Just ten minutes prior to the Canada Day drone show, the display was cancelled due to high winds, according to the City of Victoria.
This was to be the first-ever drone show to be incorporated in the City’s Canada Day celebration.
The drone show was meant to be seven minutes long, and be curated to one of the performers, Rande Cook, while Victoria’s Poet Laureate Marie Metaphor-Specht spoke.
A City of Victoria spokesperson told Victoria Buzz that at 10:05 p.m. the call was made after a hover test was conducted to assess wind readings at various heights.
When this was done, the City says the drone used for the test was displaced two metres from its takeoff position.
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“The Flyfire Kaiken show drones have been wind tunnel tested at 54 km/h, however the manufacturer does not recommend operators fly the drone at more than 70% of this limit for safety, which is 37.5 km/h,” said the City in a statement.
“These limits are also further reduced when flying over water and considering the show spacing (the space between drones during performance flight).”
The drone show was organized by Rifflandia Entertainment Co. Ltd., who produced the whole Canada Day celebration, including entertainment, amenities and the fireworks display.
For all of the above, the City gave the Rifflandia group a budget of $350,000.
Initially, when city council bumped this budget up from $100,000 last September, the City said that drone shows are cost-prohibitive and would not be included specifically in that $350,000.
At last year’s Rifflandia Festival, several drone shows took place for each night’s headliners at the downtown, Electric Avenue location: Chris Lake, Paris Hilton and Run The Jewels.
These displays, each custom made for their corresponding performance, were a hit amongst attendees and were the first time Rifflandia utilized drones in their festival.
Because Rifflandia had experience with drone shows, they brought that experience to the table and worked it into their given budget.
The City of Victoria says that they are currently in talks with the PiXel Sky Animations, the drone show operator, to discuss next steps.
