Sky's the limit: The veteran in charge of 600 drones

Someone who has more than a decade's worth of experience working with military drones is probably a great place to start.

Up until she left the defence force in 2021, Sue Osborn was one of the most seasoned members of the Australian Army's elite uncrewed system unit, 20th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. But the skills she honed under intense pressure, having deployed on multiple occasions, were not left on the battlefield.

Today she is head of flight operations for Flight: Drone SkyShow, the three-night event that will see hundreds of drones illuminate the sky, telling a series of stories that reflect Australia and in particular Canberra.

Held from January 25 to 27, the event will see 600 drones take to the skies three times a night, telling a different, but connecting story, each night.

And conducting the entire performance is Osborn, meticulously orchestrating every technical aspect of the show, while the animators at AGB Events have taken care of the creative elements.

"While 600 drones will take flight, we'll probably have a little over 700 on the ground," Osborn said.

"We have state-of-the-art technology where the system will select the best drones out of what is available and take 600 to the sky. And it does that through a process of ensuring who has the best GPS, who has the strongest battery - it works out the system for what are the safest drones to take flight."

Billed as the next big thing in outdoor entertainment - and according to Osborn, the future replacement for firework displays - the sky's the limit when it comes to drone displays at public events.

However, not all drone displays are created equal.

"I'm a big advocate in my peer group that when we see drone light shows they're done to the same standard. It's like anything - you can buy cheap products and they'll perform poorly," Osborn said.

"I'm quite an advocate about explaining or educating people that not every drone light show system is the same and you get what you pay for. So for me, when I see a competitor having a catastrophic accident, it does reflect on us as well.

"So we are often engaging [Civil Aviation Safety Authority] that come down and do our product so that they can see that there are differences in systems."

The stories presented in Flight: Drone SkyShow, in part, came from discussions with the National Capital Authority and a First Nations leader who advised on different elements that relate specifically to the Indigenous culture.

"They spoke about some traditional totems, places, icons, animals, and then Anthony, the creative director - he's the guy with the brains and the creative mind to turn that into an animated story," Osborn said.

But from a technical point of view, Osborn has been part of the process from the get-go, guiding the animators and their vision as to what would be possible.

Using her expertise she was able to ensure that before ideas turned into action, they were able to meet airspace and ground regulatory requirements.

"It's great to have a good idea and an image in your head, but if we don't have the airspace or the ground space to do it safely, that's when I inject to say, hey, good idea guys, but we can't fit that or we can't do that in this location," Osborn said.

"That site is inside controlled airspace from Canberra tower. So we had to navigate through that process and air services as to how we could do that safely."

Flight: Drone SkyShow and nightmarkets will be at Commonwealth Place on January 25, 26 and 27 from 5pm until 11pm. The drone show will be at 8.30pm, 9.30pm and 10.30pm each night. There will also be a second location, with food trucks at Regatta Point.

To register for updates for the free event go to Eventbrite.

Public transport to the event will be free from 5pm, including the shuttle buses from Woden and City interchanges, park and ride services and regular city buses.