But Aircraft Can Not Be Flown During Games

The FAA has approved a Section 333 exemption for the National Football League, making the NFL the first major sports league to get approval to fly UAVs. But before you get too excited about seeing a quadcopter at a football game, you should realize that as with all such things, it came with caveats and provisos.

Fortune magazine online reports that principle among those is that the NFL can only operate a UAV in an empty stadium, according to NFL Films outside counsel Kurt Wimmer.

In its application, the NFL said that since UAVs don't use "flammable fuel" or carry passengers, they are safer than using a piloted aircraft. The FAA, in its boilerplate language for approvals, said the NFL's use of the aircraft was "in the public interest."

But since they can only be used over an empty stadium, it doesn't look like the Goodyear or MetLife blimps will be put out of a job anytime soon, and the overhead cameras on wires will still be used for some of the closeup camera angles NFL viewers have come to expect during a game. And, there won't be a quadcopter delivering a hot dog or beer to your seat, so vendors will still be walking up and down the aisles hawking their wares.

We suppose aerial shots of empty stadiums will be good for something.

To date, nearly 1,700 section 333 exemptions have been granted by the FAA.

FMI: https://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/2010s/media/201408.pdf