White Castle To Deliver Crave Cases By Drones Across America [VIDEO]

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's a bird! It's a plane! No -- it's the White Castle Crave Copter!

Well -- maybe. It is April Fool's Day after all.

White Castle announced Friday that it will begin delivering Crave Cases with 30 of its Original Sliders via Crave Copters, unmanned aerial vehicles more popularly known as drones, using a mechanical claw capable of lifting up to 10 pounds.

The fast-food giant said it will begin nationwide service with a fleet of 1,500 Crave Copters strategically positioned across the U.S. A highly sophisticated tracking system will apparently allow deployment to the geographic areas with the most demand.

"A team of former United States Air Force pilots utilizing the latest industrial drone technology will pilot the squadrons of Crave Copters," the company said in a release.

Delivery time will apparently depend on the customer's proximity to the White Castle and a delivery fee will vary depending on anticipated Crave Copter airtime.

The drone delivery idea allegedly stemmed from a Thanksgiving promotion White Castle hosted in Cincinnati last fall as a tribute to the iconic WKRP television show and to celebrate the launch of new Turkey menu items. The original Crave Copters were used to develop the program and have since flown an unbelievable number of hours and training missions to perfect the timely and efficient delivery of the Crave Cases, the company said.

"Our core mission has always been about delivering a high-quality meal at an affordable price and about creating memorable moments for our customers and their families. Drone delivery of Crave Cases is a continuation of both and allows us to expand our restaurant service area," Jamie Richardson, White Castle vice president, said in a statement. "The delivery idea literally fell from the sky when I was watching our Crave Copters drop Turkey Sliders as part of a contest. The idea is simple: If national online retailers can deliver a DVD copy of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle in 30 minutes, why can't we deliver you a case of Sliders to enjoy while watching your favorite movie?"

Is it for real? Probably not. But crazier things have happened.