Technical issues force cancellation of centrepiece light festival event
Updated ,first published
Drones raining down from the sky over Sydney’s Darling Harbor caused a pause at one of the Vivid light festival’s showcase events; Dozens dived into the water, some of whom have not yet been caught.
Monday’s “Star-Bound” drone show at 9:30pm was canceled due to “unforeseen technical difficulties” during the 7:30pm show.
“We apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience caused to participants,” a Vivid Sydney spokesperson said in a statement.
“Public safety is always the number one priority and a full assessment is currently underway with expert operators and relevant government agencies advising on next steps,” they added.
The 9.30pm event was canceled and Tuesday and Wednesday night shows were canceled due to a technical and safety review.
Organizers warned that the drone show was “weather dependent” and that conditions would be closely monitored on Monday to determine whether it could go ahead before the event.
A worker at Darling Port told ABC Local Radio there had been “a succession of drone malfunctions”.
“Everything looked normal and very soon after the first image was displayed you started to see drones crashing into the water on the south side of Cockle Bay,” he said.
“To our knowledge, no UAV has landed outside the designated restricted area,” Vivid Sydney said.
Sky Magic, the British company behind the drone display, said 89 drones had landed in the water around Cockle Bay.
“No vehicle escaped the safety margin of the demonstration parameters, and the response of the pilots and crew was timely and appropriate in accordance with our operations manual and processes.
“During the emergency landing phase, some vehicles encountered the geofence boundary and closed down to protect the safety zone, causing them to fall into the water,” the company said in a statement.
The problem was caused by an unforeseen change in the “radio frequency environment” that the company described as an “anomaly” that had not been encountered in previous site visits and rehearsals.
Graham Doig, director of UNSW’s drone programme, said many factors could be to blame.
“You’re in an urban environment where signals are reflected off buildings, there’s Wi-Fi interference, all kinds of things,” he said.
“People might be worried about ‘mess’… a bad actor trying to disrupt the show.”
However, Doig thinks this is due to weather conditions. Humidity, rain, and cloud all have the potential to create interference.
“Conditions were pretty terrible in Sydney last night and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the main factor,” Doig said.
The intervention makes little sense for individual drone operators.
“But if there are thousands of drones that all need to talk to each other exactly, and some of them are losing signal and in danger of crashing into each other, they will have a procedure that says: We need to land now, and it will be an automated process,” Doig said.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it was aware of the incident and was working with Vivid to investigate.
“All safety protocols and permits have been obtained for this event to ensure the safety of the public,” CASA said in a statement.
Vivid had planned its biggest ever drone series this year after shows were canceled in 2025 on the advice of police and transport authorities following possible crowding around Circular Quay in 2024.
Prime Minister Chris Minns acknowledged Tuesday that the cancellation was disappointing.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work as advertised in every session, but you know, safety has to come first,” Minns said.
The drone display at Darling Harbor was planned to take place over two nights between Sunday and Wednesday, with a total of 22 shows over 11 nights throughout the weeks-long festival. At least five of these programs are planned to be canceled.
The displays feature up to 1,000 drones hovering over the harbor for eight to 12 minutes.
“We’ve secured the latest in drone technology to ensure these are the brightest drones in the world,” said Brett Sheehy, Vivid’s new director. reporter In March.
As technology has improved over the past decade, drone shows have increased in popularity around the world.
But they don’t always work perfectly.
Cascading errors, wind and connectivity issues led to the loss of 427 drones during a drone show in Melbourne’s Victoria Harbor in July 2023; Many of the drones crashed into the water below.
While drone shows have been canceled for at least two nights, dozens of other planned Vivid events will continue. Showers are expected on Tuesday, easing on Wednesday, but will be followed by heavy rain for the rest of the week.
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Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
