The drone light show at SeaTac turned into a $40,000 disaster when 48 drones worth $143,000 fell into Angle Lake shortly after the show started. No injuries were reported. Does anyone know what brand these drones were?
@Reese
“This is all DJI’s fault.” – Skydio
Elliott said:
@Reese
“This is all DJI’s fault.” – Skydio
Not true. If they were DJI drones, they probably wouldn’t have failed like this.
Elliott said:
@Reese
“This is all DJI’s fault.” – Skydio
Not true. If they were DJI drones, they probably wouldn’t have failed like this.
Maybe it’s time to ban them so local companies don’t have to compete.
Elliott said:
@Reese
“This is all DJI’s fault.” – Skydio
Not true. If they were DJI drones, they probably wouldn’t have failed like this.
Even DJI drones could fail, but at least they cost a lot less than $2,600 each.
@Reese
I read somewhere that drone operators at these shows expect a certain number of failures. Can anyone explain why that happens?
Cove said:
@Reese
I read somewhere that drone operators at these shows expect a certain number of failures. Can anyone explain why that happens?
Usually, you can spot errors or warnings before a drone fails. In this case, they said the drones had GPS lock, but something caused them to drop into the lake. It’s unusual for this many to fail.
@Cairo
Sometimes GPS failures trigger strange behavior. I’ve seen drones suddenly lose all satellite connections and enter return-to-home mode, only to fail completely.
@Reese
These drones seem to be Lumenier ARORA Light Show Drones. They’re designed for shows but might not handle failures well.
@Reese
I had no idea SeaTac was a city. I always thought it was just the airport.
@Reese
This happened during a drone show in Duluth too, but the drones ended up in Lake Superior instead of a small lake. They couldn’t recover any of them there.
Val said:
@Reese
This happened during a drone show in Duluth too, but the drones ended up in Lake Superior instead of a small lake. They couldn’t recover any of them there.
Lake Superior is no joke. I remember swimming in it once; it was freezing even during the summer.
@Reese
I saw a drone show in Sunnyvale, California, during the Fourth of July. It wasn’t that exciting—just slow-moving shapes in the sky. One drone even went down.
@Reese
I think this could be a case of operator error or poor equipment planning. The drones didn’t seem ready for this kind of show.
@Reese
If someone intentionally jammed or shot down my drones, I’d be furious. There should be legal consequences for this kind of interference.
FlightFanatic said:
@Reese
If someone intentionally jammed or shot down my drones, I’d be furious. There should be legal consequences for this kind of interference.
From what I’ve read, deliberate interference seems likely in this case.