It is a predefined choreography and, at the start of each show, each drone receives GPS coordinates which dictate its movements through the sky. These drones, which are manufactured in Toulouse, are equipped with several LEDs capable of emitting the full spectrum of colours visible to the naked eye. The flight path is entirely over the lake, "we take off from Ile du Souvenir island so the light from the drones will be reflected in the water." But, no worries, if a drone were to land in the water, it would float and can be fished out from a boat. Thus said, the greatest challenge at the beginning of December is likely to be the weather. "The main risk is rain. If it rains all night, we will not be able to stage the show as these are electronic devices and a drone on the ground that gets waterlogged is liable to get damaged. The other issue is the wind. If there are gusts of wind of over 40 km/h, it will disrupt the show because the drones may get disconnected." So, fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us.
The park, the lake, the sky... and 500 illuminated drones!
It's the novelty of the year. An illuminated ballet of drones flying over the lake in Tête d'Or Park for 8 minutes.
Allumee is a team from Lyon, headquartered in the suburbs in Saint-Priest, which is another reason why they are so proud to be staging a show for the Festival of Lights. L'Éveil des Lumières features 500 drones which swoop over the lake in a ballet of light lasting 8 minutes! Between 100 and 200 additional drones will be waiting in the wings ready to take off and take over in the event of a malfunction. "It’s a huge operational and technical challenge," admits Sales Manager Xavier Chauchard "as we are not used to repeating our shows every 30 minutes. We have a team of fifteen standing by with two pilots to handle the flight. Then there are two coordinators working with the City of Lyon teams and five or six people to cordon off the area where the drones are on the ground. Lastly, five or six people are on hand to change the drone’s batteries.”
