‘Flying Lawn Mowers’: Amazon’s Delivery Drones Are Driving a Texas Suburb Crazy

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The future of package delivery apparently sounds like a lawn mower, all day long. In Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, residents are pushing back against the noise of Amazon’s delivery drones. One homeowner counted 52 flights over her property in a single day, GeekWire reports. “It’s constant, it’s like a beehive up there right over our house,” one resident said.

Flying Lawn Mowers in the Backyard

Amazon delivers packages by drone in Richardson through its Prime Air service between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., every day. The drones weigh about 38 kilograms and carry several cameras. The residents’ complaints at a glance:

• The noise: Many compare the drones to “flying lawn mowers.” The buzzing can be heard even indoors with the TV on, they say, and their backyards have turned into flight corridors.
• The privacy: The drones are equipped with cameras, and no one knows exactly what happens to the footage. “You have these eyes on you,” one resident told KERA News.
• The hours: Some are calling at least for shorter operating hours so they can enjoy some peace outdoors again.

Some of those affected have organized as self-described “drone warriors.” They log the flights and are pressing local officials to act.

The City Can’t Do Anything

The problem is that residents and the city have little legal recourse. In the United States, airspace falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration, so cities cannot set flight paths, noise limits or minimum altitudes. In Richardson, according to KERA News, Amazon also has a binding agreement with the city.

Amazon, for its part, sees no major problem. Fewer than 1 percent of inquiries this year concerned noise, the company says, and the sound is comparable to that of ordinary household appliances. At the same time, it plans a major expansion of Prime Air to as many as 500 more locations in the United States.

The Battle for the Skies

Amazon isn’t the only company delivering packages by drone in the Dallas area. Walmart, Google’s sister company Wing and the delivery service DoorDash are also expanding their drone fleets there, which is likely to make the skies even busier.

In Europe, delivery drones are still the exception. Amazon has announced drone deliveries in Britain and Italy, and in Ireland the start-up Manna already delivers food and packages by drone around Dublin, where there have also been noise complaints. The experience in Texas shows what cities and residents should discuss before the drones arrive.