New Mexico State University’s newly renovated Presley Askew Field is an impressive facility from the perspective of fans in the bleachers and baseball players on the field. But it also looks good from above, thanks to photographs taken from an unmanned aircraft.
On May 24, NMSU’s Physical Science Laboratory performed Unmanned Aircraft System flights to gather photographs of the renovated baseball field. Using an unmanned aircraft enabled the camera to take pictures from a variety of angles and altitudes providing a different view and perspective of the field.
Herb “TD” Taylor was the NMSU Athletic Department lead for the project and directed the PSL crew on which photos and perspectives he desired while standing next to the UAS pilot and viewing the camera shot in the view finder.
“This new technology could have a very positive impact for the university and especially athletics,” Taylor said.
This was the first use of the NMSU/PSL FAA Section 333 exemption for commercial use of UAS flight operations.
“The Athletic Department was very pleased with the results and plans on using PSL to perform additional photography and video data gathering flights,” said Dennis Zaklan, NMSU Deputy Director of the UAS Flight Test Center.
“It was a great opportunity for PSL to assist the university through the use of UAS to obtain the photographic imagery, which can be used for many aspects and may be used for publication, advertising and general documentation,” said Joe Millette, NMSU/PSL’s UAS subject matter expert and lead pilot.
Information from NMSU