Drone Delivery Lands in Charlotte With Walmart and Wing, Amazon Eyes Tallahassee Next

While one Massachusetts town votes to keep delivery drones off the ground, two Southeast markets are getting them. Walmart and Wing have started drone deliveries from seven stores in the Charlotte, North Carolina, region. Amazon told Tallahassee reporters it’s aiming to start Prime Air flights there by mid-November.

Charlotte: seven Walmart stores, more coming

The Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday that Wing communications head Tom Kuhn showed off the service Tuesday at the Walmart Supercenter on Galleria Boulevard in southeast Charlotte. The drone “nest” there has 12 charging pads. The stores now offering drone delivery are in:

• Charlotte (Galleria Blvd.)
• Concord
• Gastonia
• Kannapolis
• Kings Mountain
• Lincolnton
• Shelby

Two more Charlotte stores, on Callabridge Court and East Independence Boulevard, are listed as coming soon. The Observer says the launch is part of a Walmart and Wing push to reach more than 270 stores with drone delivery by 2027.

Here’s the service as Wing described it to the paper:

• The aircraft weigh about 10 pounds and carry orders up to about 2.5 pounds that fit in Wing’s custom box.
• One-way range is about 6 miles. Deliveries can take as little as 30 minutes from order to doorstep.
• The drone hovers about 23 feet up and lowers the package on a tether. The customer needs a clear spot roughly the size of a picnic blanket.
• According to the Observer, Walmart’s site lists delivery as free for Walmart+ members for a limited time and $19.99 per delivery for everyone else. Eligible addresses can check at wing.com/walmart.

Tallahassee: Amazon targets mid-November

In interviews with WCTV and WTXL on October 20, Prime Air senior manager of commercial operations Josh Brundage set out the Tallahassee plan:

• Flights from the local fulfillment center to homes within a 7.5-mile radius, starting with a fleet of 21 drones.
• Packages up to five pounds. Brundage said multiple small items can share a box or arrive on separate flights.
• Cruise altitude between 100 and 400 feet, with the drone descending to about 12 feet over a backyard to drop the package. He told WTXL that the 30-second drop is the loudest part.
• An initial goal of delivering orders in under two hours.

WCTV quotes Amazon saying its drones already operate in 15 other U.S. cities. WTXL reports the City of Tallahassee told residents that Florida law limits local control over drone operations, so the city generally can’t ban the service, though it can still enforce local laws if a drone is misused. That’s a sharp contrast to Westborough, where voters just tried to ban commercial drone landing spots outright.

What this means for drone pilots

• Share the low sky. Delivery drones run on automated routes in the same band where Part 107 pilots fly, and they descend into backyards. Near Charlotte-area Walmarts or Tallahassee’s Amazon site, keep a close eye on traffic. Part 107 says you can’t fly in a way that creates a collision hazard with other aircraft.
• These operators fly under different rules. Wing and Amazon operate as FAA-certificated Part 135 air carriers with extra FAA approvals. The proposed Part 108 BVLOS rule, which would make routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight work easier for more operators, is still under White House review.
• Jobs are part of the rollout. FOX49 reported in September that Amazon was hiring ground handlers and a flight monitor in Tallahassee. Delivery networks need people who understand airspace, weather and regulations.
• Get the credential first. If you want to work in drone operations, a remote pilot certificate is the usual starting point. Our Part 107 course prepares you for the FAA knowledge test and the airspace decisions that come after it.

Expect more of both trends at once. Delivery will expand in states that limit local control, and towns in other states will look to Westborough’s playbook.

Sources: The Charlotte Observer; Wing x Walmart; WCTV; WTXL; FOX49; OIRA review of the Part 108 rule

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