Amazon
Audio By Carbonatix
When Jonathan Pace works from his home in Richardson, he prefers total silence. No television runs in the background, no serene music plays. It’s just Pace, the sound of his keyboard clacking and the dull static of nothingness.
At least, that was the case until a few weeks ago.
In early December, Amazon Prime launched its drone delivery service in Richardson. The program allows residents who live within around eight miles of Amazon’s distribution facility to receive packages weighing up to five pounds by drone, and the service is often much faster than a regular prime delivery driver could transport the order. In some cases, a drone can deliver a product within an hour of the order being placed.
Pace lives less than a mile from the distribution center, and, evidently, his neighbors enjoy the service. So much so that he now finds himself noticing the buzz of drones humming over his home dozens of times a day. He compared the disruption to that of a mosquito buzzing around one’s ear — just annoying enough to wear a person down.
Will you step up to support Dallas Observer this year?
At the Dallas Observer, we’re small and scrappy — and we make the most of every dollar from our supporters. Right now, we’re $15,600 away from reaching our December 31 goal of $30,000. If you’ve ever learned something new, stayed informed, or felt more connected because of the Dallas Observer, now’s the time to give back.
“Last Friday, I counted nine that flew over within an hour. I stopped counting after that,” Pace said of the increased drone traffic near him. “You can hear them coming, so it’s probably about four or five seconds’ worth of sound. So it’s not a drastic sound; it’s more of a consistent, high-pitched noise that happens pretty frequently. That’s the annoying part.”
Maybe it’s a bit of a first-world problem, but now that Pace has noticed the noise, he can’t stop hearing it. And it’s not just the Amazon Prime drones in his neighborhood, either. Last year, the drone delivery service Wing rolled out home deliveries for Walmart in the area. Pace shared a video taken from a recent Wing delivery in his neighborhood (above).
Pace actually thought the service was pretty cool. He used it several times before worrying that the delivery noise, which is a bit louder as the device hovers over a driveway while a product is dropped using a claw-machine type arm, would annoy his neighbors. His wife was more skeptical, though.
“She said this is going to become a big headache for everybody,” Pace said.
Wing did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment, but a spokesperson for Amazon noted that the company held meetings with local HOAs and sought community feedback before launching the Richardson program.
Pace said he was not aware of those community meetings taking place. According to Community Impact, a handful of Richardson residents voiced concerns over the drone noise during a City Council meeting this summer in which the body approved the new service.
A spokesperson for Amazon said no official complaints have been logged with the company since the service launched earlier this month.
“We’re committed to being good neighbors in every community where we operate and serve. Before launching Prime Air in Richardson, we hosted community meetings and attended public hearings to listen to residents’ questions and concerns,” said Steve Kelly, a spokesperson for Amazon, in a statement. “We also designed our MK30 drone with noise reduction as a core priority, achieving a nearly 50% reduction in perceived volume compared to earlier drone models. We welcome ongoing community dialogue and encourage Richardson residents to reach out with questions or feedback.”
Drones are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and North Texas has been a test ground for how the agency plans to oversee drone delivery programs nationwide. North Texas was designated a key site for the FAA in 2024, when, for the first time, the agency authorized multiple unmanned commercial drone operations to fly within the same airspace.
While that initial authorization was for the delivery drone companies Zipline International and Wing Aviation, Flytrex, which delivers for DoorDash, and Amazon have since joined the fray in various North Texas cities. The result is an unprecedented number of delivery drones zipping across North Texas airspace, although not all of the companies serve all areas; most companies serve a several-mile radius surrounding a launch site.
Still, one Walmart-partner company, Zipline, recently told Fox 4 that the drones make 1,000 deliveries across North Texas each day and have completed 100,000 deliveries since April across the 19 cities where the program is active. Each company has slightly different delivery hours and policies, but for the most part, none of the North Texas delivery services are available during nighttime hours. Pace said he typically starts to hear the deliveries flying by around 8:30 a.m.
When a new drone company looks to launch, the FAA requires that they complete an Environmental Assessment, which outlines the scope of the program and allows for a public feedback period. According to an assessment draft provided to the Observer by the FAA, Amazon Prime’s statewide Texas plan anticipated up to 1,000 MK30 drone flights each day from 22 delivery centers across the state. Delivery drones are permitted to operate between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
The FAA regulates drone noise, and any delivery service would also be required to comply with local noise ordinances. Pace isn’t accusing any of the service providers in his area of breaking noise regulations; rather, the noise now exists, and that’s distracting enough.
“I honestly can’t believe more people aren’t bringing up this issue,” Pace said. “My suspicion is that the technology is so new and not widespread enough that others aren’t getting annoyed yet like I am.”
