KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs pride took flight, lighting up the night sky over Union Station for a one-of-a-kind display for Chiefs Kingdom.
“We’ve taken drones and flown them over the Grand Lady in a virtual way that I don’t think anybody has ever seen,” said George Guestello, president and CEO of Union Station.
An arrowhead of lights and a floating football dancing in the sky, along with many other displays, lit up the eyes of fans like Kenny Glasco.
“So the third part of it was really cool when it moved around the KC Chiefs logo with KC on it — it was unbelievable,” Glasco said.
Glasco, like many, was watching the show with family. His grandkids 7-year-old Sutter Liu and 4-year-old Zadie Liu tell KSHB 41 News the show was simply "cool."
“I saw that someone was actually controlling it, and it was really cool to see,” Sutter said.
Joseph Suehle of Image Engineering, the operator for Saturday's drone display, tells KSHB 41 the goal was to get fans fired up for Sunday's AFC Championship. However, the colorful twists and turns took a lot of planning and coordination.
“This magnitude is difficult to plan because we have to coordinate with several different agencies, the police helicopters, Union Station, local officials and of course the FAA,” Suehle said. “We had to have commercial airspace to do this.
"So tonight’s show we had 180 drones that actually fly in formation. All of those drones are autonomous, meaning they are all flying on their own instruction, relative to each other. So once we push a button, they all kind of do their own thing”
While this type of display was jaw-dropping for those watching, it's also historic, according to Guastello.
“It was historic in front of the historic Union Station, The Grand Lady that is the official voice of Kansas City," Guastello said. "Always projecting to the world what we stand for. Tonight, it stands for future. It’s for a community that’s on the rise."
Although the show lasted about 10 minutes, the planning and detail were all for one cause — to make sure the Chiefs and their kingdom are ready to head to Los Angeles.
