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On the heels of winning third place on America’s Got Talent Season 19, Sky Elements is ready to make an even bigger name for itself. The Texas-based drone light show is set to put on a free drone show tomorrow that will likely break a Guinness World Record.
The free Texas drone show is set for Saturday, Sept. 28 at 9 p.m. in Mansfield, Texas. Should it occur as planned, the free drone show — put on in partnership with the City of Mansfield, will break the Guinness World Records title for the most remote-operated multi-rotor drones launching fireworks simultaneously.
The current record is held by PABLO AIR. PABLO set the record on April 24, 2024 in Incheon, South Korea. In that nine-minute-long show, 1,068 drones flew in the air. PABLO primarily works in South Korea not just as a light show company but also a drone delivery company. Though, it’s also made waves in the U.S., perhaps most notably for its work with the FAA-designated New York UAS Test Site.
Breaking the record in the U.S. has been made possible ever since the Federal Aviation Administration issued approval for Sky Elements to launch fireworks from their drones.
Sky Elements uses drones from UVify for all its shows. UVify has offices in Seattle, as well as a robust presence in South Korea. which is another American drone company.based in Seattle. Specific to launching fireworks from drones, they use a model called the UVify IFO-P. The IFO-P is capable of carrying up to 12 pyrotechnics devices.
The IFO-P is a retrofitted version of its IFO drone. And while all drones necessiate strong safety mechanisms, it’s perhaps even more critical on these ones given the pyro element. With that, they include safety features such as a locking mechanism on the mount, plus an extra cable tie for redundancy. The mounts are heat resistant, which is critical given the ignition and burning of pyrotechnics.
(Photo courtesy of Sky Elements)
How to watch the Guinness World Record pyro show
The show will be held in Mansfield, Texas which is a suburb within the Dallas Fort-Worth metro area near Arlington, Texas. Sky Elements says it will be most visible from the surrounding areas of Mansfield Sports Park.
Though the show begins at 9 p.m., Sky Elements recommends arriving by 8:30 p.m. to get settled. And given the huge hype around Sky Elements since making it to the America’s Got Talent finale — coupled with the fact that this drone show is free to watch — you might want to arrive even sooner. Plus, Sky Elements asks that you avoid parking or stopping on the streets near the actual record attempt, so you might need to budget some extra time to walk and find your viewing point (should you opt to not watch from your car).
As far as audio, it’s all set to a soundtrack with a clever way for you to tune in. The music will be broadcast over FM radio at 88.9 FM.
More fodder for Texas as Drone Star State
Here at Team Drone Girl, we’ve been referring to Texas as “The Drone Star State.” That’s become especially apparent ever since we saw Wing’s drone delivery operations in Fort Worth, Texas. Relatively speaking, that’s not all that far from Mansfield, the site of the drone show.
For some Dallas residents, that means the ability to order snacks for the show ahead of time and have them delivered via drone to their yards. From there, they can drive over to Mansfield to catch the free Texas drone show.
What to know about Sky Elements
The Sky Elements team on the stage during the America’s Got Talent finale in September 2024. (Photo by Sally French)
Sky Elements has been on an absolute tear recently. Earlier this week, NBC announced that Sky Elements placed third based on fan voting in Season 19 of AGT.
Sky Elements already has experience winning Guinness World Records. During the weekend of July Fourth 2023, the company nabbed a Guinness World Record for producing the most drone shows in a single weekend. And speaking of recent tears, Sky Elements set a separate world record in 2024 when it put 2,400 drones on the field of Petco Park in San Diego as part of a “Deadpool and Wolverine” themed show for San Diego Comic Con. That record-breaking performance nabbed the former record held by Disneyland Paris for the “Largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors/drones.”
Can’t make it to this weekend’s free Texas drone show in Mansfield? Though summer seems to be the season of drone shows given the outdoor, nighttime nature (more enjoyable on warm, summer nights) there are still plenty of public drone shows set to run through the rest of 2024. Check out The Drone Girl’s guide to the top drone shows of 2024.
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Wildlife officials in Hawaii are using aerial drones to wage chemical warfare on coqui frogs by dumping citric acid on these invasive creatures, thereby killing them — along with any tadpoles and eggs. The officials are using drones to eradicate the frogs because they recently found a population of the amphibians in a mountainous strip […]
