A $25,000 drone light show that was set for the sky over Victoria’s Inner Harbour on Canada Day was cancelled 10 minutes before its scheduled start time due to high winds.
About 200 Flyfire Kaiken show drones were poised to take off from a waterfront park off Belleville Street at 10:15 p.m. Monday for what would be the first-ever drone show over the Inner Harbour, but it was cancelled at 10:05 p.m.
City spokesperson Colleen Mycroft said a hover test with the show drones and wind readings taken by a larger drone prior to the show found wind conditions unsuitable for the show.
The 270-gram show drones equipped with lights would have been unable to hold their positions in high winds.
The seven-minute light show was supposed to feature designs produced by Victoria-based Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook and an accompanying spoken-word piece from city poet laureate Marie Metaphor Specht.
The thousands who had gathered near the Inner Harbour were still able to enjoy a Canada Day fireworks show on Monday night that began at 10:22 p.m.
Mycroft said the winds that night were strong enough to have buffeted the larger drone taking wind readings two metres from its original take-off position.
The Kaiken drones have been tested for up to 54 km/h winds, but the manufacturer does not recommend operators fly the drones at more than 70 per cent of that limit during normal operations, she said.
Those limits are further reduced when flying drones over water and in tight formations, Mycroft said.
Mycroft said that she’s unsure if the city would still have to pay for the show, as the cancellation came at the last minute. “I don’t know what provisions they had in the contract.”
In a statement, Mycroft said the city and Canada Day event producer Rifflandia Entertainment Company will be in discussions with the drone-show operators to discuss next steps.
Elsewhere in B.C., a Canada Day drone show in Vernon was cancelled after individuals on electric scooters drove through a taped perimeter, evaded security staff and crashed into a critical antenna at the last minute.
— With a file from Castanet
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