A group of Richardson, Texas homeowners calling themselves the “Drone Warriors” told NBC’s TODAY last week that they want Amazon Prime Air to fly its drones higher over their neighborhood. Correspondent Ryan Chandler stood in Scott Bratcher’s backyard, where Bratcher, who has lived there 28 years, said hundreds of drones a day now cross what used to be his quiet spot.
Amazon answered with a statement calling Prime Air safe and reliable and the sound on the ground minimal and short-lived. The company announced in August that it plans to reach nearly 500 US cities and towns by the end of the year.
Higher is exactly what Amazon already gave Richardson. In February, after complaints that started in January, Amazon lifted its average outbound altitude over Richardson to 225 feet (69 meters).
Amazon Raised Texas Drones After Complaints, Then Cited the FAA in Louisiana
Amazon changed its Richardson flight profile in February and explained it to the city council in March, with no new FAA rule involved. On September 9 in Baton Rouge, an Amazon spokesperson told a Rotary Club audience that altitude changes require Federal Aviation Administration approval.
Amazon’s Sam Bailey laid out the change at a March City Council meeting, along with rerouting some departures east over commercial land before they reach the Creek Hollow Estates neighborhood, Community Impact reported. He said making the MK30 itself quieter would take a hardware change that is not coming soon, which leaves altitude as the noise lever. The Baton Rouge exchange is in DroneXL’s report on that hub. If the Richardson change sat inside a flight envelope the FAA had already approved, both accounts can be true, and residents elsewhere have the same lever to ask for.
The TODAY segment is not the neighborhood’s first push. Residents from at least four neighborhoods protested outside Amazon’s Research Drive facility on June 13, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported, and Amazon answered then that it had raised altitudes and adjusted flight paths. The tracking apps the Drone Warriors use show Walmart drones too, and Richardson’s drone delivery FAQ lists both operators over the city.
On February 4, an MK30 hit an apartment building on Routh Creek Parkway and smoked on the sidewalk. Nobody was hurt. Amazon told NBC 5 the cause was some type of GPS interference near tall buildings, and that it removed all buildings of similar height and size from its delivery portfolio.
Richardson Has No Say Over the Sky, and 15 States Are Now in Court
Richardson cannot order Amazon to fly higher. The city’s FAQ says cities cannot restrict drones above a certain altitude or create airspace limits that conflict with federal rules. Fifteen states and Harris County, Texas, petitioned a federal appeals court on September 28 to undo the FAA clearance behind Amazon’s expansion.
That clearance is the FAA’s July 28 nationwide environmental finding for Part 135 drone delivery, which lets most new hubs open without the local comment period Richardson’s neighbors once had. The petition, filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James in the Second Circuit, states jurisdiction and makes no argument yet. DroneXL covered the filing the day it landed. Harris County is Houston, not Dallas: no North Texas government is among the petitioners.
One resident’s tracker logged 52 drones overhead on a single Friday in September, a figure from The New York Times that DroneXL reported on September 21. TODAY carried the story to a national morning audience, and the residents closed with advice for the next town: research first, and hold Amazon accountable. One of them put it more bluntly: “If they don’t follow the rules, take away their toys.” For residents in towns where a hub is coming, DroneXL keeps a running guide to what you can still do and how to reach Amazon.
DroneXL’s Take
Amazon should give the Drone Warriors their altitude, and do it before the MK30 reaches 500 more towns. Altitude needs no new aircraft, and Amazon has moved it in Richardson before. Telling Baton Rouge that altitude is the FAA’s call reads to me as a dodge.
My bigger worry runs past Amazon. “Take away their toys” is a line about an 83-pound delivery drone with no parachute, but legislators don’t write rules that precise. When a street gets angry enough to name itself, I expect the bill that follows to say “drones,” and the hobbyist with a 249-gram Mini and the volunteer search and rescue crew pay for a problem neither of them caused. I think Amazon can still defuse Richardson with a flight-profile change. If it waits for a court or a statehouse to do it, every drone pilot in Texas inherits the result.
Sources: TODAY, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, City of Richardson, Community Impact, Second Circuit petition, The New York Times.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
