Jul. 3—Fans attending the Madison Mallards game in Warner Park Sunday night were treated to a new type of Independence Day celebration: 150 drones lighting up the night sky.
If the audience reaction was any indication, it won't be the last.
In combination with traditional fireworks, drones created a colored light display above the Duck Pond Sunday night, forming images of the American flag, a cheese head and the Mallards mascot. The team was looking to do something new during a series of four home games over the holiday weekend, said Samantha Rubin, the Madison Mallards general manager.
"Seeing them being executed in the sky was mind blowing," Rubin said.
While the Mallards built the world's largest brandy Old Fashioned Saturday, and Monday featured the Festival Foods fireworks show, Rubin said the drone display quickly became a fan favorite. The response was overwhelmingly positive from in-person attendees and on social posts online, she said.
Drone light shows are increasingly common around the country, with displays this year planned in Salt Lake City, Colorado and Texas. Drone displays are safer for the environment than traditional fireworks, which pose wildfire risks during dry summer conditions. Drones were used to create light displays during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and at the coronation of King Charles III. In 2021, the global drone light show market was valued at about $1 billion, according to Allied Market Research.
The team began planning the show over the winter, working the Texas-based Sky Elements Drone Shows. Kyle Pivnick from Sky Elements, who worked with the Mallards to design the show, said he's excited about the growing appetite for drone light displays, particularly shows that combine drones with traditional fireworks. Even though the drone display industry is growing rapidly, he said he hopes regular fireworks stick around too.
The displays are designed by Sky Elements animators, and the show is completely programmed into computers, Pivnick said. Designers program when and where the drones will fly, and the colors they'll display.
"There's not 1,000 pilots or some sort of controller," Pivnick said. "We're moving drones from point to point with 3D software."
Pivnick said since the drones are programmed to be 2 meters apart from each other, they hardly ever collide. Outside elements, like wind, will make the drones move only about a foot in any direction.
It typically takes between 40 and 100 hours to design and animate a drone light show. The drones are made from carbon fiber and are about a foot in diameter. They're smaller and lighter than many of the drones designed for photography and video, weighing around 1 1/2 pounds, Pivnick said.
Although the show is programmed on a computer, Sky Elements still has pilots and other staff available on the ground. The drone displays are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, which automatically caps drone flights to below 400 feet, and Sky Elements works with local planners to make sure local guidelines are met and notifies airports in the area about the display, Pivnick said.
Although it's safe to say the Mallards' first drone display was a success, Rubin said she wasn't sure how it would go over. The planning team went into the event thinking it would be a one-year experiment, but the positive reception is already encouraging the Mallards to consider bringing the drones back for next year.
"The reception is way better than we thought, we were honestly super worried that it wouldn't pay off," Rubin said. "But I think some life-long drone fans have been created."
___
(c)2023 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.)
Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at www.wisconsinstatejournal.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
