ORLANDO, Fla. — A recent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board into Sky Elements LLC Orlando Holiday drone show at Lake Eola showed a series of critical safety setbacks that resulted in several drones plummeting into the lake and audience and severely injuring a young boy.
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The report from NTSB states the show featured 500 drones and five minutes before the show, five drones failed to accept launch data, prompting a standard troubleshooting process.
The investigation said there was a soft reboot of the fleet, which appeared to resolve the issues for most drones. Two were still malfunctioning and removed.
The report stated when the countdown started, the system showed the pilot in charge “green,” but as the drones lifted, it was not uniform, layers shifted in altitude, and the show center was misaligned.
Read: ‘I was freaking out’: mother of 7-year-old hurt in Orlando drone show speaks out
NTSB said the deviations led to the drones crashing into each other, and several drones plummeted to the ground, with one hurtling into the audience and hitting 7-year-old Zander. He was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando for treatment, where his mother said he underwent open-heart surgery, sustained serious injuries to his face and chest, and is now recovering with his family.
After the loss of control event, the pilot in control reported that he visually monitored the remaining drones from the ground control station.
NTSB said he told them that due to the steps involved in pausing the show, retrieving airborne drones, and the designated flight paths, the safest course of action for the audience was to let the show proceed. The remaining aircraft completed the show and landed without further incident.
Read: FAA investigates after several drones fall out of sky during Lake Eola holiday show
The investigation highlights other alarming findings:
• A 7° misalignment of the show center caused the geo-fence—a virtual boundary designed to protect the audience—to be set dangerously close to the crowd.
• The geo-fence was initially programmed to a 5-meter buffer instead of the company standard of 1 meter, drastically reducing safety margins.
According to NTSB, each drone has a secure digital (SD) card that records data. NTSB said about 42 were recovered by the operator, and their SD cards were sent to the NTSB’s Vehicle Recorder Laboratory in Washington, DC, for analysis. One aircraft was found by law enforcement, and five drones dropped in the lake and not recovered.
Read: Drones crash during downtown Orlando Holiday Show, FAA investigation underway
Channel 9 has reached out to Sky Element LLC for comment on the updates in the investigation but has yet to get a response.
Since the accident on December 21, Sky Elements told the NTSB it will have more procedures in place to mitigate future recurrence, like an allowance for additional time on site before showtime to reduce time pressures, establishing an on-call system that requires the chief pilot or a second in command to verify that all the necessary steps have are done before showtime and more training for all RPICs.
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