FlyCam a Thrill for US Open Viewers, Spectators Alike
By Brandon Costa, Associate Editor
In the upper reaches of Louis Armstrong Stadium, Pat Hally, owner/CEO of FlyCam, sits before a set of monitors under a small tent. The communications speaker in front of him crackles: “FlyCam ready? Take FlyCam.”
Hally and his crew have to be on their toes at all times, because that’s the split-second reaction time they get before they are live on-air for all the tennis world to see.
In its second year providing spectacular aerial visuals of the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for ESPN and USOptimum, FlyCam is a closed-loop, stabilized tracking camera system. It is driven by a motor/pulley combination with the drive motor and video receiver fiber-mounted at one end of the run.
FlyCam's 38-lb. camera can speed above the Tennis Center at 55 mph
The camera, which weighs approximately 38 lbs., runs along cable rope extending about 950 ft. across the Tennis Center grounds. On fiber-optic cables, it can reach speeds of up to 55 mph in just over six seconds.
Setup usually takes Hally and his crew about a day, but Hally notes that setup at the US Open is more challenging than most venues — ski mountains, soccer stadiums — that he shoots.
“There’s all kinds of protocol that has to be delicately handled, and, if you misstep, you go back to the back of the line,” he laughs. “It can be hard to install these lines when there’s 18-wheelers driving underneath you. We have a process and a procedure to handle it, but you need to be more careful.”
Kids See the Darnedest Thing
As popular as FlyCam may be for ESPN viewers, it’s even more so among fans wandering the Tennis Center grounds. As the camera swoops by, spectators commonly point to the sky, hoping to grab a moment or two on national television.
“You know, it’s funny, you see all these guys in business suits walking around with a martini, and they don’t see anything,” says Hally. “But it’s a 2-year-old that’s pointing, and everyone is looking at the 2-year-old, and everybody looks up. It’s almost the same thing every time no matter where we’re at.
“It’s pretty funny: kids are the most observant people around.”