About 90 drones fell into Darling Harbour during a Vivid Sydney aerial drone show called Star-Bound. During the Monday 7.30pm performance, unforeseen technical difficulties occurred, and 89 drones plunged into the water at Cockle Bay. No injuries were reported. The operator said a technical issue followed an unexpected change in the radio frequency environment after take-off, which compromised positional accuracy and triggered failsafe landing procedures. A stop command was issued to keep the fleet stationary in the air while the issue was assessed, then a return-to-home protocol was used for safe landing of unaffected drones. Some drones shut down after encountering the geofence boundary, causing them to fall into the water. The 9.30pm performance was cancelled, and four performances on Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled for a full technical and safety review.
"About 90 drones have plummeted from the sky and plunged into Sydney's Darling Harbour during an aerial drone show, prompting a second event to be cancelled later in the evening. Vivid Sydney said unforeseen technical difficulties occurred during Monday's 7.30pm performance of the show, called Star-Bound, resulting in 89 drones falling into the water at Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour. No injuries have been reported."
"Skymagic, the operator of the drone show, said the performance experienced a technical issue after an unforeseen change in the radio frequency (RF) environment occurring after take-off. This anomaly caused a number of drones in the fleet to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy, the company said. The pilot team encountering the issue immediately performed a stop command rendering the fleet stationary in the air, enabling time to safely assess the issue."
"Once stability had been evaluated, the team then activated the return to home protocol bringing the unaffected drones to a safe landing. Drone show returns to Vivid Sydney 2026 video Skymagic said none of the drones left the safety boundary of the show. 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, it said."
"Vivid said in a statement Monday night that public safety and security remain the absolute priority, with Monday's 9.30pm performance cancelled after advice from specialist operators. We apologise for the disappointment and thank everyone for their patience and understanding, Vivid said. The chief executive of Destination NSW, Karen Jones, which runs Vivid, told ABC Radio Sydney while it was incredibly upsetting the shows had been cancelled, safet"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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