Police confiscate unauthorised drones as operators violate festival airspace regulations

SkeyDrone detected more than 1000 drone flights over the Tomorrowland music festival, held in Boom, Belgium, over the last two weekends of July. 

The event attracted 400,000 attendees from over 200 countries and a temporary GeoZone zone was established around the festival site to improve their safety and security. This required drone operators to obtain flight authorisation with only drones operated by the police and festival organisers permitted to fly within this area. Possession of drone equipment was also prohibited in the vicinity of the festival. 

To enforce these regulations, the Police District of Rupel, responsible for security at Tomorrowland, collaborated with SkeyDrone. SkeyDrone’s drone detection system enabled the police to monitor air traffic in real-time, ensuring compliance with the GeoZone rules.

The system detected more than 1000 flights over the two weekends, executed by only 50 different drones. The majority of these flights were performed by drones from the festival organisers and the police. Hence more than 90 percent of all detected drone flights were authorised. Some of the unauthorised drones also exceeded the maximum height for drones in the Open Category of 400 feet (120 metres) above ground level or the distance limit of 500 metres between pilot and drone. The highest drone was recorded at 1642 feet (500 metres) above ground level and the maximum observed distance between a pilot and his drone was 1813 metres. As a result of these detections, the police confiscated 11 drones and several violations were reported to the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority.