Wing is now delivering Walmart orders by drone from the Supercenter at 10500 W. Colonial Drive in Ocoee, Florida, the West Orange Times & Observer reported on Friday, November 13. Ocoee joins the Apopka and Clermont stores that opened Wing’s first Florida market on July 29.

The Ocoee Police Department has told residents not to worry about the aircraft overhead. “It’s not one of our police drones,” the department said, and it asked people not to interfere with the deliveries.

Wing said on July 29 that it planned to add Ocoee “in the coming weeks.” The first report of deliveries there came 107 days later.

Ocoee’s First Reported Flights Came 15 Weeks After Wing’s July Plan

Wing listed three more stores as planned for the coming weeks when it launched Greater Orlando on July 29: Ocoee, a second Clermont Supercenter on US Highway 27, and Haines City. The Observer’s report is the first DroneXL has found of Ocoee flying, and it gives no start date.

Wing’s news page leads with a November 10 post on Memphis and shows no post on Ocoee. On September 4, DroneXL reported that Wing’s Orlando page still listed Apopka and Clermont as the only communities served. The same page now lists four: Apopka, Clermont, Haines City and Ocoee. It gives no start date for any of them. It also can’t show whether the US Highway 27 store is flying, because both Clermont stores sit under one name.

Wing’s Own FAQ Puts The Usual Service Radius At About 4 Miles

The Observer reported that residents within a six-mile radius of the store can order. Wing’s FAQ says six miles (9.7 kilometers) is the drone’s one-way range. Because the aircraft route around obstacles, they usually serve homes within about four miles (6.4 kilometers) of a nest.

DroneXL has used the six-mile figure for Wing’s Walmart hubs too. A four-mile circle covers less than half the ground of a six-mile one.

The Observer’s speed and hover figures match Wing’s. The drones fly up to 60 mph (97 km/h) and hover about 20 feet (6 meters) over the yard while a tether lowers the box. Wing puts cruise altitude at about 150 feet (46 meters). It says an address also needs a clear patch about the size of a picnic blanket, away from trees and power lines, and that it flies in wind and some rain. Its Florida aircraft carry up to 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms).

Ocoee Police Asked Residents To Leave The Drones Alone

Ocoee police told residents the drones over their neighborhoods are carrying online orders, and asked them to watch from a distance and let the aircraft work. The Observer’s report does not say when or where the department posted the message.

In June 2024, a 72-year-old Clermont man admitted to deputies that he shot a Walmart delivery drone with a 9mm handgun. The drone was flown by DroneUp, Walmart’s partner at the time, on a mock delivery. The man told deputies he thought it was watching him, and he was later ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. Clermont is now one of Wing’s Orlando sites.

DroneXL’s Take

I’m glad the Ocoee Police Department said it. A resident who looks up and sees an aircraft crossing the yard at 150 feet has no way to know whose it is, and in 2024 a man in Clermont answered that question with a handgun. Wing named this store in July and lists Ocoee on its Orlando page, but my read is that most people under the routes never see either one. They are the people Wing described in the good-neighbor post I covered two weeks ago, the ones who never ordered anything. I’d like to see Wing put a start date on each store when it opens, so neighbors hear it from the operator as well. The police have it right in the meantime. The drone is carrying somebody’s shopping, so leave it alone.

Sources: West Orange Times & Observer, Wing, Wing’s Orlando page and FAQ.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.