A drone company is flying high after snapping up a Guinness World Records title with a patriotic performance.
Sky Elements Drone Shows (USA) celebrated Independence Day by creating the largest aerial sentence formed by multirotors/drones.
An incredible 796 drones took to the air to form the message “Happy 4th of July 2023” in a special event in North Richland Hills, Texas, on 3 July.
The drone show, staged in the Dallas/Fort Worth-based company’s co-founder Preston Ward's hometown, featured 1,002 drones overall.
The drones lit up a brilliant blue before taking to the air and organizing themselves into the image of a man on horseback proudly holding up an American flag, that morphed from the first official national flag to how it looks today.
A giant eagle then appeared above the flag, looking as if it was holding it in its talons during flight.
With fireworks also being set off, the drones created the images of a boat, a train, jets, and even astronaut Neil Armstrong, with his famous “One small step for man” speech from the moment he became one of the first men on the Moon, beamed over speakers.
The epic show concluded with the record-breaking aerial sentence.
800 drones had initially been allocated for the sentence, but unfortunately four of them failed and were deducted from the total.
But that didn’t stop Sky Elements from claiming the record, beating the total of 673 set in the UAE in January, this year.
What’s even more incredible, is that the history making drone show – the biggest ever in North Texas – was put together just two weeks before it happened.
The team usually begins work on shows for clients six weeks in advance, so deciding to take on this record attempt just two weeks before the big day was a giant undertaking.
After working around the clock to design and programme the show, we’re certain all those involved will agree it was worth all the hard work.
On the day, things got stressful for the team.
Each drone needed to connect to the same GPS network, and even though they scheduled 12 hours of set-up time, the team was troubleshooting until the very last minute.
Co-founder Preston even stepped in to rush back to headquarters and assemble parts of drones from around the shop to complete the fleet, admitting “this will either be the greatest thing we’ve ever done, or the most embarrassing thing we’ve ever done”.
Thankfully, it was the former.
Preston, who also acted as chief pilot, said: “Our record-breaking Fourth of July drone show embodies the resilience of the American spirit.
“We strive for better and push the boundaries of what's possible with drone technology. We hope to continue to inspire and entertain with our drone shows and break more records in the future."
As well as claiming their GWR certificate – presented to them by Adjudicator Michael Empric – the show also broke a company record.
It was one of more than 40 shows Sky Elements produced for the Fourth of July weekend – the most shows they’ve ever produced in one week.
Congratulations, Sky Elements.
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