Sky Elements on America’s Got Talent

PASADENA, CA | After an incredible run on America's Got Talent, Sky Elements finished third in the Season 19 finale, behind winner Richard Goodall and runners-up Roni Sagi and Rhythm. It was a podium finish for a drone show company that, a few months earlier, had never been on a TV competition stage. Here's how the whole journey unfolded.

The Audition: A Golden Buzzer Over Pasadena

Our AGT story started on June 4, 2024, in the second audition episode of Season 19. Most acts perform inside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Ours didn't fit. We flew 1,000 drones over the Pasadena Convention Center, and the judges, host Terry Crews, and the entire audience had to walk outside to watch.

The show recreated the moon landing, complete with an astronaut on a spacewalk. When the helmet visor lifted, the face inside was Simon Cowell's. Simon hit the Golden Buzzer, sending us straight to the live shows. It was his second Golden Buzzer of the episode, which had never happened before, and it led to a rule change allowing additional Golden Buzzers later in the season.

The Quarterfinals: The Show Must Go On

For the quarterfinals, we brought a circus to the sky. The show was set to Queen's "The Show Must Go On" and Katy Perry's "Firework," and it turned the judges into the performers: Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, Simon Cowell, and Terry Crews each appeared as a carnival act rendered in drones. Howie and Simon gave standing ovations, and America voted us into the top five and on to the semifinals.

The Semifinals: Butterfly

The semifinal, on September 11, 2024, was the most personal show we have ever flown. Set to Lily Meola's "Butterfly," it told the story of our co-founder and chief pilot Preston Ward and his daughter Briley Rose, who passed away shortly after her birth in 2020. The drones showed a father and daughter playing together before the girl became a butterfly and flew away, and the father rose as a phoenix.

Preston has described grief as a fire that can either consume you or fuel you. That idea shaped every frame of the show. Simon was left speechless. Sofia said she never expected drones to move her the way they did. Twelve acts performed that night and six advanced. We were one of them.

The Finale: The American Dream

On September 17, 2024, we flew 1,200 drones over Pasadena for the live finale. The show, "The American Dream," set to P!nk's cover of "A Million Dreams," opened with a boy dreaming at the base of a tree. His dreams became ships, cowboys on horseback, and a locomotive crossing the frontier: the inventions and ambitions that built the country. Sky Elements itself started as a dream between two college friends, so the story was ours too.

Simon called the timing genius. Sofia was in tears again. Heidi said she saw herself in the dreaming child. Howie called it epic. Heidi, Sofia, and Simon all stood.

The Surprise Opening

We also opened the results episode with a surprise Americana drone show alongside the Detroit Youth Choir, set to George Michael's "Freedom! '90" and leading into the choir's performance of "High Hopes." A mighty eagle and a 1,200-drone American flag filled the sky while pyrotechnics fired below. The night featured guest performances from Steve Aoki, Simone Biles, Gabriel Iglesias, Michael Bublé, and Journey.

What It Meant

Every Sky Elements show is built by American engineers, animators, and pilots working together, and America voted for that. We congratulate Richard Goodall, the Terre Haute janitor who won the season, and Roni Sagi and Rhythm, and we're grateful to have shared the stage with them.

As Preston put it after the finale, dreaming big is the most patriotic thing you can do. Thank you to everyone who voted, watched, and cheered from the ground.

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