A drone performance planned for the skies above Central Park on New Year’s Eve has been canceled, the New York Road Runners announced.
The scheduled Tuesday night drone spectacle was canceled in response to a disastrous performance by operator Sky Elements at a show in Florida where several drones fell into a crowd, with a 7-year-old boy being injured on Dec. 21.
Although the tristate area is no longer under a high-level drought warning, New York Road Runners had planned to use drones to ring in the New Year above Central Park instead of traditional fireworks, which were deemed hazardous amid the ongoing, lower-level drought watch.
Sky Elements, a Texas-based drone company, pulled out of a planned New Year’s Eve drone show in Dallas following the Florida debacle.
In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary ban on drones in the skies above New York City, Long Island and Westchester County in response to thousands of drone sightings reported in recent weeks.