by Matt Koehler ‘15
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s just MAGIS1, Mr. Jarc’s new drone that has been seen flying over the school in recent test launches.
The drone, a Phantom 2 model equipped with GPS and a GoPro camera, as well as other electronics, was purchased by the Fine Arts Department in December. The idea was proposed by Mr. Jarc and Mr. Buzzelli, both of whom monitor technology trends in conjunction with their video production class. “We’re always looking for ways to add to the technology that we have,” explained Mr. Jarc, “so when the prices were pretty modest around Christmas, we said ‘yeah, let’s give it a try, and we can think of about a dozen or so things we could use it for.’”
While Mr. Jarc is still learning to how to control the machine, taking it on test launches as often as he can, the drone will be used by the Fine Arts Department for numerous jobs in the future. “Mostly it’s to explore what’s possible with aerial photography,” said Jarc, “and we immediately started thinking of different things it could do relating to visual arts and music.”
Employing the aircraft’s high-quality camera, students in graphics and video production classes, as well as staff members in charge of the school’s marketing, will be able to utilize the drone’s aerial maneuvers to take photos or videos of the school from up to four hundred feet in the air.
The drone’s possibilities aren’t limited to just the arts. It is being eyed by numerous faculty members and clubs alike for different purposes in the future, ranging from being used by Mr. Hamlin to observe the band’s marching formations from above to being Mr. Bradesca and Mr. Franzinger’s eyes in the sky during evacuation drills, analyzing routes and traffic flow. Some other possible tasks for MAGIS1 include filming athletic events and crowd footage for SIBN and being used by the Aeronautics Club for different activities.
As of now, only Mr. Jarc has flown the drone and is still learning how to control it, keeping in mind FAA regulations. “It’s easy to fly,” says Jarc, “but it’s also very easy for it to get out of control. It’s an expensive thing to crash and has the potential to be dangerous, so whoever flies it will need to have a few hours of training.” Once he is fully trained in piloting in the drone himself, Mr. Jarc hopes to get students interested in aeronautics and photography involved by establishing a training system.
