MONSTER HITS   |   CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENSE   |   EYE IN THE SKY

EYE IN THE SKY

1. Equipment
The passenger seats are swapped out for TV monitors, camera controls, and the camera itself—over half a million dollars of gear. “The camera, zoom lens, and stabilization equipment are all mounted into a 100-pound ball that can pan, tilt, and spin 360 degrees,” says Goodyear flyboy Jim Maloney.

2. Long View
From 1,500 feet above the tackles, the camera’s 36:1 zoom lens can zero in on a single player. “Usually we’re zoomed in on the whole team just before the snap,” Maloney says. “Then, if it’s handed off to a player, the cameraman will zoom in more and follow him as he runs across the field.”

3. Delivery
The camera’s high-definition picture is compressed and fired down via micro­wave to antennas sitting in the sta­dium. The signal is never encoded for security. If you had the same microwave demodulator that Goodyear uses, you could pirate the blimp’s sinal. Shhhh! The brand name is Duma.