AO Drones dialed up an aerial light drone show over Munich’s Olympic Park last month to kick off the launch of Deutsche Telekom’s 5G network.

The GPS-guided swarm of 300 drones performed a 10-minute night-sky performance, creating Deutsche Telekom’s logos and messages in white and magenta. The Dubai-based AO Drones team partnered with AO Creative and Düsseldorf-based event management company DO IT!

The AO Creative team faced the challenge of producing the drone light show within strict procedures required during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project manager Tim Klopp faced a tight deadline from three weeks from go-ahead to show day. “Thanks to the great working relationship we have with DO IT!, it was extremely smooth,” he said. “Achieving a project like this in such a relatively short time is only possible with a great client and outstanding teamwork.”

American drone provider Verge Aero developed an integrated hardware and software for the drone system specifically to meet the requirements of live entertainment production. The system includes programming and editing capabilities which allow last-minute changes and adjustments literally “on the fly.”

“We have partnered many times with DO IT! on major projects, and we are very happy to work once again with this incredibly collaborative creative team, and to show what our drone fleet is capable of,” Marco Niedermeier of AO Creative said.

“We are proud and delighted to have the opportunity to deliver a project of this caliber in such difficult times.”

In June, AO Drones found a unique way to say “Thank You” from above to Dubai’s COVID workers for their heroism during the pandemic.

The event included a drone-based light show as well as an aerial film depicting emergency vehicles arranged on the ground to spell out “Thank You” in English and Arabic. Since then, the film as blown up on social media.

Better Than Fireworks?

Given the dangers posed from incendiary fireworks – injuries, fire and pollution – a growing number of event planners are turning to drone shows as a better solution.

In January, Verge Aero produced a drone light show in Mexico. Working with partner Sky Precision, Verge Aero launched an array of 150 drone-mounted lights, creating dancing, multi-color images in the sky during the Festival Internacional del Globo hot-air balloon festival to celebrate Día de Muertos.

In 2018, Travis Air Force Base replaced its traditional fireworks display with a drone light show presented by Intel.