Drone Emissions Drop in Orlando Caused by Mismatched Flight Path: NTSB Report

The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report Thursday on what went wrong at a drone show in Florida last month that caused some of the aircraft to go wrong, leaving a boy seriously injured.

The accident happened during the Christmas light show organized by Sky Elements in Lake Eola Park in Orlando December 21, 2024 Hundreds of people were watching the show from the air when several drones flew out of formation – some colliding with each other before falling to the ground.

One of the fake drones hit a 7-year-old boy in the face and chest, knocking him out on impact. His parents told FOX 35 Orlando at the time that his injuries required open heart surgery.

A preliminary NTSB report found that “combined errors” just before the show began led to a misaligned flight path, causing chaos for some of the 500 drones during the performance.

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Before the show, the remote pilot commander confirmed that the setup was standard and “consisted of pre-flight checks” that ensure “software programming matches and is updated on all display computers, as well as the layout of the network of 500 drones on the ground,” according to report.

About five drones were initially “not accepting launch data,” but troubleshooting Wi-Fi hotspots led to all 500 drones appearing online five minutes before the show began, the NTSB wrote.

A soft restart was then performed to ensure all drones were “show ready”. After the restart, two drones were removed from the show because their systems did not light up green. Once retrieved, the drones were armed and the countdown to takeoff started.

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“During takeoff, it was observed that the ‘layers’ of the aircraft were not rising evenly,” the report said. “Further investigation revealed that the launch parameters file containing the final flight paths was not sent and the exhibition center was not fully compliant.”

Due to the misalignment, the drones changed position and height when they moved to the first frame of the animation, causing them to crash and lose control. Numerous drones were falling from the sky and hitting the ground, and one was heading in the direction of the audience.

It’s a play remote pilot in command told the NTSB that he determined the safest course of action was to continue the show based on the steps involved in pausing it and bringing the drones back from the air. The remaining drones were able to complete the show and land safely.

The pilot’s review of the flight log revealed that the broadcast position had rotated 7 degrees, resulting in the “geohard fence being too close to the audience”. In addition, the fence was not installed according to the company’s standards of 1 meter, but was at 5 meters.

“The combined errors resulted in a reduced security area that was outside of the company’s standards,” the report said.

Each drone included in the show contained an SD card with recorded data. Approximately 42 of the stricken drones were retrieved by the operator, who sent their SD cards for analysis to the NTSB’s Vehicle Imaging Laboratory. Law enforcement personnel also recovered one drone and sent it to the NTSB. The five drones believed to have fallen into the lake have not been found.

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While the NTSB is still investigating the incident, Sky Elements has proposed additional safety measures to the Federal Aviation Administration to prevent future problems, including allowing more time on site before performing, requiring a pilot-in-chief or second-in-command to verify that all steps completed before performance and additional training for all pilots.

The FAA has placed restrictions on Sky Elements, which hold shows across the country, suspending its exemption it allows performance of drones near crowds and at night.