Residents in parts of Gastonia, North Carolina, have been told to expect delivery drones over their neighborhoods. On Oct. 11, WSOC-TV reported that a drone delivery facility had been completed at the Walmart at 223 N. Myrtle School Road. The City of Gastonia released information so residents would understand why drones may fly over or near their homes. Deliveries will go to eligible customers within roughly a 6-mile radius of the store.
The notice leaves out several things. According to WSOC's report, it does not name the drone operator, give a start date, or say how many flights to expect. Walmart says it will staff informational tables at the store and at upcoming community events. The specifics are in a federal environmental document that most residents will never read.
The questions below compare what Gastonia residents have been told with what that document allows.
Who is actually flying the drones?
WSOC's article does not say. DroneXL ties the Gastonia site to Wing, the drone delivery company. It bases that on the FAA's approval of Wing's Charlotte-area operations and on Walmart's June 2025 announcement of Charlotte service. The governing federal document is the FAA's Written Re-evaluation for Wing Aviation's Charlotte, NC operations, dated April 29, 2025.
A written re-evaluation is an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The FAA uses it to check whether an earlier environmental finding still holds when an operator expands into a new area. It covers how a drone operation affects the ground below, including noise, siting and flight profile. It is not a flight schedule.
How many flights could there be?
A lot more than one store's worth. The FAA document covers up to 25 hub locations in the Charlotte operating area, with daily operations at each hub "consisting of up to 400 deliveries." Across the full metro area, that comes to a ceiling of 10,000 deliveries a day.
These are limits, not forecasts. Nothing in the record says the Myrtle School Road hub will reach 400 deliveries a day, or come close. But this is the operating envelope the FAA studied and cleared. The city's notice did not include any of these figures.
When will drones fly?
The FAA document sets operating hours at 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. It also provides for in-hub checkout flights between 6 and 7 a.m., which DroneXL says total up to 24. These are pre-operational flights that come before the delivery day begins, so aircraft activity at the hub could begin before 7 a.m.
How high and how fast?
According to the FAA review, Wing's aircraft cruise at an average of 165 feet above ground level and an average ground speed of 59 mph en route. The maximum altitude is 400 feet AGL.
How loud will it be?
This is the number most likely to be quoted back to residents, so it needs some explanation. The FAA's noise analysis found that 800 overflights would not exceed 40.7 DNL, the day-night average sound level.
DNL averages sound energy over 24 hours and adds a penalty for nighttime noise. The FAA's threshold for noise-compatible land use is 65 DNL. A modeled 40.7 DNL after 800 overflights is far below that line. The FAA's analysis concluded that hub operations are not expected to exceed that 65 dB threshold.
An average is not what people hear, though. DNL spreads each brief pass over a full day. Someone standing under a flight path hears separate events, each with a start and a finish, not a 24-hour average. The metric is the FAA's standard one, and the result is well under the threshold. It still does not answer the question residents usually ask: what will each flyover sound like, and how many will there be?
How close to homes can a hub sit?
The FAA document requires hubs to be at least 74 feet from noise-sensitive resources such as homes. That distance is the setback for the 60 dB DNL contour. Inside Class B, C or D airspace surface areas, the setback grows to 199 feet, tied to the 55 dB contour.
Has this been controversial nearby?
Yes. In Lincoln County, a proposed hub at the Walmart at 7131 N.C. 73 in Denver drew a petition with more than 200 signatures, according to DroneXL. County commissioners still approved a conditional zoning amendment 3-1 on June 15.
Gastonia is not the first Walmart drone stop west of Charlotte. DroneXL reports that the Kings Mountain Walmart began drone delivery in December 2025 and the Shelby store followed on Feb. 3, 2026.
What can residents do if they have a complaint?
Gastonia's notice, as WSOC reported it, does not name a complaint contact. Other cities have done this differently. DroneXL notes that Round Rock, Texas, lists a complaint contact on its city page about drone delivery. That gives residents somewhere to report a problem besides the operator's own customer service line.
Why It Matters
The way this service reaches residents here follows a pattern. The federal environmental review covers a whole metro area and is set at limits most residents never see: 25 hubs, 400 deliveries per hub per day, and 15 hours of flying daily. Gastonia's notice, as WSOC reported it, covers location and radius and says little about volume, hours or noise.
That gap matters. The FAA analysis may be sound. On paper, 40.7 DNL is far below the level at which federal noise policy treats residential use as incompatible. But the public's understanding is shaped by a city notice that leaves out who the operator is, when flights start and how many there could be. Lincoln County's petition shows what that can look like.
Cities could include the operator's name, the FAA's operating limits and a complaint contact in their notices, as Round Rock does with its complaint contact. That would cost them very little. It would also give residents the facts before the first drone flies over, instead of after.
