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Choosing a drone show company: 7 questions
Choose a drone show company by asking seven things: who holds the airspace approval, how many drones they have flown at once, whether you see a video render before launch, what happens in bad weather, how they keep the crowd safe, which shows they can show you, and how the price is built. The answers tell you more than any showreel.
1. Who gets the airspace approval?
A drone show is an aviation operation. Every show needs an approval from the aviation authority for the exact site, date and time window, and near an airport or in controlled airspace it takes an exemption and more lead time. Ask who applies for it, who signs it, and how early they start. A company that says "the venue handles that" has not flown there before. For a known site, count on about a month from brief to show; the permit, not the animation, usually sets the clock.
2. How many drones have you actually flown at once?
Anyone can quote a thousand drones. Ask for a show they flew at that scale, with a video and a client you can name. Most shows fall between 100 and 1,000+ drones; the right number depends on the size of the audience, the viewing distance and the story. We have flown 1,000 drones over Central Park, 1,000 drones for Mercedes-AMG F1 in Las Vegas and 1,500 drones to open Shakira's concert on Copacabana, for more than two million people. Which drones a company flies matters too: show drones are built for this, with bright LEDs and position holding that consumer drones do not have.
3. Will I see the show before it flies?
Yes, if the company is serious. The storyboard becomes a video render that shows every frame of the show as it will appear in the sky, and you give feedback on that render before anything launches. If a company cannot show you a render, you are buying blind.
4. What happens when the weather turns?
Show drones fly in wind up to 25 mph (40 km/h) and cope with a few drops of rain, but not with a storm. Ask what the weather window is, whether a back-up slot is planned, who makes the final call on site and what you pay if the show cannot fly. A good answer names the pilot, the window and the fallback. A bad answer is "it will be fine".
5. How do you keep the audience safe?
Every show flies with a safety zone the crowd does not enter, a site survey of the take-off area and sightlines, and a crew that has checked the venue before confirming. Ask to see how big the zone is for your site and how it fits your crowd plan. Parks, waterfronts and large open grounds tend to work best; a company that knows your city will tell you where it has flown before and what it took.
6. Can I see shows like mine?
A brand launch, a festival finale, a city celebration and a wedding are different jobs. Ask for shows for an audience like yours. Ours are sorted that way: for brands, for festivals, for cities and for private events. Then ask who designed them. We tell stories in the sky and came out of Studio DRIFT, the art studio of Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, which is why our shows are built as narratives rather than a sequence of logos.
7. How is the price built?
There is no fixed price for a drone show. Four things set it: the number of drones, the length of the show, the location with its permits and production, and the complexity of the animation. Our shows start at $50,000; most land between $100,000 and $200,000. A good proposal shows you how those four parts add up. Read how drone show cost works, or look at how we build a proposal.
What the answers tell you
A drone show company that answers all seven without hesitation has done this many times. One that hesitates on the permit or the weather plan will hesitate on show night too. If you want our answers for your event, tell us the site, the date and the audience: within a day you hear whether it can fly there and what it takes. And if you are weighing several companies, here is what we think makes the best one.
