In years past, if you cast your eyes skyward outside our school and spotted a flying object, you had three options for what it could be: a bird, a plane, or a rapidly descending shoe. Now, there’s a new competitor that will dominate Westford Academy’s skies.

Recently, WA received a DJI Phantom 3 Advanced, a drone that can film from high altitudes, and has features that are at the pinnacle of modern technology which are often seen being used in professional sports.

Originally, the football team had using a standard video camera on a tripod to film practices.

That is, until Phil Manzi, manager of the football team, brought the idea of purchasing a better camera to the sports department last year.

“You see all the professionals [using] high-line cameras on the zip lines and up above, and it gives not only the audience a better view, but the coaches when they review it,” said Manzi

However, attempting to get a camera like that would cost thousands upon thousands of dollars. Luckily after Manzi found the much cheaper solution, the Phantom 3 advanced.

“The drone itself cost a thousand dollars, which was a score for what we need it for. Wired cameras, like the ones in the big sports stadiums, takes thousands of dollars. Going this route saves a lot of money,” said Manzi.

Once this edition of the drone was released, the football team went ahead to purchase it

According to Mr. Twomey, head of the sports department, the football team used fundraisers to support the cost of the drone, therefore they are the owners of it.

“Coaches can use this footage for their advantage. Using it during practices and when they do video to watch how the teams operates the aerial footage will allow endless possibilities. This drone is the new generation technology that will enable coaches to pay better attention to their players. The football team will start using it with simple practices but eventually bring it to big time games,” said Manzi

At the moment, the football has the camera in their possession, but Manzi stated that the team wouldn’t mind lending it other sports to better their members with close-up video footage action.

The DJI phantom 3 Advanced has an in built GPS which can allow the user to pin-point any area of land to allow the drone to hover over. Despite this state-of-the-art piece of technology having abilities to capture high quality video footage, the question of any type of danger by malfunction comes to mind.

“There are the safety concerns, but with this new one, there are so many safety aspects that you would have to be doing something deliberately wrong to cause an accident,” Manzi states.

The device also has auto-fly, auto-land, and hazard landing features. The fail-safe is, while it can move anywhere the controllers wills it go, in case the system senses a glitch, it has the ability to hover back to the area it was ejected from, wait until the obstacles are cleared if any found, and gradually land itself back down.

“If we feel that the camera is unsafe to be around people then, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there but I think it’s a fun way to get the things you need to get done,” said Twomey.

Manzi intends to fly it from the fifty yard line on the football field and have it oversee the players once locked into position. After that, his work will comprise of moving the camera to get better shots of whatever needed.

Overall, the drone is meant to provide new viewing positions of players as it records. The Westford Academy football team is the first to exercise this new device, and hopefully it will bring positive feedback.

Manzi is currently recruiting incoming students to learn more about the drone as an operator.

“I would like a prodigy to understudy so when I move on next year somebody can take on as manager. A freshman who’s moving on as a sophomore who I will qualify to see if they’re skilled enough. So if there are any interests, contact me then. [Also] it’s not that hard of a machine to master,” said Manzi.