Nearly two years after a holiday drone show in Orlando left a young boy seriously injured, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its report exposing what exactly happened.
The incident happened on Dec. 21, 2024, during the first of two planned drone shows where 500 drones were to be flown in a performance area almost entirely over Lake Eola.
Documents obtained by News 6 at the time revealed the drones were supposed to fly above Lake Eola at a safe distance away from crowds.
However, video shared at the time reveals that drones began crashing into each other before falling to the ground.
[RELATED: Child injured after drones fall from sky at downtown Orlando holiday event]
A 7-year-old boy was reportedly hit in the abdomen by one of the drones needed emergency surgery after doctors told his family the drone shocked his heart.
WHAT THE NTSB REPORT REVEALS
On Tuesday, the NTSB released its full report, which notes there were 500 drones planned for the light show, which were supposed to be spaced out from one another.
However, investigators noted that two of the drones had different show center positions than the others, and the show flight position was off by around 59 feet — putting the show much closer to the audience.
As a result, drones began colliding during their flight paths and falling down over the audience, the report states.
“The combined errors resulted in a reduced safety area that was outside the company’s standards,” the report reads.
The NTSB also found that no one was required to cross-check all of the programming before the 500 drones launched over the crowd.
“The absence of a robust cross-check or supervisory oversight allowed multiple configuration errors—including incorrect show center position, improper heading entry, inconsistent aircraft updates, and nonstandard geofence settings—to go undetected,” the report states.
The drone that struck the boy, according to federal investigators, was traveling at 60 mph when it lost control.
LAWSUIT FILED OVER DRONE DISASTER
The mother of the injured 7-year-old filed a lawsuit against the city of Orlando and several companies involved in the incident after it happened. The firms named in that lawsuit are as follows:
- Sky Elements, LLC
- Uvify, Inc.
- SPH Engineering
The lawsuit accused each of these parties of negligence, further stating that city officials should have known the show involved high-risk “aerial equipment” and that the drones could pose a risk to the public.
According to the original suit, Uvify – the drone manufacturer – failed to design the drones in “such a manner that the Subject Drone would not suddenly and unexpectedly crash into” the boy.
Meanwhile, SPH Engineering is the developer of the drone’s software.
A proposed settlement between the mother, Sky Elements and the city of Orlando was filed earlier this month.
News 6 reached out to all the attorneys involved, asking how this report affects their case. The lawyers did not immediately respond in time for publication.
SKY ELEMENTS RESPONDS
The NTSB says that the drone company, Sky Elements, has implemented several additional safeguards since this happened, including more setup time before shows, retraining of pilots and a two-pilot requirement for a second set of eyes on every show.
In a statement to News 6 Tuesday night, Sky Elements said in part, “Our thoughts are with the young man who was injured and his family. We agree with the NTSB’s findings. Our established procedures were not followed that night, and that fell short of the standard we hold ourselves to.”
To read the entire lawsuit, see below:
City of Orlando, several companies face lawsuit over holiday drone crash that injured boy by Jacob Langston