Vivid Sydney’s drone show has been officially been scrapped for the remainder of this year’s festival after nearly 90 drones plunged into Darling Harbour during a performance last week.
The drone program had been scheduled to run from Sunday to Wednesday nights until June 13, but organisers have now confirmed the attraction will not return following a safety review.
The incident occurred during Monday night’s 7.30pm “Star-Bound” show when 89 drones fell into Darling Harbour after dropping out of formation.
In the immediate aftermath, organisers cancelled four scheduled performances – the 9.30pm show on Monday night and both drone shows planned for Tuesday and Wednesday – while investigations were carried out.
Vivid Sydney addressed the incident during a press conference on May 26 and has now confirmed on its website that all remaining drone performances have been cancelled and replaced with fireworks displays.
“Following Monday night’s unforeseen technical issue at the Vivid Sydney ‘Star-Bound’ drone performance, Vivid Sydney can confirm the remaining drone shows scheduled for this year’s festival will not proceed,” a statement from Vivid Sydney said.
“Fireworks displays will now complement the Laser Lightfall experience in Darling Harbour at the times previously scheduled for drone shows, adding another layer of spectacle to Vivid Sydney’s harbour celebrations.
“We understand this will be disappointing for audiences and appreciate the public’s understanding.
“Public safety remains the absolute priority and all decisions have been guided by expert technical and regulatory advice.”
Last week, a Vivid Sydney spokesperson said specialist operators identified a technical issue during Monday night’s drone show and made the decision to safely discontinue the performance in line with standard safety protocols.
“The specialist operators identified a technical issue and made the decision to safely discontinue the show in line with standard safety protocols,” they said.
“A decision was swiftly taken to cancel the 9.30pm performance to allow further assessment.
“To our knowledge, no drones landed outside the designated exclusion zone.”
Drone operator SKYMAGIC said the 89 drones that fell into the waters of Cockle Bay were brought down by an “unforeseen change in the radio frequency (RF) environment” during the performance, describing the incident as an “anomaly.”