A Texas woman counted 52 Amazon drones overhead in one day.
The New York Times reported the story on 21 September under the headline "It's Raining Boxes".
A resident of Richardson, Texas, set up a drone tracker and logged 52 Amazon Prime Air drones over her house on Friday 18 September. Three were flying between 150 and 170 feet above the ground.
DroneXL reported the same day that the MK30 drone weighs 83 pounds at take-off and can carry a 5 pound box. An FAA filing for Baton Rouge puts it at 92.1 decibels while hovering 25 feet away.
The Richardson site serves a 7.5 mile radius, with flights from 7am to 8pm. The city council was told in March that it was handling about 150 orders a day. Its FAA approval allows up to 1,000 a day.
On 28 July, the FAA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, its formal decision that the reviewed activity would not have a significant environmental effect. The decision covered drone delivery across the country under Part 135, the FAA rules for commercial air services. A hub has to sit 600 feet from homes.
Amazon told the Times that fewer than 1% of the inquiries it received about the programme this year concerned noise.
The FAA found no significant impact. Which of your logistics plans survives that finding?
Sources
Our file on Amazon
- 4 Oct
Amazon pledged $1 billion to data-centre towns. Over 100 local bans are being weighed.
- 25 Sept
Amazon cut over 30,000 jobs. Now recruiters want former staff back for AI.
- 22 Sept
Amazon blocked Meta's AI assistant from buying on Amazon. It launched 12 days earlier.
- 21 Sept
Amazon's shopping bot may bury US-made goods, two senators told the FTC.
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