Cleveland Heights Mayor Jim Petras has a meeting scheduled with Amazon next week, after residents complained about the Prime Air drones that began flying out of North Randall on September 24, as DroneXL reported at launch. Petras told Spectrum News 1 the drones currently fly over residential neighborhoods, and he plans to ask Amazon whether the flight pattern can be adjusted to a more commercial area.
Cleveland Heights sits inside the 7.5-mile (12-kilometer) delivery circle around Amazon’s North Randall warehouse. Some Northeast Ohio residents told Spectrum the drones sound like a swarm of bees or a lawn mower. “Nobody asked me if I wanted things flying overhead,” said Joe Iacobucci, who also worries about surveillance and about someone flying a lookalike drone.
Amazon has made a version of this change before, and it has also said no to the bigger version. In Richardson, Texas, it moved some outbound flights over a commercial area after residents complained, and DroneXL revisited those changes after the New York Times visit. When Richardson residents asked for routes over major roads, Amazon turned them down.
Amazon Shifted Some Richardson Flights but Refused Road Routes
Amazon implemented its Richardson changes in February and presented them to the city council on March 9, Community Impact reported. It raised the minimum altitude for outbound flights to an average of 225 feet (69 meters) and sent select departures east over a commercial area before they entered a neighborhood.
Several residents asked for more: paths over major roads instead of homes. Sam Bailey, who presented the changes for Amazon, said no. “Routing over roads, I think it creates an additional safety issue,” he told the council, adding that it would use far more energy. He also said a quieter drone would take a hardware change that is not coming soon.
In Baton Rouge on September 9, asked at a Rotary Club event whether Amazon had considered flying higher, an Amazon spokesperson said altitude changes require Federal Aviation Administration approval, as DroneXL reported.
Shaker Heights Says Amazon and Cleveland Clinic Drones Fly in the Area
Shaker Heights officials confirmed that delivery drones operating in the region fly for Amazon and for Cleveland Clinic, 19 News reported on September 29. The city said the FAA regulates the flights and that it is still gathering more information.
The city told residents it is collecting that information from the drone operators, and pointed them to the FAA’s Northeast Ohio Flight Standards District Office, WKYC reported. Spectrum lists that office at 440-686-2001. Not every drone over the east side is an MK30. Cleveland Clinic’s Zipline prescription service flies from Beachwood, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) northeast of Amazon’s warehouse, and has flown there since the program went live in August.
Amazon has said its fully electric drones produce less noise than an idling delivery truck during drop-offs, WKYC reported. The FAA’s Baton Rouge filing gives the MK30’s delivery phase two numbers. One is about 69 decibels Lmax measured 75 feet (23 meters) from the drop point, which the FAA likens to a household vacuum cleaner at 10 feet. The other is a maximum of 92.1 decibels SEL measured 25 feet (8 meters) away, for which the filing offers a diesel truck at 50 feet, at roughly 80 to 90 decibels, as its reference. The filing gives no figure for an idling truck; DroneXL searched it on October 6.
Amazon’s MK30 Releases Packages From About 13 Feet
The MK30 descends to about 13 feet (4 meters) over the drop spot, hovers and lets the box fall, according to the same FAA filing. Shaunese Reese told Spectrum News 1 her package arrived the next morning and looked to be in good condition.
She was excited to try the service, but said the landing was not perfect. “It dropped out, and it did roll,” Reese said. She told WKYC the box rolled down her driveway, which she thinks makes packages easier to steal. In Richmond, Texas, the same release put a customer’s order into her swimming pool on August 17. Zipline lowers its packages on a tether instead.
Amazon’s Own Page Says Its Drones May Record People Near Deliveries
Amazon has said its Prime Air drones use cameras and sensors for navigation, obstacle detection and safe delivery, but don’t track individuals or record their movements, WKYC reported. Amazon’s Prime Air operations page, which DroneXL checked on October 6, says people near a delivery or landing spot may be recorded.
The page lists “people, pets, cars, and objects near the delivery or landing location” as things the cameras may record, and says Amazon uses the images to safely complete deliveries and to improve drone delivery and other Amazon services. In my reading, not recording a person’s movements and not recording the person are different promises. The statement WKYC relayed makes the first, and Amazon’s own page says the second can happen. DroneXL found a wider gap in Texas, where Amazon’s Bailey told Pflugerville’s council on September 22 that the drones can’t take “pictures or images,” as DroneXL reported.
Cities do not control the airspace the drones fly through, the federal government does, and Amazon’s hub sits in North Randall, not Cleveland Heights. Residents can reach Amazon at 1-888-280-4331 or through the customer service chat (“Something Else,” then “Amazon Drone Delivery”), and our guide for residents covers the rest of the options. Every Amazon hub DroneXL follows, North Randall included, is on the Prime Air tracker page.
DroneXL’s Take
Petras is asking for the right thing, and I think a meeting is the most direct lever he has. Amazon changed where some Richardson flights go when residents pushed, so a Cleveland Heights route change looks within reach to me. On the east side, Zipline flies prescriptions for Cleveland Clinic over some of the same suburbs, with an aircraft that weighs about 55 pounds empty and carries a parachute. Amazon flies consumer goods in an MK30 that weighs about 83 pounds at takeoff and carries no parachute. I support drone delivery when the cargo is urgent, and a prescription is. A package that could ride in a van does not need to cross a residential street, and in September one MK30 landed itself beside a Baton Rouge road while another made a precautionary landing on a Waco lawn. I’d want Amazon to bring next week’s meeting a plan that keeps Cleveland Heights departures over commercial land wherever it can.
Sources: Spectrum News 1, 19 News, WKYC via Yahoo News, Community Impact, FAA Baton Rouge filing, Amazon Prime Air operations page
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
