Small Texas Town Puts its Drone Program to Work Combatting Natural Disasters By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill Since the spring of 2023, when it first began operating a drone program, the fire department of the small city of Magnolia, Texas has put its UAV to work to deal with a number of floods and […]
The post Magnolia’s Fire Department Leverages Drones to Tackle Natural Disasters and Rapid Growth appeared first on DRONELIFE.
Some have called Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade the best drone show ever. It’s about time I decide for myself.
Tonight, I’m trading in my drone controller for a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. I’m not flying drones tonight, I’m watching them, and I’ll be doing it live tonight at Disneyland Paris. While most folks are in town for the 2024 Paris Olympics, I knew I had to head to Paris before what’s billed as the most mesmerizing drone show ever ends its run on Sept. 30, 2024.
This will be the second drone show I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. The first was also themed to Disney. That was a Star Wars drone show put on by Sky Elements, held after an Oakland A’s baseball game. And perhaps that’s not surprising. I do love Disney just as much as I love drones.
And though this will be my second drone show, I’m planning to see it three times! Yes, I’ll be watching this parade for three nights straight to find out all the right angles to look out for, as well as the best places to watch. Stay tuned for future editions of this Flight Diaries series, as I promise I’ll give you all the tips on watching Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade!
And even if you miss this specific show, expect more going forward. Disneyland Paris has had a fairly long history of drone shows, including past shows like Disney D-Light and Avengers: Power the Night.
The final Sept. 30 performance of Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade might be the last one of this particular show (for now, at least) but expect more shows coming soon. And hey, this show might return itself. After all, the 1970s parade continuously gets updates and returns to Main Street on an unpredictable but still quasi-frequent basis.
Brought to life by French drone light show company Dronisos, Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade recreates beloved scenes from the classic Main Street Electrical Parade. That parade debuted in the 1970s, but the 2024 version gets a refresh by way of more than 500 drones. With it, drones fly into the formations of classic characters such as Elliott the Dragon from the 1977 film “Pete’s Dragon.” It’s all synchronized to that same electro-syntho-magnetic soundtrack that was famous in the 1970s.
It runs most nights in the skies over Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris.
The light show drones themselves are modified versions of aircraft from French drone maker Parrot. Parrot is perhaps most famous for its now-defunct Bebop drone. Dronisos made a deal with Parrot to iterate on its platforms to build a drone-show specific product that’s made in France.
Dronisos uses a few Parrot drones as its template. That includes the Mambo (initially marketed as a toy drone), which has since been renamed “Helios.” Though, Helios is an indoor-only light show drone.
Dronisos also uses a reworked Parrot Bebop 2, which it mounted a light to, and renamed it the Zephyr drone. It also uses the more powerful Anafi drone, which it modified to be a new aircraft called Autan.
Not only are the Disneyland Paris drones powerful, but there are a lot of them. Also this summer, Disneyland Paris and Dronisos together set a Guinness World Record for “Largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors / drones.” As part of the 2024 Bastille Day celebrations (which occur every year on July 14), Dronisos sent a spectacular, tricolor Mickey Mouse head made out of 1,571 drones into the sky.
So with that, I’m signing off to jump on Space Mountain before tonight’s drone show. Au revoir!
The post Drone Girl in Paris: I’m watching Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade — finally! appeared first on The Drone Girl.
The Chinese military is once again pushing the boundaries of technological innovation by incorporating bird-shaped reconnaissance drones. Recent images circulated on the Internet show these drones in use by one of the units of the Marine Corps of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These drones, indistinguishable from living birds at a distance, flap their wings […]
The Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) has successfully assisted the Grand Forks Fire Department (GFFD) in obtaining a Tactical Beyond Visual Line of Sight (TBVLOS) waiver (91.113) from the Federal Aviation Administration. The granting of this waiver that took effect on July 19, marks a significant advancement in public safety and emergency response capabilities […]
On August 4, local sources claimed that an American MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down over Saada province in Yemen. These sources even published photos on the social network X [formerly Twitter], allegedly showing the remnants and debris of the downed MQ-9. However, BulgarianMilitary.com cannot independently verify these claims, and there has been no official […]
Czech UAV manufacturer Primoco UAV has moved significantly closer to completing certification under the internationally applicable NATO STANAG 4703 standard. A series of tests at the Institute of Aeronautical Engineering of the Czech Technical University were successfully completed, proving the mechanical parameters of the aircraft and its structural operational safety. This is a world first […]
Defense manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries has been awarded a contract, by competitive tender, to provide the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with airborne radios, for installation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that operate in maritime patrol missions over the Israeli Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ). Installed on Heron-type UAVs, they allow shore-based Navy personnel to hail vessels […]Drones and Data Analytics Set to Transform Highway Inspections in Massachusetts The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Aeronautics Division is teaming up with MassDOT Highway to take highway inspections and maintenance to the next level using drones and data analytics. They’ve applied for a $1 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s Accelerated Innovation Deployment […]
The post MassDOT Aeronautics Teams Up with MassDOT Highway to Pioneer Drone Technology for Smarter Highway Maintenance appeared first on DRONELIFE.
The latest in an occasional column on bringing products to market in emerging technologies, by industry marketing expert Amy T. Wiegand: Go-to-Market Propeller. Go-to-Market Propeller is the practical support a growing industry needs – getting from innovation to sales. In this article: the deep dive on discovering product – market fit. by Amy T. Wiegand […]
The post Be Aware of Compliments: Discovering Product-Market Fit – Go-to-Market Propeller appeared first on DRONELIFE.
The global drone show industry is a rapidly growing field, with innovative drone light show companies pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. They’re breaking records for largest drone shows. They’re putting fireworks on physical drones. They’re drawing huge crowds.
So which drone light show companies are the biggest?
SPH Engineering, which builds drone show technology and is also behind the annual International Drone Show Competition, just put out a study that illuminates the biggest drone show companies worldwide. In their “Drone Show Market Analysis” made in collaboration with market research group Duamentes Global Alliance in June 2024, the teams analyzed data from 1,000 drone shows across 62 countries.
They then broke out the biggest drone light show companies by region. Here are those names:
North America is, by many metrics, a leader in drone light shows. With more than 1,000 drone shows documented over the past year, it’s easy to come by a drone show. Just check out our drone show events schedule to find one near you — and it should be relatively easy to find one.
They’re abundant at MLB games and county fairs. And especially in summer 2024, theme parks leaned into drone shows. Most of the best theme park drone shows occurred in the U.S., including CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular, the nighttime show at Universal Studios Orlando. Meanwhile, the nearby (and free-to-watch) Disney World drone show called “Disney Dreams That Soar” has been drawing unprecedented crowds.
With so much demand comes opportunities for dozens of North American drone light show companies to proliferate. That said, Sky Elements is the biggest. Perhaps not coincidentally, they’re the team that powered my first ever drone show, which was a Star Wars drone show after an Oakland A’s baseball game.
Sky Elements famously put on the drone light show for Serena Williams’ gender reveal party. It also holds a Guinness World Record by producing 40 drone shows in a single weekend, which it did during the 2023 Fourth of July weekend. These days, it’s getting fancy by mounting fireworks to its drones. The company holds multiple awards, and was even a winner in the SPH Engineering International Drone Show Competition.
Other big names in the North American drone show market including Pixis Drones and FireFly.
As of June 2024, estimations show there are roughly 50 European drone light show companies. But one dominates the space, with a market share of nearly half. According to the Drone Show Market Analysis, Dronisos makes up 48% of all European drone shows.
Dronisos, which is based in France, is perhaps most famous for working in conjunction with Disneyland Paris. That includes putting on their nightly Disney Electrical Sky Parade show, as well as one-off shows. One of the most notable shows was the July 14 Bastille Day drone show, which broke a Guinness World Record for “Largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors / drones.” With that, it made a spectacular, tricolor Mickey Mouse head made out of 1,571 drones.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, France also houses the most drone shows per year of any European country, according to the Drone Show Market Analysis.
Other notable names that are still fairly large include UMILES Group and Drone Show Europe.
Though there are far fewer drone show companies in Asia Pacific versus Europe, none has as dominant of a market share. The biggest drone show company in Asia Pacific is Red Cliff, which is based in Tokyo, Japan. But still, it only claims a 33% market share.
Another big name, DAON, is not far away with a 26% market share. MIRS Innovate is generally considered the third-largest drone show company in Asia Pacific.
There’s really just one Indian drone light show company to know, and that’s BotLab Dynamics. Based out of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, the drone show company has a strong research background. The company uses all in-house products, and has spent more than seven years condugin swarm drone research and development.
Though BotLab Dynamics has little competition within the country of India, it’s still a force in the world. When it set the then-record of hosting India’s largest drone light show with 1,000 drones at Rashtrapati Bhawan (that was in January 2022), that made India the fourth nation in the world to host a drone show of such a large scale.
Drone shows in the Middle East are huge — and fabulous. Averaging 401 drones per show, Middle Eastern drone shows tend to be an over-the-top spectacle. Unsurprisingly, the UAE (which is home to famously-flashy city Dubai) holds the title of most shows per year in the region.
There are about a dozen drone light show companies in the Middle East, and the biggest names are New Rise Technologies, Lumasky Drone Show and SKD.
Drone shows haven’t super taken off in Latin America. There are only about a dozen drone show companies through the region, and the shows they put on are generally pretty small. They average a small 115 drones per show. Contrast that with the massive Asia Pacific shows that average 307 drones, or the Middle East show averaging 401 drones per show!
That said, the Latin American drone show companies showing the biggest potential include Aion, Magic and Pixel Drones.
The post The biggest drone light show companies in the world, by region appeared first on The Drone Girl.