Rick Boss is the chief of Sky Components Drones, the main supplier of drone mild reveals across the U.S. He not too long ago invited me behind-the-scenes of his firm’s Star Wars drone mild present on the Oakland Coliseum as a part of the staff’s Star Wars Night time.
I’ve bought a huge recap of the occasion right here, together with tons of images, which you’ll be able to learn and examine right here. There’s additionally a video on my YouTube channel that includes a number of the highlights, proper under:
However whereas that video has a couple of snippets of our Q&A, it doesn’t embody all of it. Thus, I’ve determined to share our full Q&A in textual content kind. In our behind-the-scenes interview, he shares how they handle to journey with all these drones, what the setup entails and extra. So with out additional adieu, right here’s that interview with Rick Boss!
Drone Lady: What are we behind us?
Rick Boss: Tonight we’re 500 drones for a present that’s going to be Star Wars themed. What’s happening proper now’s the crew is organising all of the drones, calibrating the drones, and ensuring we’re able to go for tonight.
DG: And there’s really a fairly decently sized crew. How many individuals do you’ve gotten placing on this entire endeavor?
RB: Sometimes for a present the dimensions we’ve about 15 to 18 individuals to get all of the drones arrange, however only one individual flying the present.
DG: So these people have been doing a whole lot of work calibrating the drones. Inform me, what all goes into the setup forward of time?
RB: Lots of the work, nicely, a lot of the work, occurs beforehand. So our artistic staff has spent in all probability a couple of hundred and fifty hours of programming only for this present. A lot work goes on forward of the present, and tonight it’s simply organising the drones to ensure every part works nicely immediately.
DG: So far as programming, what are we going to see?
RB: You’re going to see a whole lot of Star Wars.
DG: Do you assume we’ll see Child Yoda?
RB: There’s an excellent likelihood that Grogu is up there.
DG: Sure! Superb! And so that you do a bunch of those reveals. Simply earlier than this you had been on the Dodger’s Sport. I hear you additionally did the Serena Williams child gender reveal present.
RB: We did. We did the Serena Williams child gender. We additionally did the Dodger’s present, which was 1,000 drones. For context, we’re doing 500 tonight. We’ve got one other Star Wars present developing for FC Dallas with 1,000 drones.
DG: Oh my gosh, so that you’re busy! What number of reveals are you doing every month or every week?
RB: We fly 5-6 reveals each week, everywhere in the nation. So sure, we’re fairly busy. From Key West to Seattle, Washington to the Caribbean in addition to Hawaii. We’re in all places.
DG: So do you’ve gotten a truck? How do you get drones to all these locations?
RB: So proper behind me is a truck trailer there. The trailer is the commonest manner we transport our drones. The first purpose for that’s due to all these lithium batteries. It’s in any other case only a ache to fly twitch them everywhere in the nation.
DG: Flying with drones — and maybe extra critically, flying with LiPo batteries — is sophisticated, so I’m not stunned to listen to you say that.
RB: It’s particularly robust when your reveals are huge.
DG: So on that word, how does the dimensions of this present examine to most drone mild reveals?
RB: This can be a medium-to-large present. Our common drone is about 300 drones. With 500 drones, that’s a pleasant sized present.
DG: How do I get my very own private drone mild present, like what Serena bought?
RB: *Laughs* You possibly can name us, or go to our web site at SkyElementsDrones.com, hit the request button and we’ll get you a quote.
DG: And I in all probability must win the lottery to get some cash to try this?
RB: The value of a drone present is dear nonetheless. It’s greater than fireworks, that’s for certain. That stated, the costs are all the time getting higher. I imply, the worth proper now’s half what it was a yr and a half in the past.
DG: It’s changing into extra reasonably priced, and it’s additionally extra environmentally pleasant — which I do like that facet as nicely.
RB: Little doubt about it. Notably in some states the place there’s hearth hazard, that could be a nice profit. There’s the truth that these are low noise. We’re not impacting the neighbors, we’re not impacting the pets, and it’s definitely we’re leaving no particles behind.
DG: And, we get way more customized, precise designs. I’m personally excited to see Child Grogu tonight.
And identical to that, you’ll be able to watch their timelapsed model of the present proper right here:
You met Rick Boss, however one of many different geniuses powering Sky Components is Preston Ward, who serves as the corporate’s chief pilot. Come again to The Drone Lady subsequent week to learn an analogous Q&A, however with Preston!
