WHAT was supposed to be a night full of lights and fun became a night of disappointment among Dabawenyos and tourists alike as the much-awaited first 3D Drone Light Show in Davao City was canceled due to unresolved technical issues encountered by the organizer and supplier on the day of the event.
The drone show was supposed to be the highlight of the 86th Araw ng Dabaw Music and Arts Festival set on Saturday, March 4, 2023 along Davao Coastal Road - Bago Aplaya, Davao City. While drone shows are nothing new in the events scene, it is the first time that such was organized in the city, hence the public's excitement.
The festival started at 5 p.m. while the drone show was originally scheduled at 8 p.m. Hours leading to this schedule, a heavy traffic situation in the southern part of the city was experienced by many residents and visitors.
The influx of people wanting to witness the show has resulted in some being unable to enter the event's venue. However, some spectators still opted to wait at the Barangay Talomo Proper gate just to catch a glimpse of the drone show.
“Ang plano namo maghulat mi diria hangtod sa makasulod mi, basin diay pud maabot diria ang drone show (We plan to wait until they would let us in. We are also hoping that we can still witness the drone show from here),” Trixie Lagrima from Calinan shared.
According to the event organizer, Manic Nightnings Event Productions, crowd count reached the 80,000 mark as of 11:45 p.m. But Davao City Police Office (DCPO) spokesperson PMaj. Catherine dela Rey said, in a text message to SunStar Davao on March 5, that there are just some 10,000 people who went to join the festivity.
When spectators were wondering what kept the drone show from starting, lead organizer Kat Dalisay-Santos of Manic Nightnings announced on Facebook that they were facing technical issues and requested the visitors to turn off their mobile phone’s data as the satellite signal of the drones are being intercepted by their phone’s signals.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the organizer decided around 1 a.m, Sunday, to postpone the show to March 5.
“The drone show will be delayed until the signal is clear and the drones will have a clear flight path. For the people who already left, we will have another drone show at the same spot tomorrow evening,” Dalisay-Santos shared.
Even before its cancellation, some people who flocked to the venue already went home disappointed as early as 10:00 p.m.
“Personally, [it was] not a good experience at all. Two hours ko nag wait to see if madayon ba jud, nihawa nako around 10 p.m. (I waited for two hours but I went home around 10:00 p.m.),” Noveah May Simbajon, spectator, said in an interview with SunStar Davao on March 5.
She said that there were senior citizens and children guided by their parents who came to watch the show.
“Luoy tanan nag adto especially kids and seniors na naningkamot maka-witness sa drone show and wala ra diay napala. In short, napaasa po kami (I pity those who went there especially the kids and senior citizens who exerted effort just to witness the drone show but it did not happen),” she added.
Aside from Simbajon, students like Rey Jay Menoza from Matina Crossing, who were excited to watch the show with his friends as it was his first time to attend an event since Covid-19 pandemic, was also dismayed about the event’s turnout.
Another netizen, Rio Diez Estomata, took to air his disappointment as they waited for seven hours but no show happened.
“Walay ayo organizer. Ipa-off raman diay ang data pero karon pa nag-inform. Wala man lang gi-announce daan didto sa venue. Karon pa nag post kunuhay, lagpas na kaayo sa schedule (The organizer did not inform us ahead of time and we waited for hours),” he said.
Facebook user Fabiaña Kitz, said the organizers have “lame” excuses for the failed event.
“Why are you guys blaming “signal problem” and “technical excuses”? That's a very very naive excuse. The mere fact that you guys are organizing a big event, you could have meticulously planned and considered every single problem concern that may occur then come up with alternate solutions like plan B, plan C, etc. You guys already knew from the very start glitches may occur when cellular phones data is turned on, so why didn’t you guys announce/inform prior to the event for people’s awareness?,” the user said.
She added that since it was the first time that the city will have a drone show, people are usually curious and excited so organizers should expect a high influx of people, especially that it was free of admission.
“Did you guys ever consider the volume of people eager to watch the show? Did you guys ever consider nga naay daghang mga bata nikuyog sa ilang mga parents kay excited pod the maong show (that there are kids who went out with their parents and are so excited about the show)?,” Kitz said.
Drone show canceled; what really happened
Manic Nightnings has announced Sunday morning, March 5, that pushing for the drone show is not advised by the supplier following several technical issues.
The drone show's supplier explained that the sudden loss of Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite signals made the team not push through with the show for safety reasons of the devices and most especially, the public.
This announcement came hours after they issued the official statement from the suppliers explaining why the drone did not take flight and claiming that they have conducted an ocular visit and test flight before the event date and everything was going according to plan.
However, at around 11:40 a.m. on March 4, the GPS signal of the drones fluctuated and around 2:30 p.m. the GPS signal still did not reach the desired percentage of 14 to attain a clear signal and flight path.
“We asked if there was a booster and was waiting for the GPS signal to reach 14 percent, however, it did not normalize or reach 14 percent,” the supplier said.
“This [GPS and satellite signal] are needed for the drones to reconfirm the flight path as it needs to have a landing site. The team was forced to look for location alternatives where the GPS signal is higher. During this time, the drone technical team rebooted the system, changed the location of the receivers, and checked each drone unit. This process was repeatedly done several times. However, the attempts were unsuccessful,” supplier added.
Although the audience has been requested to turn off their mobile data, the technical issues were still not resolved.
The supplier underscored that there might be other uncontrollable factors that may have caused the extreme loss in GPS and satellite signals. Various uncontrollable and unpredictable factors that may have caused the loss in GPS and satellite signals include atmospheric disturbances, electromagnetic interference, signal interference (jamming), multipath interference, weather change, and solar activity.
Organizers apologized
Dalisay-Santos and team expressed their apologies to all Dabawenyos and visitors for the failed drone show.
In a Facebook post, Dalisay-Santos said they prepared for two months to give Dabawenyos a good show, a first of its kind in the city.
“We have prepared a good show. You guys don't know how hard we worked for this. This was for you, Davao,” read her post. “We apologize deeply for what inconvenience it has caused, but we tried our best to give you the drone light show. Again, we sincerely apologize for what happened.”
Dalisay-Santos took to social media to share the preparations they had for the show. She even posted the test flights that they did prior to the show.
In this video, the drone show features phrases “Hello, Davao”; “Davao, Life Is Here” and an eagle and inverted pyramid figures.
“The supplier prepared 100 drones for this seven-minute show,” she told SunStar Davao.
Despite the show going south, some netizens appreciated the honesty of the organizers and the effort the team poured just to give the Dabawenyos a great show.
“Salamat naman at may advised na from the drone production na walang drone show mamaya kasi may problema talaga sa signal, mas mabuti nato kasi paasa na naman mamaya din ayon another set of disappointment from the public at least now inamin na nila ang problema talaga (Thank you for the immediate advise at least people will no longer expect and to avoid another set of disappointment from the public since there was really a technical problem),” Mark Oscar Barriga said.
Another netizen, Mythel Joy Nicor Langbid, said that she totally understands the situation and why it was canceled.
“Sad man nga wala nahitabo ang 3d drone show (It’s sad that it was canceled) but at least they showed us what we were supposed to see. Thank you! Looking forward to seeing it in person,” she said.
“Appreciate gihapon ilang effort trying their best madayon ang event,” a certain RA Rai added.
As of writing, the City Government of Davao has not released an official statement on the matter.