Federal probe blames Orlando drone mishap on company's faulty programming

Ryan Gillespie, Orlando Sentinel on Jan 17, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal probe has found that drones meant to dazzle holiday season viewers on the shores of Orlando’s Lake Eola didn’t have the most updated flight path programming installed, triggering a chain of mishaps in which some of the aircraft collided with each other, fell from the sky and, in one case, dived into a crowd of people and severely injured a child.

In its preliminary report investigating the mishap, the National Transportation Safety Board states that the formation of about 500 drones ended up misaligned by about seven degrees, and the drones’ geofence — a virtual firewall meant to contain the devices to a safe zone — moved much closer to the audience than expected.

The agency put the blame on Sky Elements LLC, a Texas company that was under contract with the city for two shows on Dec. 21, charging $75,000 for its work. The snafu occurred during the first show and the second was canceled.

Ryan Wallace, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who reviewed the report at the request of the Orlando Sentinel, said it appeared Sky Elements was too reliant on technology in its safety protocols.

“If you don’t apply the technology correctly, it doesn’t apply the protections it is supposed to,” he said. “I think the big takeaway is technology alone isn’t the best mitigation.”

The company participated in the investigation, the report states, and implemented several new protocols it outlined in the document. Now two licensed pilots will be at each drone show and independently go through its pre-flight procedures. The company has also allotted more time for its personnel to go through the safety checks involving its systems and the surrounding environment, and will incorporate new safety protocols into the company policies and training.

“NTSB’s preliminary report revealed that this was an isolated incident involving actions outside the scope of our established operating procedures, which are specifically designed to prioritize safety and prevent such occurrences,” the company said in a statement. “These enhancements reflect our commitment to operational excellence and our determination to prevent such events from occurring in the future.”

Following the mishap, the Federal Aviation Administration suspended the permission it had previously granted Sky Elements to operate multiple drones at once, forcing the cancellation of multiple shows on New Year’s Eve.

The recommended changes appear intended to prevent the company from succumbing to the pressure to complete a flight, said Tombo Jones, the director of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech, who referred to the effects of such pressure as “missionitis.”

The new protocols will give “the pilot more time to plan and having a second set of eyes are ways to reduce the likelihood of an accident occurring due to pressure to accomplish the mission. So it appears that this company is implementing procedures to reduce the likelihood of this happening again,” Jones wrote in an email to the Sentinel.

As the NTSB report describes it, the fates seemed to be against the Dec. 21 drone shows from the beginning. With showtime approaching, the operator had to troubleshoot five of the drones, which weren’t accepting launch data. About five minutes before the 6:30 show, that issue was corrected and all 500 aircraft were found on the WiFi network.

Then, the operator did a “soft reboot” of the entire fleet, which brought the drones into “show ready” mode, according to the report. The drones involved in the show are about 10.8 inches in length x 10.8 inches in width x 4.9 inches in height, the report said.

More problems ensued at liftoff, when the layers of aircraft didn’t rise uniformly, and then the collisions began. The investigation revealed the final flight path program file hadn’t been sent to the drones.

Even after the collisions, the pilot pressed on, concluding it was safer to complete the show than abort it altogether.

A 7-year-old boy standing in the crowd in what should have been a safe position was struck by the drone in the face and chest and was transported to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. He received heart surgery and has since been released from the hospital.

An attorney representing the family didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing.

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