Sydney Vivid Drone Show Malfunctions, 89 Drones Fall

A drone light show at Sydney's Vivid festival malfunctioned Monday night, causing dozens of the aircraft to fall into the harbor and leading organizers to cancel several subsequent performances. The incident occurred during a 7:30 p.m. show above Cockle Bay at Darling Harbour, part of the festival's "StarBound" display.

Approximately 89 drones from a fleet of around 1,000 plunged into the water after a technical failure. Videos from the scene showed drones in formation glitching and descending. The event's producer, UK-based company SkyMagic, stated an unforeseen change in the radio frequency environment caused the malfunction. The company explained this anomaly triggered failsafe landing procedures in some drones due to compromised positional accuracy, and that pilots issued a stop command to assess the situation.

SkyMagic confirmed no drones escaped a designated safety boundary, known as a geofence. The company said some malfunctioning drones encountered this virtual perimeter and shut down to preserve the safety zone, resulting in them falling into the water. Festival organizers stated no injuries were reported and no drones landed outside the exclusion zone.