Wing has been delivering Walmart orders by drone in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, since October, Baton Rouge station WBRZ reported on Friday. WBRZ calls the city of about 7,800 people, some 40 miles (64 km) northwest of New Orleans, the first in the state with Walmart drone delivery. A Wing spokesperson briefed the Ponchatoula City Council on the service on Monday, November 9.
Wing’s own site has not caught up. Its Walmart delivery page lists six metros as “Now serving” and 13 as “Coming soon.” The only Louisiana entry is New Orleans, and it is still in the second group.
Wing’s Map Still Lists Its Only Louisiana Metro as Coming Soon
On Friday Wing’s Walmart page showed Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Memphis and Orlando as “Now serving,” with New Orleans under “Coming soon.” Wing’s news posts since early October include none about Louisiana. WBRZ’s report gives the October start without a date and does not name the store.
Wing’s page does not say which towns its New Orleans listing covers, so Ponchatoula may be the first stop of that rollout. Wing and Walmart named New Orleans in June with six other metros. When Memphis went live on Tuesday, Wing published the store numbers and street addresses the same day. On Thursday, working from that map, DroneXL reported that Memphis was the only one of the seven where deliveries had started. If WBRZ’s October date holds, a Louisiana store was flying before Memphis.
Ponchatoula is a first for Walmart but not for drone delivery in Louisiana. Amazon’s Prime Air began delivering in Baton Rouge on July 7, and one of its MK30 drones set itself down beside Florida Boulevard two months later.
Wing Operates Under Part 135, Not the Part 121 Rules Airlines Fly
WBRZ reports that Wing’s presentation assured councilmembers the drones are certified through the FAA at the same level as commercial airliners. That wording is the station’s summary and not a quote from Wing, whose October 29 post says every flight is backed by Part 135 air carrier certification.
Part 135 is the rule set that charter and commuter operators fly under. The large scheduled airlines fly under Part 121, a separate set of rules. Wing is an FAA-certificated air carrier, and it operates under different rules from Delta or United.
WBRZ’s account of the rest of the briefing is short. The average delivery flight takes less than five minutes. The drones carry cameras, and no live image feed goes to anyone, including the pilots supervising the flights. The station quotes the spokesperson saying the aircraft are designed to “blend into neighborhood sounds” and run quieter than a delivery truck.
Wing’s October 29 post makes the same privacy and noise points with numbers. It says overflight sound averages 43 dBA, the drones cruise 150 to 200 feet (46 to 61 meters) up, and the box is lowered on a tether from about 23 feet (7 meters). The post also says Wing meets residents and city officials before it starts serving a new area. WBRZ’s report does not say whether that happened in Ponchatoula before October.
DroneXL’s Take
I think Ponchatoula deserves the Memphis treatment: a start date, a store number and a line on Wing’s map. Wing told Memphis all of that on day one, and on Thursday I wrote that Louisiana was still waiting, because that is what Wing’s page says. People who live under a new delivery route should be able to find it on the operator’s own site. If you live in Ponchatoula, the address check on Wing’s Walmart page will tell you whether your home is in range.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
