While not everyone is a fan of their presence, the addition of aerial drone coverage at the 2026 Winter Olympics has provided unique visuals for audiences at home. One operator took some time to share challenges and details of the drone shot integration in a quick video on Facebook.
As reported earlier this week, the downhill skiing and luge events taking place at the Milan-Cortina venue have been enhanced with camera angles captured from FPV — first person view — drones. While drone use isn’t new to the sporting event as they were introduced in the 2024 Paris Olympics, this is the first time they have been so widespread.
In a short video published to Facebook by NBC Olympics and Paralympics, drone operator (who is unnamed) explains that this is his fourth year flying a drone for broadcast television and shares some details of how the production is put together.
“We are using sub-250 drones, so we can go close to the people but not over them,” he says. A sub-250 drone refers to a drone that weighs no more than 249 grams. “The drone can go up to 120 kilometers per hour (about 75 miles per hour) [and] on this drone we have some broadcast camera and broadcast transmitter on it so we can tweak the camera directly from the truck.”
The “truck” that is being referred to here is a mobile broadcast production station that is used for events around the world and holds NBC’s production crew for a given location. Trucks vary in size with some housing small teams while others are quite large and can crew as many as 20 or 30 people.
“Sometimes when they miss a pole or something, they are not doing the same line and then you have to adapt,” the drone operator explains, referring to the athletes as they are competing. “I would say that it’s the hardest part of the job. I don’t want to disturb them during the race and on the slalom, you have to be really careful about the pole swinging, so you have to keep an eye and keep a safe distance between the athlete and the drone.”
The drones do provide a new and exciting perspective, but some fans aren’t happy with the noise.
Image credits: NBC Olympics and Paralympics
