Thanks to special permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Sinclair Broadcast Group stations are using their newsgathering drones to shoot footage after dark.
Getting the FAA’s OK to fly drones at night has enabled Sinclair stations to capture never-seen-before shots.
Taking drone use for newsgathering to the next level, Sinclair TV stations are using their unmanned aircraft to capture video footage at night on the heels of the FAA giving the broadcast group special permission do so in May.
“It’s really afforded us the ability to shoot all kinds of new video we couldn’t see before, and what people are not used to seeing,” said Jeff Rose who, as Sinclair’s unmanned aircraft systems chief pilot, leads the group’s drone operations.
Sinclair stations have aired footage of Fourth of July festivities shot from above the fireworks, pictures of skylines at dusk and after-dark live shots since being granted the waiver that made nighttime drone use possible.
Drones are in use at 42 of Sinclair’s stations and are operated by a total of 190 pilots and visual observers across the group’s news operations, constituting the largest newsgathering drone program in the U.S., according to the station group.
Sinclair has used drones to cover the breadth of breaking, weather and feature stories since 2016 and has been a major proponent of drone journalism. “Opening up drone newsgathering beyond daylight hours has been a tremendous benefit to the audiences we serve around the clock,” said Stanley Heist, the group’s director of news training and development.
According to Rose, Sinclair’s rigorous drone training program and safety standards helped them get the FAA’s permission to fly them at night, which he sees as a precursor to more advancements to come. “The next steps will be flights over people and the next after that will be beyond visual lines of sight. And by the time we are doing that, Amazon will be delivering packages by drones and it will be a whole new game,” Rose said.