What went wrong at Vivid Sydney's drone show? | 9 News Australia

It was billed as the biggest drone program we've ever seen, but vivid centrepiece has barely got off the ground.The first show on Sunday was washed out, while last night, disaster.Almost a hundred drones falling out of the sky.

From a shimmering spectacle to a high -tech rainstorm.Moments into Vivid's cutting -edge display, dozens of drones plunge into the water and onto an empty boardwalk, the rest left stalled in the night sky.

It's almost like the drones as a group had short -circuited and had created this chaotic mess in the sky.My partner actually saw one of the drones land into the water, slowly start to disappear, and then he saw flames shooting out of it.

The drone's unexplained change in radio frequency caused 89 of the drones to shut down.The drones, which are 50cm in diameter, are pre -programmed, flying autonomously, communicating with the base station on the ground.But when that communication is knocked out, like last night, the drone doesn't know where it is.And the failsafe mechanism is to drop.

at which they would be dropping.

The weather, hardware and other drones can interfere with the radio link.

But on a more sinister note, it could be hacking.

Early indications shows there was no foul play present.But we are still investigating all possibilities.

Sky Magic has assured no drones breached the safety barrier here at Cockle Bay last night.And pre -flight checks taken right before takeoff flagged no radio failure.

issues.

Tonight and tomorrow's shows have been cancelled to allow a full safety assessment.

If it's at any way a risk to the public then they can't go ahead.

Sophie Walsh, Nine News.