Drone used during the Super Bowl

The super bowl has always been a staple of American culture during the cold winter. Albeit, this year marks a leap forward in entertainment technology. The largest football game of the year has brought Friends together, 7 layer dip and chips together, and this year… hundreds of drones will come together, just to entertain you. While the FAA has taken multiple steps to ensure the safety of thousands, this display could easily open up the skies for drones pilots around the world by enhancing society’s perception.

This year the NFL has elected to drop a football from a drone during the Super Bowl week festivities, and fly hundreds of the small specialized drones to create an experience unlike anyone has seen before on a national stage. This isn’t the first major entertainment group to use drones to light up the sky. Intel first proved that hundreds of drones could fly together to create great displays in the air. Later on, Disney was approved by the FAA to use these intel robots to create Christmas trees and other cool displays in the air over Disneyland.

Now, these same flying machines will be inside the stadium flying amongst thousands of people. Many are asking the question, “Is this safe?” As with all machines that use multiple systems to operate, there is always an possibility for failure. If these things went crazy, it would be the crowd that would get hurt… Along with our future freedom to fly.

However, the FAA wouldn’t approve this display unless there were multiple failsafe points, and multiple procedures to stop a problem from happening. The FAA would have to ensure that if there was catastrophic failure, the drones wouldn’t create a danger to those in the stadium. So how did they do it?

I believe the drones we will be seeing tonight are intel’s drones. It’s the only way that the FAA would allow this to happen. These are the only drones that have been tested previously thus ensuring safety and success. The drones being used are extremely light, just barely making the weight limit for registration. These unmanned vehicles are nothing like the consumer favorites, the DJI Mavic Pro and the DJI Phantom, which are known for amazing camera quality and ease of use to fly.

The drones being used by the NFL are light, covered in protection and will likely never hurt anyone. That is because the drone’s frame is made of plastic, the main body is covered in styrofoam and the drone’s propellers are completely enclosed by prop guards. All in all, this less-than-a-pound drone looks really cool but isn’t carrying any significant weight.

In my book, Livin the Drone Life, we mention that drones are literally going to become a platform to solve many problems. Think of it like a cell phone with apps to solve little issues throughout the day. When the American people see these drones as entertainment, it will ignite their imagination. Millions of people will be able to visualize this new platform, because these little drones are literally shedding a positive light on the drone industry.

When all goes well with the Super Bowl drone display, drone life will get a lot easier for commercial drone pilots around the world. More people will love drones than ever before. Now if this drone show does have issues, it could mean our lives as drone pilots could become a lot harder! However, thanks to the safety features of the Intel drone, that is very unlikely. All in all, I’m happy that drones are being used in such a positive manner, during the Super Bowl. This will illustrate another cool use of drones to the people. With more of society on our side, drone pilots will be assured of even clearer skies in the future….

-Thanks for reading, I write these articles because I’m passionate about flight and wish to retain the freedoms to fly. If you would like to elevate your flight experience, limit liability and increase your confidence while flying please check out a drone school. I would also like to thank Vic Moss for constantly contributing to these articles and expressing wisdom in grammar to make each article come together succinctly.