ESPN will not employ drones to videotape the 2016 X Games in Aspen, according to a spokesman who said the decision is unrelated to the International Ski Federation’s recent ban of the flying devices after one almost hit an Austrian racer during a December World Cup event.
The X Games production team months ago decided against using drones, said Danny Chi in an email.
That’s a change in policy from 2015, said John Kinney, director of the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. Sardy Field is one of several partnering agencies represented at the table during discussions about X Games preparations.
“Last year, one drone [operator] was officially sanctioned,” said Kinney, referring to a misdemeanor criminal case. “I’m hearing there’re not going to be any drones this year.”
While a boon to photographers and camera crews attempting to capture new aerial angles, many believe the potential risks outweigh the benefits because unmanned aircraft systems remain a work in progress. Widely circulated video of a drone crashing near Marcel Hirscher, the World Cup alpine points leader, during a Dec. 22 slalom has heightened scrutiny of the devices.
“They are really getting to be an issue,” said Kinney, citing reports of incidents where drones passed dangerously close to aircraft windshields near Los Angeles International Airport. Just last week, a drone landed on top of the presidential motorcade during President Obama’s vacation in Hawaii, he said.
“We have never allowed drone usage — by media, photographers or spectators — at our venue in the past regardless of how advanced the technology is,” Chi said.
During last year’s X Games Aspen, a 20-year-old spectator, who was refused entry into the Buttermilk venue, was issued a summons for reckless endangerment after attempting to fly a drone from a bus stop outside the venue, which is within site of the airport runway.
“Drones have become more commonplace as technology evolves rapidly, posing new safety threats … to manage,” said a statement jointly released last year by the Aspen Police Department and other safety agencies. “Given the proximity of the X Games venue to the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, drones create a serious concern in and around the venue.”
Aspen’s control tower, under the Federal Aviation Administration direction, has jurisdiction of a five-mile radius around the airport, Kinney said. That’s regardless of whether it’s a hot-air balloon, corporate jet or a drone.
Evolving industry
Photographer Nathan Bilow of Crested Butte uses drones for his work, but said he draws the line at location scouting and events that don’t involve large groups of people.
“I do not use it for ski racing because of something like [Hirscher’s near-miss] that may happen,” said Bilow, whose work is widely carried by the Associated Press.
In anticipation of the 2017 World Cup finals at Aspen, Bilow’s approximately 2.5-pound drone temporarily went missing while he was shooting potential course locations. He said it happened in late November, on the Monday after Mikaela Shiffrin’s second slalom win here, and was conducted under safe conditions.
“I wanted to get a shot of the course for 2017,” said Bilow.
For a professional photographer’s usage, “It’s a great tool, it totally is,” he said. But the manufacturers are still working out the kinks, in particular, the software needed to allow drones to better fly in cold weather, he said.
Drone pilots also need to compensate for operation of the devices in the thinner air at high altitude.
Attempting to keep up with the rapidly evolving drone industry, the FAA in December announced that consumer drones weighing between a half pound and 55 pounds must by registered by Feb. 19, or users will face fines and potential jail time. For more, go to www.faa.gov/uas/registration/
That’s a step in the right direction, Kinney said, adding that if birds can be a hazard to aircraft, something made of metal, and not feathers, can do far worse damage.
“Drones can be very dangerous if operated near an airport at altitudes where aircraft are traversing,” he said.
Source: Aspen Daily News