11 April 2023
UK-based aerobatic team AeroSparx has successfully staged the world’s first combined display of manned aircraft and a drone swarm at the closing ceremony of the Dubai World Cup 2023.
The night time performance brought together two aircraft of the Aerosparx team, 2,000 drones, fireworks, a light show and a 110 metre-long video screen for a dramatic ten-minute performance .
The display was the culmination of more than two years of planning and training by AeroSparx, spanning two separate training camps in Dubai, said the team.
The ground-breaking show was the culmination of a 13-year process which began in 2010 when team founder Guy Westgate performed the UK’s first pyrotechnic air display – an aerobatic show during which the aircraft launches fireworks mid-flight.
Guy then produced the pyrotechnic display flight that opened the 2012 London Paralympic Games -the first ever flight of its kind over London – before setting up the AeroSparx Display Team in 2015. He was joined by Rob Barsby two years later.
At AeroSparx, the pair refined the techniques and procedures that made the team’s performance at the Dubai World Cup possible. This included training to fly in the vicinity of drones in 2018 and learning to fly coordinated orbits around ground-launched firework shows since 2021.
The AeroSparx team for Dubai
The team took part in two week-long training camps in Dubai in the build up to this display, one in March 2021 at the height of the pandemic, and another in the days leading up to the 2023 Dubai World Cup, where they met with the other event stakeholders and practiced flying over the Meydan racecourse.
The team had to devise a specific flight path that would keep them clear of the thousands of ground-launched fireworks and obstacles such as floodlights, communications masts and the half mile long, 11 storey tall Meydan Racecourse grandstand.
Finally, they began to rehearse their manoeuvres alongside the 2,000-strong drone swarm, gradually increasing the complexity of each practice flight.
“We’ve been working for two years on this display, building up our skills and procedures working with ground fireworks – and actually, the skills we’ve learnt are very transferable to flying with a huge drone swarm.
“What’s new for us is the split second timing – the whole show is run to a pre-programmed timecode, the sequencing of the drones, the music, the videos on the big screens and the fireworks are all programmed, and once the programme starts running, there’s no option to pause or fast forward,” said Guy Westgate.
