Sydney drone show cancelled after 89 drones fall into harbour

A spectacular drone light show at Sydney's Vivid Festival malfunctioned spectacularly on Monday evening, sending 89 drones plummeting into Darling Harbour. The "Star-Bound" performance, part of the larger Vivid Sydney light festival, experienced "unforeseen technical difficulties" shortly after takeoff, according to organizers. The drones fell into Cockle Bay, prompting the cancellation of the 9:30 p.m. show that night and two more scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

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This anomaly caused a number of drones in the fleet to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy.

Skymagic, the drone show operator, explained that an "unforeseen change in the radio frequency (RF) environment occurring after take-off" caused the malfunction. This anomaly led drones to enact failsafe procedures due to compromised positional accuracy. The pilot team attempted to stop the fleet and then activated a return-to-home protocol for unaffected drones. However, some drones shut down upon hitting the safety geofence boundary during their emergency landing, resulting in their fall into the water.

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Some vehicles during the emergency landing phase encountered the geofence boundary and shut down to preserve the safety zone resulting in them falling into the water.

Karen Jones, chief executive of Destination NSW, which runs Vivid, acknowledged the disappointment but emphasized that safety protocols functioned as intended. She confirmed that an exclusion zone was in place to manage technical failures, ensuring drones landed within the designated area. While ruling out deliberate interference initially, operators are still investigating all possibilities. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been notified and is gathering information. The status of future performances remains uncertain pending a full assessment.

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public safety and security remain the absolute priority