See A Drone Light Show Go Horribly Wrong, Rival Company To Blame?

See the video of a drone light show that goes seriously wrong with these things dropping out of the sky. Was a rival company to blame?

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

drone light show

Drone light shows are all the rage these days. Offering a more controlled and less environmentally impactful way to stare at lights in the sky, we’ve been seeing more of these “performances” creeping up over the years. And it makes sense. From a visual perspective, there’s quite a bit of art that can be accomplished with drones and the spectacle is equal to that of the typical fireworks display. But like fireworks, a drone light show can go wrong too. Recently, a performance in China went south in a hurry when the drones started malfunctioning and falling out of the sky. Originally, it was thought that a rival company might have been involved with some drone espionage. 

The drone light show was taking place in China, in the city of Zhengzhou. It was there, in a shopping complex that hundreds of drones were lifted into the sky as part of the show. But it didn’t take long to realize that something was awry with the festivities. Innocent bystanders were at first surprised, and then rightfully scared when the drones started dropping rather unceremoniously from the sky. Things had taken a turn for the worst and now drones were raining down from the heavens. Check out the video of the drone light show gone wrong. 

The drone light show looked spectacular enough to start, but then it becomes apparent that they are coming down to Earth at a faster than normal rate. The quadcopters began to malfunction and that sent onlookers speeding for cover. It was reported that more than 200 drones were originally sent up into the sky with the plan for the lights to spell out the name of the shopping center as part of the celebration. Mission not accomplished. 

And in the wake of this drone light show going off the rails, the company in charge of the show at first hinted that they thought a rival drone company had been up to no good. Some had speculated that this rival had found a way to sabotage the show and make it so the drones weren’t able to function. They would have done this by sending interference signals meant to jam up the drones, causing them to crash. But they apparently backed off that line of thinking and blaming pretty quickly, saying that there was a good chance it was just some kind of error on their part. 

Thankfully, though this drone light show wasn’t what folks signed up to see, or what the Wanda Plaza shopping center paid for either, no one was reported injured in the accident. Some of the drones bounced off cars but no person appeared to have been harmed in the mishap. 

And lest you think this drone light show is the norm in this industry, with onlookers needing to be in constant fear of what could fall out of the sky, think again. Some of the displays being put together across the world can be quite spectacular, mesmerizing even. The largest one ever put together happened last year with over 3,000 drones taking to the sky as part of the show.