FPV Flying, Where gamers go to die, reality.

Freestyle quad pilots who make exceptional videos and push the boundaries crash a lot, you often don't see it in the videos, crash and repair is a constant feature of the hobby/profession.
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MOON GOAT FRAME RIPPPPPPPPP (FPV FREESTYLE)

Even old farts like me can have fun.
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ZOHD Drift FPV Fixed Wing Maiden Flight - INAV 2.5.1

Here is another flying boat design from the same guy as the seaplane build video posted earlier, it's from 9 months ago and it looks like he perfected his technique and design since then with the latest iteration, the Grumman Goose. I see he bought his foam at a building supply store and I believe they use XPS foam as underlay for flooring of some kind, this foam is blue. I think I might take a drive to the big box building supplier, have a look and ask some questions. I'll look for the ugliest old fart I can find, the one with experience and who knows shit. Maybe show him the first minute of the video where he picks up the material etc on my cell phone. I'd like to locate the best material I can find foam similar to this and if I can get a package similar to the one he got, it shouldn't cost too much and would be good for many future projects.

It was interesting to see his design and build technique evolve, but I think I'll go with the better plane born of the experence with this one. Some interesting building methods and was interested in sourcing the material or an equivalent locally, but I figure foam board should work too and that's the plan for now. Ya never know what is available until you look and with covid and retail restrictions in place I haven't had the chance to look, perhaps online might be a good start, the local chain stores have websites too.

In the first video he test flys it with different prop and motor combos, the second video is the build video and the plans can be downloaded in the Youtube description.
How to make a Flying Boat RC plane DIY

The build video

There's practical advice too and the covid crises has forced many FPV pros to focus on the basics, most work from home anyway and all the usual things they do to make ends meet are pretty well dried up, though some can make freestyle videos depending on where they live, those in America will be hit hard for a long time. Joshua here has a nice location and Bardwell's place is even in a drone flight sim, so you can fly his farm too, here he goes over all the ways you can retrieve a treed quad or plane. I keep a long shock corded tent pole in the truck for it, trees are an issue more for quad pilots, planes have fewer things to snag up and fall out more easily, especially with wind.
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17 best ways how to get a quad out of a tree (and 2 terrible ones)

Joshua Bardwell's House Is Coming To Liftoff Simulator

One of the great things about the modern RC hobby is that it makes many day like Christmas and mysterious packages arrive that were ordered weeks ago or even months! I just got this lot from Bango and a lot of it was described in the earlier posts with links to products. This is what a typical haul looks like, the electric propulsion system kits are in the $20US range, for motors, mounts, props and escs.

Here is a typical RC hobbyist haul from Bango, they are pretty quick on delivery too, much faster and cheaper than ebay and cheaper than Amazon.
There are 4 propulsion system kits here, spare quad motors and plane props. I also got a bunch of balsa plywood for future projects and that what some of the stuff is sitting on. I also bought one of them thar new fangled smart watches, in my continuing effort to force my poor old ass through space and time... Some might make a spreadsheet of their lives with this gizmo, I just need to know I'm still alive sometimes!

Got my dork goggles in the mail today, so I guess I'll try them out, but not in the field just yet. I'm leery about getting a bad burn on my foot infected by wearing footwear. If you lose yer shit ya gotta find and retrieve it and that might involve cross country, be prepared and dress accordingly, or have clothing in the trunk. See earlier in the thread for complete info on these economical goggles, I'll tell ya how good I think they are after I test them with an AIO and a better camera.

This was from 4 years ago, an interesting video to watch, educational...

Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | Raffaello D'Andrea

When you hear the word "drone," you probably think of something either very useful or very scary. But could they have aesthetic value? Autonomous systems expert Raffaello D'Andrea develops flying machines, and his latest projects are pushing the boundaries of autonomous flight — from a flying wing that can hover and recover from disturbance to an eight-propeller craft that's ambivalent to orientation ... to a swarm of tiny coordinated micro-quadcopters. Prepare to be dazzled by a dreamy, swirling array of flying machines as they dance like fireflies above the TED stage.

and for my next trick... From 7 years ago.
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The astounding athletic power of quadcopters | Raffaello D'Andrea

In a robot lab at TEDGlobal, Raffaello D'Andrea demos his flying quadcopters: robots that think like athletes, solving physical problems with algorithms that help them learn. In a series of nifty demos, D'Andrea show drones that play catch, balance and make decisions together -- and watch out for an I-want-this-now demo of Kinect-controlled quads.

More potentially useful drone technology, it's not FPV, but that can lead some young fellows to this stuff and pursue their interests professionally.
FPV and RC planes are STEM educational activities, Science, Technology, Engineering, Materials. Good things to turn young minds to, good clean fun too. Physics of flight, radio technology and computers, making it fly and fly right, carbon fiber frames, foam, composites and other advanced materials, I think ya get the idea that this is rich ground for science projects, even challenging engineering student projects and competitions. It's a good way to get the ring in the nose of an adventurous and curious young man who seeks stimulation! Warning though it can be addicting and many have fallen under its spell, even old farts, so the young are especially vulnerable.
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The Future of Flying Robots | Vijay Kumar | TED Talks

At his lab at the University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Kumar and his team have created autonomous aerial robots inspired by honeybees. Their latest breakthrough: Precision Farming, in which swarms of robots map, reconstruct and analyze every plant and piece of fruit in an orchard, providing vital information to farmers that can help improve yields and make water management smarter.

British history...

For those who had to fly, from those who like to.

For those interested in these subjects there is plenty of instruction, these people who make videos, sometimes make instructional ones too. Everybody is doing distance learning these days, so why not. This is but a taste of the learning resources available free of charge, there are videos courses on how to use video editing software too.

Cinematic FPV - 10 CRUCIAL TIPS for Beginners!

The rotor riot crew did this with drones in partnership with these guys and they have a video on making it posted below.
Drone Star Wars

The drone shoot
Star Wars Drone Chase

The CGI
Re-Creating Star Wars with Drones!

Finwing Albabird Build Overview - Twin Motor FPV Aircraft, Pan, Tilt & HD

This is the build overview to my Finwing Albabird I recently bought here https://bit.ly/32Bnmnu (not affiliated). besides one tweak, the setup you see here is the same that I have ended up using for the maiden & beyond. FULL setup details below, PRESS SHOW MORE to see them. Matt