A DJI Phantom 2 drone could be seen hovering above Assembly Station around 6 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Its operator, KnowTechie author Kevin Raposo, stood 500 to 700 feet away from the newly-opened Orange Line MBTA stop, in a Somerville public storage parking lot. “I was by myself,” Raposo told BostInno. “Eventually onlookers gathered around to see what was going on.”

What was going on: To celebrate the grand opening of the $30 million T station, the first new rapid-transit station to open in 27 years, Raposo decided to fly his DJI Phantom 2 over Assembly Station for “about 25 minutes.” While hovering above the Earth, Raposo’s drone captured aerial footage of the station, two minutes and forty seconds of which he published on YouTube Tuesday night.

“I figured since it was the first day of [the station’s] opening, it would be a prime opportunity to capture aerial footage,” Raposo said. “If you think about it, I was the first person to get that coverage. No one has gotten that close with an aerial view.”

The DJI Phantom 2 is “a basic quad-copter with wifi and GPS features,” he said. This high-tech device, one imagines, would draw some quite a bit of attention at a busy area around rush hour on weekday evening. “The funning thing, there were transit cops there,” said Raposo, adding that he “naturally” filled Transit Police office in on his drone-flyover plans beforehand.

“I didn’t have to [tell Transit Police], but I feel as a responsible drone operator, I would give them the courtesy.”

Raposo said that TPD officers weren’t actually present during the flyover. But even if officers were around, it doesn’t appear that they would have bothered Raposo too much. “Turns out to be, there were huge fans!”

—
Correction: A typo in the original version of this piece wrongly stated that Raposo is the author of TechKnowie. That’s incorrect; it’s called KnowTechie. This piece has been updated. Apologies for any confusion.

Screenshot via YouTube