The head of the drone company in charge of a failed Fourth of July light show in SeaTac, Wash., called it a “devastating” incident, but he took some comfort in the fact that safety procedures worked as intended.
Matthew Quinn, founder and CEO at Great Lakes Drone Co. out of Coloma, Mich., told GeekWire that he does not have all the answers yet for what went wrong when 55 of 200 drones descended into Angle Lake last Thursday night.
The drones were supposed to “light up the night sky, in a captivating areal display, performing an illuminated, synchronized show,” according to the City of SeaTac website description for the holiday festivities. Instead, the $40,000 show turned into a watery disaster, as videos online captured drones hitting the lake.
“I believe the key takeaway here everyone is missing is that technology fails, aircraft fail and the emergency procedures imposed caused zero damage to property or people,” Quinn said. “As much as this was not an ideal event and that we don’t have all the answers as of yet, it was a very successful demonstration of the safety policies, procedures and programming in place.”
Quinn, who was working as the pilot in command for the show, said a number of drones entered failsafe emergency land mode due to “no global positioning” — or loss of GPS. The drones did not fall from the sky — they made controlled landings into the lake. He said if an attempt had been made to override the GPS failure it could have caused flyaways, injury or damage.
“In the aviation world, how many people can say they had a catastrophic failure of multiple aircraft and no one was injured or property damaged other than the aircraft itself?” Quinn said. The Seattle Times reported that the 55 lost drones, valued at $2,600 each, are lost to water damage.
KIRO Newsradio reporter Matt Markovich can be heard on video he shot (above) at Angle Lake saying, “Epic fail for a drone show.” He told KIRO a member of his family took a boat out in an effort to help recover the drones and discovered they sank to the bottom of the lake, some with their lights still on.
In a statement the day after the incident, the City of SeaTac said thousands of residents and visitors enjoyed the holiday at Angle Lake Park, despite the fact that the “drone show ran into a technical glitch.”
Quinn said his company, which has been flying shows since 2017 with only minor incidents over that period, uses the most advanced systems on the market, with a 0.02% failure rate until SeaTac.
“Was it outside interference? Was it an internal system comprise we haven’t found yet? We do not know yet,” he said, adding that the same system that flew the SeaTac show, except the drones themselves, flew two more consecutive shows on July 5 and 6 without any issues and with zero adjustments.
The Times pointed at a March 20 NBC News story about radio frequency jammers that can be used as drone deterrence devices. Such equipment is outlawed by the Federal Communications Commission because it can pose risks to public safety communications. But NBC said that hasn’t stopped some companies from marketing the devices online, including on Amazon.
Drone light shows have become a popular addition or substitute to fireworks displays on the Fourth and throughout the year during various events. The Seattle Mariners flew a baseball-themed show above T-Mobile Park in July 2022, and the head of Fort Worth, Texas-based Sky Elements told GeekWire at the time that the technology is advancing every day as he discussed what goes into putting on such a display.
Sky Elements also flew its drones near the Space Needle as part of the New Year’s celebration on Jan. 1, 2023.
https://ift.tt/ng1Qvkc July 09, 2024 at 04:44PM GeekWire
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