Walmart has finished a drone delivery site at its Supercenter at 223 N. Myrtle School Road in Gastonia, North Carolina, and the City of Gastonia has put out a notice so residents know why delivery drones may be flying over or near their neighborhoods. The aircraft will serve eligible customers within about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) of the store.
Walmart plans to explain the service itself, with information tables at the Myrtle School Road store and at upcoming community events, WSOC-TV reported Sunday. That report gives no start date and no flight count. The FAA review that covers Gastonia clears up to 400 deliveries a day from a single hub.
The FAA Sets Wing’s Ceiling at 400 Deliveries a Day per Hub, Gastonia Included
The 400 figure comes from the FAA’s April 29, 2025 review of Wing’s Charlotte-metro operations. It allows up to 25 Wing hubs, each flying up to 400 deliveries a day, for a metro ceiling of 10,000. The FAA’s map of the operating area runs west past Gastonia to Shelby.
WSOC-TV’s text does not name the operator, though it ran Wing’s expansion video above it. Walmart picked Wing for Charlotte when it announced the metro in June 2025, the FAA approval for the metro is Wing’s, and Wing’s Walmart page lists Charlotte as now serving. Charlotte was one of five metros already flying when the two companies added Denver and Seattle on October 5.
The FAA document also says what residents under the flight paths should expect. Wing’s aircraft cruise at an average of 165 feet (50 meters) and 59 mph (95 km/h), and lower packages on a tether while they hover. The approval covers deliveries from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, plus up to 24 checkout flights at the hub between 6 and 7 a.m.
On noise, the FAA cites direct measurements of Wing’s Hummingbird aircraft: a location overflown 800 times stays at or below 40.7 decibels on the day-night average the agency uses. The FAA’s threshold for noise-compatible residential land use is 65. Hubs must sit at least 74 feet (23 meters) from noise-sensitive sites, or 199 feet (61 meters) inside controlled airspace near an airport, and Wing must plan routes to cut down on repeat overflights.
Gastonia Joins Walmart Drone Stores in Kings Mountain and Shelby
Gastonia is not the first Walmart drone stop west of Charlotte. The Kings Mountain store at 1011 Shelby Road started drone delivery in December 2025, and the East Dixon Boulevard store in Shelby followed on February 3, 2026, Wise News Network reported.
Lincoln County, to the north, went through a zoning fight first. Walmart’s store at 7131 N.C. 73 in Denver needed a conditional zoning amendment for its drone site, and more than 200 people signed a petition against it. Commissioners approved it 3 to 1 on June 15, with Chair Jamie Lineberger voting no, the Lincoln Times-News reported.
DroneXL’s Take
Gastonia got the order right by telling residents before the drones started showing up, and Walmart will put people at tables in the store to answer questions. Lincoln County residents met their hub at a zoning hearing with a petition already circulating, which is a worse way to start.
But WSOC’s account of the notice leaves out the two things a neighbor asks first: how many flights, and who to call about the noise. Round Rock, Texas, put a complaint contact on its city page. I’d want Gastonia to put Wing’s contact and the FAA’s numbers in front of residents, because up to 400 deliveries a day from one parking lot is a figure residents should hear from their city instead of digging it out of a federal PDF.
Sources: WSOC-TV, Axios Charlotte, Wing, FAA written re-evaluation, Wing Charlotte metro, April 29, 2025, Lincoln Times-News, Wise News Network
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
