Labs in Stamford. “But we are continuing to have conversations with them, and we have the backing of the Stamford mayor’s office.” The proposal would involve establishing a roughly 10-mile pathway between Stamford and Huntington, Long Island, with aircraft to fly between 500 and 1,000 feet high in a 1,000-footwide corridor. (Consumer drones are restricted to 400

feet in altitude.) While getting from one of those cities to the other — a roughly 14-mile distance — can take over an hour by automobile, Wave’s drones can make the trip in a matter of minutes, Strauss said. The firm, which has five employees, is focusing much of its efforts on its X-6A drone, which measures about 98.5 inches from rotor hub to rotor hub, has a cruising speed of up to 111 mph and a maximum takeoff weight of 220 pounds. The X-6A is powered by a combination of jet fuel and a lithium-ion polymer battery and can fly for up to two hours — as opposed to the handful of minutes most over-the-counter drones » DRONES

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FOX NEWS’ JEANINE PIRRO RECOMMENDED GREENWICH’S HALPERN TO TRUMP FOR FEDERAL BENCH BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com

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hite Plains attorney Philip M. Halpern’s position as a federal judge got a boost from Fox News TV host Jeanine Pirro. The former Westchester County judge and district attorney who is the host of “Justice with Judge Jeanine” recommended Halpern to President Donald Trump for the post. Pirro is a staunch supporter of the president and a fierce critic of Democrats. The Senate approved

his nomination Feb. 12 by a 77-19 vote with New York’s Democrat senators disagreeing on whether Halpern should get the job. He received a vote of approval from U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and opposition by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Halpern, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, has strong connections to Westchester. He will receive an annual salary of $208,000 as a judge. He graduated from Pace University Law School — now the Elisabeth Haub School of Law — in 1980. He teaches a class as an » PIRRO

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