September 11th, 2001 · 25th anniversary memorial
September 11th Memorial Drone Show
2,977 Lights to represent each life lost on September 11th, 2001
The memorial
On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, 2,977 lights rose over New York Harbor and rebuilt the Twin Towers in the sky.
One light for every life lost that day.
This show is a gift to New York City, to every family who lost someone, to everyone still carrying that day, and to a generation that did not live through it. A reason to look up, and a reason to reflect.
For a brief moment, the city stood still and remembered.
With thousands of drones, we put the towers back in the New York City skyline at the height and scale they held on September 11th, 2001. It was built for the families first, for a generation with no memory of that day, and for a city reclaiming the sky above it as a place for hope, remembrance, and history.
The number
"This is a moment of remembrance for the families who have lived with this for twenty-five years... those we lost that day, those we have lost since, and the survivors who are still with us."
"Everything in the sky over New York is for them. We're honored to be trusted with this."
Rick Boss
CEO, Sky Elements
The show
A helix of light rising out of the harbor, and then the towers.
The creative was reviewed with families of 9/11 victims directly. This was their vision. Our work was to fly it exactly as they pictured it.
Recreated at scale
Built to match the real Twin Towers at 1:1, standing at the same height and proportion they held on September 11th, 2001.
2,977 lights
One light for every light lost.
Seen across New York
Visible from miles away across the harbor, giving the entire city a moment to reflect.
What it took
The hardest airspace in America
There is nearly no more complex airspace in the country than the one above Lower Manhattan, and there is no more sensitive date to fly in it. This piece required federal, state, city, and bi-state coordination, months of it, running in parallel with the creative.
Flying at our requested altitude required special airspace authorization. To run the show safely we put a temporary flight restriction in place over the site, coordinated directly with nearby helipads and air traffic control, and cleared a number of additional FAA requirements, and altitude waivers, NOTAMs, and a ground safety perimeter.
It took hundreds of people saying yes
Thank you
Nothing about this piece was ours alone. The dozens of agencies that needed to permit this moment took the time to understand what we were asking to do and why it mattered.
Behind every approval were hundreds more people who read the plan, asked hard questions, and reviewed it again. We are grateful to every one of them for trusting us with something this sensitive, and this important.
This is not a complete list. Many more people and organizations were involved in bringing this project to the sky, and we want to thank each and every one of them.
Credits
Funded entirely by private philanthropy and in-kind contribution. Nothing was sold: no sponsorship in the sky, no commercial content, no admission.
Twenty-five years on, 2,977 lights stood over New York Harbor, and for a moment the city stood still.
We were honored to build it.
Sky Elements Drones · SkyElementsDrones.com