All language subtitles for Flowstate.The.FPV.Drone.Documentary.2021.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

For the most part, people
don't understand drones.

So when they do,
they're comfortable with it.

When they don't, they want to see it burn.

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

Then when you go out

and see it in real life, it's like,
well, that's freaking cool is crap.

You remember that scene in
Star Wars with the Speeder Bikes?

Everybody watched that scene and
you wanted to be on the Speeder Bikes.

Flying FPV, that's the closest
analogy to what that's like.

So you might have seen drone
footage before, but you probably haven't

seen drone footage like this.

So if you're prone to motion sickness,
you might want to grab a barf bag

because it's about to get wild.

Since your little you dream of flying

and you know, all the superheroes
like, you know, Superman and Iron Man.

Basically, that's the
feeling FPV gives you.

Who hasn't looked up at the sky

and thought, man, I wish I
could be Superman and just.

Go 100 miles an hour with a cinema camera

So you've basically
flying a little Lamborghini.

It is all manual.

When we fly these things,
every movement that you see is

input or not input from the pilot.

It's like freedom, you know, is like total
freedom, separation of body and mind.

Apart from flying a
wingsuit FPV is as close

as real flying as it can get.

You'll get shaky, your hands are shaking.

Your heart is pounding.

This is an adrenaline rush.

Get ready for like the ride of your life.

Whether it's diving down
the side of a mountain,

skimming along the top of the
water, you know, 100 miles an hour.

There's no other feeling like it.

There's no other way to get that rush
that you get when you're flying FPV.

So flying FPV,

you're always looking for like this
dope spot to fly if you've ever skated.

Most people are like,
they're looking at stair sets

and handrails rather than, you know,
maybe an architecture of a building.

Where with FPV we look at these things

so differently now because you
can fly in three dimensional space.

With FPV technology it's just up to your
skills how crazy and good the shot gets.

Having that headroom on the power lets

you do a lot of the crazy stuff
that we're able to pull off, pulling out

at a gap at the very bottom of a
building dive to go underneath this tree.

The adrenaline is always there.

No matter how long you've been flying.

You feel the power, you feel the speed.

The sensation

that you get or the adrenaline rush
comes from directly comes from speed.

Even now I get shaky hands,
I get almost dizzy about it.

You don't notice in the goggles.

It's only when you come back,
you're like, oh, my hands are shaking.

Why are my hands shaking?

Because you just drove, you know,
100 feet through a tiny little gap,

with your drone that you really like.

The first time I saw FPV

I thought to myself, I'm never
playing another video game again.

Your environments are
mountains, rivers, lakes,

marshes, beaches, whatever
you want your environment to be

it is the closest thing that you
can get to flying a fighter jet.

Without actually flying a fighter jet.

You don't strap into the jet.

You strap the jet onto you.

When you put on the goggles,
you are completely immersed

and you don't feel like you're
sitting there flying a drone.

You feel like you're actually flying.

The adrenaline that goes through your veins

is extremely similar to
actually flying a fighter jet.

This is something that you can only do

with these highly specialized quadcopters.

And you land and you
can take the goggles off,

and there you are in
the park and you're like,

what? It feels like my life and
a million dollars is on the line.

Hi, I'm James Christianson
and I'm a documentarian.

I'm also an FPV drone pilot
since 2018 and I have been

watching many of the
influencers and top drone pilots,

these are very skilled
pilots around the world,

most of them posting on YouTube

I have come out from L.A.

to within a short drive of Atlanta,
Georgia, Knoxville to Florida,

New York, and also interviewed
pilots from other countries as well.

2020 is going to be a pivotal
year for the history of drones.

And when I say drones, I mean quadcopters.

And it's not limited to toy drones
or larger professional drones,

camera drones, FPV,
drones, delivery drones,

drones in general are going
to have a very pivotal year

in what is decided with the
regulations coming from the FAA.

We have the protest coming up at
the end of the month, February 2020

in Washington, DC at the FAA building.

And these pilots will come out
and they're going to protest the fact

that they need to be able to save
their hobby and for many of them,

it's a profession as well.

So come on this journey
with me into the amazing,

fascinating adrenaline rush
of FPV culture worldwide.

FPV, first person view.

First Persion View is you are not
looking at the aircraft from the outside

you are inside the
aircraft, virtually looking out.

Back in 2008 I started putting cameras

on just remote control airplanes,
no FPV yet, and basically just trying

to do some HD footage of my surrounding
neighborhood, just out of my backyard.

I could launch a plane and fly
in the most beautiful scenery.

Back in the day, there were no drones.

It was only model aircraft.

You had to buy cameras
from like baby monitors,

like hack the equipment out of it

and then just tape it on to not
even purpose built airplanes.

Just airplanes that you would
buy in an old rusty model shop,

and basically we used old ski goggles.

And then we cut out the front and taped

in some old personal video goggles.

And so we hacked up a
receiver and taped that to our face.

We bought Wi-Fi range extender antennas

to get more range out of our equipment.

So this was kind of the early
days of hacking together equipment

that really wasn't made for FPV

we had to make them back in the days

because there was just no
purpose built FPV equipment.

So that's what we designed
and then started to sell

and then it turned into a business.

I started flying RC helicopters
with the age of 12 or 13.

So I'm in this RC hobby
for a very long time.

For over 28 years.

All of us started with airplanes and
helicopters and then move to drones,

and that's where a lot of
experience comes from.

I actually started out
with RC planes, fixed

wing planes before I got into
multi rotors and mini quads.

That was some of the first aircraft
that I built were fixed wing planes.

So really what inspired me to get into

FPV was a Team Black Sheep
video, which was Trappy flying.

They were flying wings and diving
down the sides of mountains with them.

And that kind of really set it off for me.

I always wanted to skydive and
fly so this was just something where

I didn't have to put my body in harm's way.

FPV actually started for me with Trappy.

He was actually a huge
inspiration with his TBS discovery

it wasn't until I went in the
forums that I learned, okay,

how do you put one of these together?

Like, oh shoot, I got to pick up
a soldering iron, but I didn't care.

I was like, I want to figure this out.

Figure it out MacGyver style. Like you

were just on the internet forums
for hours on end looking for answers

and so people would just buy
stuff and just plug it in and cross

your fingers that the magic smoke wouldn't
come out because you just never knew.

In the beginning it was really janky.

People were using these Wii nunchucks
and pulling the gyros and accelerometers

out of that and putting
them into these multi rotors

in order to be the sensors
to get these things to fly.

So it's very hacked together, and
we slowly started to get more things

that were built specifically
for the purpose of flying FPV.

The very first FPV drones had

scavenged surveillance cameras in them.

Bare bones like basic
literal security cameras.

Most people are familiar
with drones they see in

Best Buy, like DJI Phantoms or Mavericks.

I think a camera drone is best
thought of as a like a tripod in the sky.

It's going to have larger props.

It's going to have a gimbal

so the camera can tilt while the
drone is sort of hovering in place.

A freestyle or racing drone.

It's goal is to give the pilot
the experience of flight.

It's got a fixed angle

and that means that the camera
on it is actually up tilted a little bit

so the pilot can be looking ahead
while the quad pitches forward.

It was kind of a byproduct
of being super lightweight

to just mount or strap
a GoPro to your quad.

But it's also something
that was intentionally done to

provide the flying
experience to the viewer.

And so every tilt, every piece
of movement that you see,

that's what the drone is doing and
that's what makes FPV so unique

is that the flying is more inherently

the subject of the video.

For the most part,

people that fly FPV are used
to very crappy video signals

and just the most terrible image
you could ever expect someone

to be able to fly an aircraft with.

This signal is super weak.

It's super scratchy.

They're static all the time.

So many people think that
what we see in the goggles is like

what a GoPro shows you,

because that's what we show you guys
when we upload this stuff to YouTube.

But now we have these new systems,
these new digital systems, which are

high definition.

So, 2015 Drone Nationals was,

I think in my opinion, and I
think I speak for a lot of people

here, it was probably one of the best
FPV events ever, probably because

It was the first time where people from
like all around the world came together

and it was really the first time, you
know, people were starting to put

names to faces.

Because up until now our entire
relationship with the community

just existed on forums and messages.

So not long after the Drone Nationals,

Dubai comes out with the World Drone

Prix of 2016

and that was an absolutely huge deal.
Because first of all I got to go to Dubai.

And you know Dubai,
it's big grand and large.

I remember showing up and they
showed like the racetrack lit up at night.

So not only did it look crazy beautiful

but the frickin track like articulated
like it breathed and moved.

But the kicker, $1,000,000 purse!

I never heard of before and
I feel like that just straight

legitimized drone racing.

And then the the kid
that I tried to strangle with

my arm is Nick Bannister, known as Benny UK

who won the Dubai World Drone big race.

And as you can see in
the photo this is the hat Mr.

Steele gave me to avoid the sunburst

on my almost bald head.

A lot of people who are in
FPV think of some of the early

like Charpu videos, the
early Rotor Riot episodes.

He's a taxi driver from Mexico City.

That's where we got him.

We picked him up.

He's now a professional quad pilot.

But, you know, there's going to be
a point where people are going to be

shooting down drones because
they're everywhere, right?

So that's kind of like a way
of like testing it, seeing it,

you know, seeing if we can actually

shoot down one of these
little drones that we usually fly.

The odds are very slim.

You want to put bets on it?

I think it'll be a lucky shot. Anybody?

Yeah, lucky shot and be really hard.

But I kind of want it to happen.

If you want to know about nearly
anything you just go search it on YouTube.

At least that's what I do.

And I think a lot of people,

maybe they discover the hobby
by watching FPV pilots on YouTube.

Someone shares a clip with them.

I would say like 2014
is really when it started.

And then it's kind of
exponentially grown since then.

But yeah, putting security systems
and remotely flying aircraft via

goggles is just something
that's been around for a while.

We've just refined it a
lot in the last six years.

Being able to fly is

such an amazing experience,
and my goal is to help

everybody who wants that
amazing, transcendent experience

be able to get through the obstacle
course and be able to enjoy the hobby.

People send me things occasionally.

This is a sign that a local guy
made for me with my slogan on it.

That's kind of cool.

I'm Joshua Bardwell and you're
going to learn something today.

So my brand is FPV Know It All.

It's a little bit tongue in
cheek. At least that's the intent.

I don't literally know everything.

He answers everybody. That guy never stops.

Like when we're shooting together
he's just in the back seat on the way

to the spot, just nonstop on the
phone, answering every question.

The patience, of that man.

A lot of my content is for beginners

because much of my content is
driven by the questions that I get.

I let my email inbox every morning
write my editorial calendar for me.

If I start getting a question

five, six, seven times, I just
say I got to make a video about it.

The antennas that come with
the goggles have this shoulder here

to prevent you from twisting
off the internal SMA connector.

It kind of cinches it down.

So I have a degree in computer
science from Georgia Tech.

So I've got this background in
computers and familiarity with computers

and maybe even a little bit of programing.

When I was a kid, my
dad was into electronics.

He taught me to solder.

So I've got this
background with electronics.

Another piece of my background
that I think really makes a difference

is that I spent about ten years
as an instructor, and courseware

designer doing classroom instruction,
not like academic, but corporate.

I spent a lot of time
figuring out how to break

complex topics down
into an understandable way

and then communicate them to
people in a way that people could get.

I think that's what I'm most
proud of, is the people out there

who say I wouldn't be in the air
if it weren't for Bardwell's videos.

I got into FPV fairly quickly,

mainly just because of my background

with electronics engineering and
being around my father as a DIY

self-employed electronics engineer at home.

This workshop behind
me is where I put together

all the drones and whatever
projects I'm working on.

Hey, guys, this is my drone wall.

This is where I keep all of my older
drones that I don't really fly anymore.

It's just kind of a decorative
way to store these things.

You know, I built this thing for
a race in Dubai and ended up

kind of making it into some long range
drone where I don't necessarily always fly

far away, but this thing
will fly for like 12 minutes.

Opposed to my normal three to five.

So this is like my very first
drone ever it's a mini quad

made by a company called Black Out.

This particular quad

got run over by a trophy truck on
my very first commercial gig ever.

And this thing Fail-Safed,
which means it lost RC connection

fell out of the sky onto the
racetrack, and got run over.

So this drone right here
is like the combination

of six years of R&D and
testing and trial and error.

Every time I go out, this is
exactly every video I've ever made

has been flown with something either
similar to this or this exact unit itself.

So like anything, skateboarding,

working on cars, you got to
have the right tool for the right job.

And so this is a typical
two millimeter driver

that we would use to work on drones.

In the last few years the
technology has become

a little bit more accessible and obviously
these drones are becoming easier

and easier to build, and so that's
drawing in more and more people.

The FPV community mainly
takes place on the Internet.

We're spread across the globe

and most interactions with each
other, all done on Facebook groups.

FPV is basically this one giant
tribe from all around the world.

When I go live on any
social media platform,

there are people from all over
the world that will comment in

But also because in a lot of places
there just aren't any other FPV pilots.

You could be like the
only one in your small town

and you just kind of got to do it yourself.

Social media has enabled us to
find each other and congregate

in these bigger groups.

Like I have thousands of people that
I interact with online on social media.

So when you get a chance to go to an
event and meet other FPV pilots in person,

I think it's really special,
it's really important, and

gets the keyboard out of the way

and gets you face to face.

The community in
general is just so helpful.

You know, it's a place

where everyone just contributes
ideas and goes to find inspiration.

I learned myself from the community,
you know, I go back and learn

and trying to find and find new
things that I hadn't known about.

See what other people are working on.

It's this place where everyone learns.

And I think that's just so amazing to have.

We kind of joke that
when you become a pilot,

the first thing you do is make a logo

pick a pilot name, then you
build your drone and learn to fly.

What is it with pilots in their brands?

I don't know the answer to this question.

As soon as they get into the
hobby they want to hire somebody

to make them a logo, but
I cannot explain it to you.

I guess it probably has something
to do with social media culture.

It's how you rep your brand.

That's how you like give your buddies
a sticker, you know, like the sticker

just indicates like, I knew this guy
or you met this person In person.

FPV becomes your identity.

So why would you not, you
know, want to buy the URL,

get some stickers made of your name,
let everybody know what your pilot name is.

It's a way to reinvent yourself.

Everybody has stickers,
everybody has stickers.

Please stop sending me stickers

no I'm just kidding.

Surfers are really
protective of their spots,

because like there's only
so many waves, right?

If there's a really good spot

and somebody else gets your
wave, you're not going to get it.

And it feels like FPV pilots
are a little bit like that, too.

Or they could piss off the security guard.

Cops called on you, maybe you're
not quite supposed to be there,

but if you're cool about it,
then you won't get any trouble.

We've had police ride up on us and not know

what we're doing alone in a
parking lot and making all this noise.

These kind police officers
want to go for a quick ride.

But you put the goggles on
them, and take them for a ride.

They think it's one of the
coolest things I've ever seen.

And we get away with getting
a stay at a lot of spots that way.

The only other thing
that like how I recognize

FPV drone pilots is massive
backpacks at airports.

So like you can pick out a drone
pilot from a thousand people easily

because they have a backpack full of stuff
and they always get checked at security.

The king of carrying
extras is definitely Corey.

Like today, his bag was like fifty
pounds and mine was maybe 20.

You never fly your last pack.

So the minute you say, this
is my last pack that I'm going

home, you're going to lose
your quad, it's going to explode.

Some people keep a charged pack
and that is their quote unquote last pack.

And they just leave it.
I'm not making this up.

They superstitiously just leave
their last pack in their backpack.

But the quad gods know
that's not really your last pack.

You can't fool them that simply.

A lot of people who used to skateboard

and now they're like they're middle aged
and they're tired of breaking their bones

end up as FPV pilots because
it's like the same kind of thrill

and challenge to do a new trick.

So with skateboarding,

you typically show up to a spot
and then you kind of explore it

and find out what you can
use or what you can't use.

Maybe a handrail,
skate, stair sets or ledges.

With FPV you really do the same thing.

So you show up and you're
like, wow, there's a gap there.

There's this hole here.

There may be some, you know, some
kind of weird thing that I can slide on.

You know, you're looking for
cool spots, but instead of handrails,

you're looking for dive gaps.

If you have a flat parking lot,

there's probably nothing
interesting to skate there.

Once you have elevation
changes and you have stairs, there's

something good to skate there.

The same thing applies with FPV.

It really does feel like
skateboarding in the air.

My friends that don't
fly ask me what it's like.

I say it's like skateboarding in the air.

And I also have a a large background

or a long history of skateboarding,
which I think also carried over.

And it makes sense that a lot
of pilots come from these worlds.

That was like the new
normal, it was to break things.

With flying FPV, I can chase that
same itch, I can try to push myself

without risking more
titanium rods in my body.

You're like, Okay, here we go.

Oh, no, I crashed.

Oh, no, I screwed it up and pack after
pack after pack after pack after pack.

Until sometimes you break through.

I thrash my drones. I don't give
a sh♪t what my drones look like.

I don't care. As long as they fly,
I'm throwing it through that gap.

You know, it's going to slam
into a wall and still take off,

the props are bent, Whatever.

Just keep flying.

If I were still skating, I
would be injured all the time.

So, yeah, you can either
break your legs or your wrists

or you can just break your
pocketbook and fly FPV.

Somewhere out there there's somebody
who's like, that's the whole point brah,

is that there's something on the line.

But you reach a point in
your life where you're tired

of going to the hospital with
broken bones and sprained...

and your just like, I'm done with that.

So you get everything
together for a nice day out

with your friends, plug
in, you get your tones,

put your goggles on...

no video.

This is why FPV is like such
a pain the ass sometimes.

Or then you left something at home.
And then you left something at home.

That's a mean one. Or you
didn't charge your GoPro.

Or you didn't charge your GoPro.
Or you didn't charge your radio.

Oh, that's the best.

So what's the solution?

Just bring four or five quads.

You never have to worry
about four or five quads.

Three or four GoPros.

I don't go as hard as Corey
does, so I don't do as much damage

to my equipment as Corey
does. How about that?

I remember my first
time breaking something.

I was like, Oh my God, I broke a prop.

And people were like, Oh, that's nothing.

If you spend your whole time being
terrified that you're going to crash,

then you'll never get better.

That's really the only way that you're
going to really learn and excel as a pilot.

Like you just got to be
willing to break something.

And let's face it, that's kind
of like half the fun, right?

You egg each other on, you're
like, Hey, I bet you can't hit that.

Oh, there's a branch up there.

Trees grab you, trees will
pull you right out of the air.

Trees will gobble you
up and not let you fall

to the ground.

And heaven forbid you get into a
palm tree because that's like the end all.

Once you get on top of
the palm tree, you're done.

First pack with my freestyle quad.

I'm a racer.

Check this out.

Where skateboarding sometimes
takes, you know, 100 tries and you can fall

down, hurt yourself really bad.

And that's going to affect your
next line, FPV is just a drone.

Get a new drone, fix
the motor, whatever it is.

And you continue to hit that crazy
gap or do that crazy line until you do it.

And the movement can
just seem really random,

but it's actually very practiced.

We actually have a
whole set of defined tricks.

Going to start with the split-S.
Everybody's first trick is to split-S,

and some of the most common
ones are like a power loop

where you go under something
and power and it loop around

and come back under it.

Every trick in FPV

really boils down to a combination

of three basic moves: the roll,

the pitch, which is a flip, or yah.

And the first time you go to a place

there's like this magic to
it because you don't know

where all the lines are, you don't
know everywhere that you can flow.

So it's a little bit exploratory.

It might be your second pack
or it might be your 20th pack.

You just don't know.

But there's always that

one pack that you know you're
going to get the best clips from.

There's that one.

So, I feel like that FPV
is definitely a transition

from BMX or any type of
skateboarding, BMX snowboarding,

because that thing of flow, like just
the flow of cruising down a mountain

or hitting that grind that you
want is pretty much identical

to hitting the gap or hitting
this bando that you wanted to fly.

I mean, you just don't have
to get hurt. It's beautiful.

Carbon,

carbon.

I may never make it into
Tony Hawk's pro skater,

but I did make it into a drone
simulator and I'll count that as a win.

Good morning.

We are now in Orlando, Florida, where we
are going to visit today with Rotor Riot.

Just got off the phone with Drew.

We're going to go meet up at the
warehouse and we're going to find a Bando,

which is an abandoned
lot or abandoned structure

of some kind.

We're in Orlando,
Florida, at the Rotor Riot

headquarters, where we've got our
offices, our studio and our warehouse.

Rotor Riot was founded by Chad Kapper.

It's his second RC YouTube
venture after flight test.

It was founded

with the idea of being at
the center of FPV culture,

and it really evolved to be at
the center of FPV freestyle culture

specifically.

The idea was get top pilots and
personalities, put them together on a show.

And have them challenge each other,

go on adventures and take
the audience along with them.

The episodes we make

are supposed to be educational,
teach a little bit about how to do this

whole FPV thing, and more importantly,
it's supposed to be inspirational.

We're really lucky to have a team
that in their own way wants to inspire

people to fly and help
them get into this hobby.

Be sure to like subscribe.

We'll catch up the next one!

So this would be like our go to build.

That's the HD1, and it's based
on the original CL1 one frame.

We modified it to accommodate
the DJI system just by making it

a little bit longer.

It's probably our cheapest
frame, but it's still very durable

with like five millimeter arms.

It can take a pretty good beating.

This is something new we're doing

it's the Digi-whoop.

So it's kind of reminiscent
of the tiny whoop.

So it's a little bit bigger.

It's I think a two inch
prop rather than true

tiny whoops are like one inch
prop, but it's actually digital, right?

So it's using the Caddix Vista.

So it's compatible with the DJI system.

So to be able to fly something

this small where you can really fly it, I
mean, this is more than enough space.

You could fly this around your
house and have digital HD is pretty fun.

What is a bando?

A bando is an abandoned building.

Abandoned buildings.

That's another thing where
it really became popular

because people were exploring
abandoned buildings and factories,

flying into windows,
exploring old facilities.

Bando's are golden,
just because of the layout.

There's so many the way it looks on film,
the way it feels to fly the structures

of it, there's holes everywhere.

There's cool things.

Number one you have structures.

Number two, typically don't have
windows or glass in the windows.

So all of those openings are
openings that you can fly through.

Elevator shafts, windows.

There's so many different variations
of what you can do in a bando.

So today

we are doing a Rotor
Riot shoot on location.

There are some local
pilots that I saw flying this

really cool looking Bando
and I reached out to them.

Actually, one of them was
my buddy Edwin, AKA Erodyo.

When I started flying, I lived in
Detroit and I lived there for the first

three years I was flying and
we had Bando's everywhere.

There's little areas in
Detroit where you've got

five world class spots all
within 10 minutes of each other.

Some of them you
can literally fly the other

spot while you're standing at one spot.

Bando's are usually always
going to be concrete, metal,

rusty, gritty when you
crash It's pretty brutal.

I do love flying tree spots, too.

It's a great place to train,
but when you get to a bando,

that's like that's the best
FPV experience I think.

Bro, this is amazing. Wow.

So are you kidding me?

Just flying in an open space is boring.

So you're looking for
obstacles and a Bando is like it's

a holy grail of obstacles because
you can crash into anything.

Nobody is going to complain.

There's not going to be any people there.

So it's perfectly safe.

It's just the ultimate
playground for FPV pilots.

Freestyle is about pushing
the limits of the drone,

being fast and agile, but
also creating a beautiful shot.

The subject of that shot is the
movement of the drone itself.

It's highlighting the drone capability
and the piloting skill in an artful way.

While I'm rolling out of it sideways.

So you got to think on your feet
and turn that to the next thing and just

keep the line going.

There are holes in walls that are
blown out that you can fly through.

You've got shafts, you can dive down all
sorts of ways that you can push yourself

and what the drone is doing
and with a really high risk factor.

Because this is all concrete metal
when you crash, it's not like you're

crashing the branches of a tree.

It's a nice little cushion
for you to go on.

You're probably going to break something.

A Bando is a great dynamic spot

for FPV because you get all of these
different diverse types of elements.

I mean, you can

fly inside the actual buildings
themselves where you're just trying

to not hit anything.

Or you can fly on the
outside of the buildings

and kind of dive along the side or
do these wall rides along the side.

Inside the building itself.

I saw these two, this pair of cylinders,
and so I was trying to do a big power loop

around those, and I finally ended
up getting it, which is awesome.

We're out there and we're
watching each other fly

and all we want to do is
see the other people improve

and push other people
to the best of their abilities.

There's nothing more fun than that.

We really push each other when we
watch each other fly, especially in person,

to see them pull off something like,
Okay, I got to do, I got to one up that.

I've got to take that trick
and make it even better.

Sometimes you will smack
right into a metal beam.

But these drones are pretty tough

and a lot of times you'll be able to
bend the props back and fly again.

And if you're really good,

sometimes you'll be able to
recover and fly away from the crash.

For the past five years,
I've been as engaged

as I can be to help the FAA develop
reasonable and appropriate policy.

I was on the registration task
force in 2015 then two other aviation

rule-making committees for flight over
people as well as remote identification.

And I've been on the Drone Advisory
Committee for the past several years.

As long as it's existed.

The ARC provided an 80 page report
to the FAA, which set out different ways

to accomplish remote ID, but didn't
recommend any single way to do it.

And so what you had is
these stakeholders agreeing

that, look at the end of
the day this remote I.D.

requirement has to be reasonable,

has to be low cost, low
burden, has to respect privacy.

And then you have the FAA two
years later actually not listening

to that part of the advice.

I think what the FAA
came out with is a proposal

that is overly burdensome and overreaching.

They want every aircraft over 250 grams,

0.55 pounds, in the national
airspace of the United States

to continuously report its location

and other information about
itself back to a central database.

It's an all of the above approach in
which you have to provide remote ID

information in more than one way
and ways that are extremely costly.

It would be very easy and very low impact

to come up with a solution that's
based on the RF we already use.

But instead they're coming
up with very odd ideas

about essentially building
an iPhone into your drone.

This hobby is really expensive.

We put a lot of time,
money and energy into it.

So I can't imagine paying
a cell phone subscription

for each of my drones.

So, as far as a small business,
a modular remote ID unit

would be absolutely
critical because we don't

you know, the FPV market is kind
of small and when you innovate,

you're not going to sell a
whole lot of units right off the bat.

So something modular you can
put into a custom build, you know,

very simply it's going to be critical as
far as allowing innovation to happen.

So people building their own
drones can add the remote

ID component to it and
comply with the rule.

Otherwise you're going to
have a remote ID solution

ultimately that fails and doesn't
satisfy the government's needs.

Individual hobbyists, innovators,
STEM programs, small companies

all are just going to not be able to exist.

If this is not possible to build
your custom drone or to innovate

and maybe tinker a bit and change
something here and there, you would

basically take away those
shots and the possibility

of doing things in the future that
we maybe even kind of think of today.

At DJI, we don't just
advocate for what's good for us.

We really are advocating for what's
good for the entire drone community.

So one of the things we did

is we proactively developed a remote
I.D. solution called drone to phone

that shows the FAA and other
regulators that a broadcast solution works.

It works in an urban environment

and it would be free because it
would involve software changes

to many drones and a phone app that
people could download and use for free.

And you would not need any
of that network infrastructure.

The service providers that are
expected to charge monthly fees

and network connectivity, which comes
with its own costs and complexities.

Products that are

sold will have to comply and
then at some point, products

that you have that can't do remote
ID would have to stop being used.

The worst thing is I've got 15 to 20 drones

that are going to be pretty much
worthless if that doesn't get changed.

And and a lot of people
are in the same boat I'm in.

These proposed regulations
are trying to blanket kill

an entire industry when in reality
what we're doing is just for fun.

We're not trying to spy on
people or deliver packages.

We just want we want the
ground we want like 20 feet.

That's about it.

You know most freestyle or racing drones
we're not going super high in the air.

If we had to go to fly

in just little areas and little parks,
I mean, it would just take away

all the creativity and just what
makes FPV what it actually is.

Like the real core of it.

Who wants to be stuck at
the same designated park

with probably zero features
along with the 50,000

other people that are all
trying to do the same thing?

It's kind of sad because we think
what we're doing is pretty safe.

It's pretty awesome.

It's a really interesting and multifaceted
hobby that kind of gets pushed into

into an illegal space.

Where FPV fits into the
current rule that's proposed

and the industry that's trying
to be created by companies

like Amazon and Google is that,
in my opinion, it really doesn't,

and that's pretty much
exactly what the rule tells us.

There is no place for you here.

You will not fly.

It's just shooting ourselves in the foot.

Other countries are going to
take off and run with this technology

and American innovation is going to die.

The entire drone industry
grew out of hobbyists.

There has to be a way to to balance
both sides where you can keep things safe

but still have the freedom to fly anywhere.

Definitely worth saving.

It's worth protecting and defending.

At this point in 2020 there was just
kind of a period of being in the dark.

You know, the FAA is not
usually receiving more than, say,

5000 comments in a comment period.

They received 53,000
comments from the community

not only to mention that
an actual protest happened

at the FAA building and nothing
like this had ever happened before.

At this point the pilots and the community

really thought at large there was

there was no way this was going to change.

Are we going to lose
our hobby as we know it?

This is something I believe
is going to be very significant

no matter what the outcome is of the
NPRM, this notice of proposed rulemaking.

I've got to capture it.

We've got to capture
what happens here in 2020.

I bought a plane ticket,

I'm packing up my camera and my gear
and I'm going to fly to Washington D.C.

meet up with some of these
influencers that I've met with

and capture this day of protest,
because this is history in the making.

But in the back of my mind I'm thinking,
how is this going to make an impact

if people don't really
know what FPV drones are

and this amazing community.

My expectations for today,

I think it's mostly important
there just is a presence here.

I think that the actual
communication with the FAA is going to

happen in more sort of private
meetings and committees.

I mean, I think one of
the biggest problems is

that they don't really even know we exist.

I know that the organizers
have a bunch of stuff planned.

There's going to be picketing.

I'm mostly just looking forward
to seeing who comes and

showing the people in our community

that we are going to be
out here fighting for them.

Is Rotor Riot going to riot here?

No, we are not.

This is not a place for that, this
is a place to peacefully protest

and to have our voices heard.

I'm a little nervous

that it's not going to be a huge turnout

because we're so spread out
and it feels like we have such

a large community, but it's just like
this membrane spread across the world.

If it was ever going to matter,
if it was ever going to be worth

taking time off work and getting on a plane

and doing something expensive
and obtrusive and inconvenient,

it's kind of kind of now, if you
actually care about this stuff.

There's a lot of power in
coming together physically,

especially for a community
that is so spread out

and does most of its communication
and interaction electronically.

Regardless of how you do it, why
you do it, what you're doing it for.

We all love this weird
hobby and it's under threat

and we got to do something about it.

The FAA released

its notice of proposed
rulemaking that's called NPRM

just after Christmas 2019,

which then started a 60 day comment period

The protest was held in February
on the last day to submit comments

kind of as a way to raise awareness
with all the live streams and everything

that happened, all the pictures
posted to Instagram and social media.

Enok FPV,

had taken the initiative
to plan a day of protest.

People from all over the country coming
here to save their access to hobby flight.

And together this community has now
really created a bunch of momentum.

And this momentum is
going to move forward in a way

that I don't think the FAA was expecting.

It was just a really profound

statement that I don't think
a lot of people in the FAA

had truly grasped until we
showed up on their door.

We do need things like remote I.D.

and registration but we
need to do it in a way that

is reasonable and fair to the
community and to the technology.

It's very understandable why this
community would come out in protest

on a cold day with picket
signs in front of the FAA.

Because I think they read a
proposal that doesn't take into account

their concerns and is not realistic
for the kinds of technology they use.

It was a great turnout.

I mean, it was a far bigger
turnout than I had imagined.

It was a really cold day.

I marched.

I held signs and I chanted.

Mostly, I think what I did was I got to
connect with other people who were there.

We did our chants.

We marched and we did actually, like,
get people coming up to us on the street

asking what this is about.

We actually got news articles
written about the movement.

It's one piece of fighting for this hobby,

and we'll go back to Washington
as many times as it takes

to make sure that the world
actually knows that, first off, we exist

and that what we do is worth saving.

We had about 250 people out there

all taking time out of their day

and ages, ranging out there
from ten years old to 80 years old.

We had kids there that
were brought by their moms.

There was a whole group of FPV moms

with their 13 year old kids
that were into this hobby.

Because it's the youth
who were also a part of this.

Let's keep this STEM going.

So I've been into FPV for
about four years, and it's stuck

with me more than anything else
I've done before, and it's allowed me

to learn just so much more than I
would have ever expected when I started.

When I heard the FAA was
trying to take away drones

I went to my first protest ever.

We went down there and people assembled.

People are very passionate about FPV,
and it was so awesome to see everybody.

It's important for influencers to show
up, to not only show that they care,

but also to meet the people
that they've influenced.

And for me personally, I
met a guy who said that

he was from Alaska, and he drove here
based on a video that I made a week ago.

It was cool to be able to go there and show

my support and hang out with
people that are also supportive of,

you know, stopping extra drone
regulation that is unnecessary.

I see the need for regulation
to make sure people stay safe,

but overregulation is going to
stifle any amount of innovation.

We can stand and do
everything that we need to do

as a united body.

At minimum, give us a way

to put a module on our
drones so that we can comply.

It may not end today this
may just be the beginning.

There's going to be a
lot of steps after this.

We're not going to win just
from having a protest in a park.

But the protest in the park
is giving us more power.

We want to protect our access
to the sky and we're going to do it

together as one community.

Basically, when I got started in FPV,

I just had really got to
flying with the goggles on

and approximately a month after
that, my daughter passed away.

And so, in the midst of all that
agony and pain I was going through,

basically I could go to
the park after work and

fly my drones and I would get
away from all that I was feeling.

You know, all that was bothering me inside.

For three minutes at a time

I got it up in the air and fly and on
occasion, you know, I actually even

felt closer to my daughter.

But that, that laid the
foundation for me in FPV, and why

I feel like I should give back so much.

My local community

needed somebody like me
to help out, and I stepped up.

And now we have great races
and it's still a part of my life

two and a half years later.

All the pilots.

Are you ready?
Let me see your thumbs up.

Two, three pilots are ready.

Pilots arm your quads.

On the tone, less than five.

So one of the things that makes Multi GP

so instrumental in the
hobby is that it is near you.

There are so many chapters around the world

both local chapters, and
then those local chapters

will branch into a regional chapter.

So, for instance, we're
filming here in South Carolina

and not 20 minutes away there's a
Multi GP chapter here in Greenville.

It's very active races regularly.

And so it's very important

that if someone's looking to pick up
FPV here in Greenville, for example,

they can go out there
and see what actually is.

I am not a racer.

I cannot compete on that level.

Haha I've tried,

it's just different skill sets
and a different discipline.

So racing, the level so high
today, you need to do that

and that only if you want to be on the top.

I'm 17 years old now

and I started flying remote control
airplanes with my dad at the age of six.

I started getting into RC airplanes flying
competitively at around the age of ten.

My name is Kevin Turner and
I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Right on. What's your position right now?

Uh, you know, first or
second, I'm not sure.

So cool to go from flying
these remote control airplanes.

Third person to being
able to sit inside of one.

And that's really what drew me into it.

Multi GP is very grassroots.

Everyone is building their own drones.

You can do

whatever you like to these drones
to make it fly to the best of your ability

and preferences.

So I was able to go to a local
chapter and meet with a group of guys

that were already sanctioned through
Multi GP and get my racing journey started.

There's just so much to FPV
nowadays and it's gotten a lot better.

But having someone there
that's local, I can help you out

through the building and
purchasing process is super beneficial.

It's the most fun

racing for anyone and everyone, whether
it's your first race or your 100th race.

That's Multi GP's goal, is to
grow the sport of drone racing

and to make it as fun as
possible for each and every one.

So for the world's best
racers, in my opinion,

the Multi GP National Championship
is the pinnacle of the sport.

They take FPV truly to a worldwide scale.

If you go on to Multi GP, you
will find a chapter in an area,

you will find pilots that you can fly
with, whether you want to race or not.

With the Multi GP Drone Racing
League, over 20,000 pilots from across

the world use our platform for organizing

and making drone racing most efficient.

Right behind me on this awesome track here

at Daytona Stadium in
beautiful Daytona, Florida.

We're battling it out for a DRL contract.

Over $10,000 in cash
prizes and bragging rights

For the last two years we've
been one of the primary sponsors

of the Multi GP National Championship

at multi GP events.

You can just be in the
stands as a spectator

with your own goggles on your
face and watching the pilots feed, live

coming from my competitive
background, I really just had a drive

to want to not be the second best,
not be the third best, but be the best.

I saw And I got to meet all these
guys and see the community behind it

and see how bad everyone else wanted it.

And I knew that I had to drive

the will to want it more, if
not the same amount as them.

So I worked very, very hard.

I came back in 2018

and actually was able to win my
first Multi GP national championship.

We're pretty famous for being

the main sponsor, at Multi GP every year.

It's in Muncie, Indiana in August

and it's pretty much the
biggest celebration of FPV.

There's 400 - 500 pilots there
every year and we all just get together

and have a great time.

You would think it would be
specifically for racing, but because,

you have people traveling

to go to this race and
they're from all over the world,

you get this kind of like mixing
melting pot of people that show up

that don't even race.

And they're just coming over

because they know there are going
to be a lot of top name pilots there.

It's kind of transformed from just a race

in the last few years to like
almost this Tomorrowland-esk

style event that happens for FPV.

Like they have these tiny whoop races,

where they light up
hoops and fly through them.

And it's a fun environment to be in.

Initially there was a whole situation

where if you plugged in on somebody else's

channel, and that caused someone to
crash, then like the marshals would come.

If anybody powers up his quad
above the allowed power level

or during another person's race, he
was going to hammer and smash the quad.

That was like the rumor and nobody had

that happen yet, it was all bluff.

And then all of a sudden
someone plugged in on a freestyle

flight line and it caused
someone in a race to crash.

And all these people came over
from the race and they were all upset.

And the founder of Multi GP at the
time, Chris Thomas, was over there

with the hammer.

And then I was like, You won't do it.

And eventually he got hammered.

They literally just put the quad
on this table and hammered it.

And then I made a video about
it and it became Hammer Gate.

He ended up replacing it
because he felt bad for the kid.

That event is now known as Hammer Gate.

Plugging in on someone is one
of the worst things you can do.

That's the biggest social faux
pas, not to mention just being rude.

If somebody is flying in the air, you
want to find out what channel they're on.

If you're on a close
channel and you plug in

you're going to block out their view

they're going to see all static

or see your drone on the ground.

Do not plug in on people.
Don't be that person.

You go out there and you're
flyin, somebody powers up.

You're like, Oh, who
powered up? Who powered up?

But you got to have a
sense of humor about it

because you're going to do it to
somebody else too probably, eventually.

Lately, I've been more
focused on the cinematic

side of FPV, and a lot of
the designs are just motivated

by a certain shot that
someone might want to get.

And the design is all driven
by the needs of the pilots.

One of the designs that
really got popular of mine

was The Squirt, which
is a tiny little ducted drone

that I originally designed
for Robert McIntosh.

So it's a little three inch ducted

drone for carrying a GoPro Hero.

So a little bit slower, a little more

focused on the subject
instead of on the piloting skills.

I mean, especially Andy, he
created the squirt that was technology

that enabled people to do shots
that were not possible before

and that created a whole new
style of shooting drone videos.

It's just

giving people a totally new perspective

of our world.

Flying a Cinewhoop is very
different from flying any other rig.

They bring a level of safety
to this, which is pretty nice

because now you can fly around
people and just the general reaction

that we get from people is really positive.

And then suddenly you
have a machine that can fly

and be touched by people
and go through people.

And that's what I really like about it.

You can have this whole
interaction of movement and

then it becomes like kind
of like a dance between

you and the drone, that person.

And you feel like you actually are
with the person performing with them.

So I did this video with Lotfi

Le Mali, who is a professional long border,

and we just went and did this
awesome video, had a lot of fun.

He did the single greatest
Cinewhoop video ever.

With the long border.

He kept like

catching it, throwing it, like
going under the skateboard.

You know, it was such a perfect
video that he had a great location

a great subject, great
music, great editing.

And yeah, it opened
up like this whole genre

of flying that's now like...

I mean, it's almost 50%
of what people fly, I'd say.

And now it's kind of spawned a
whole movement and a bunch of clones

of the original design.

FPV is not just one thing, it's

a whole spectrum, and
it's really both for me.

Freestyle and cinematic go hand in hand.

You have to have the technicality,
but you have to have the eye as well.

I have a lot of respect for those
people that basically night and day

think about how can
we do things differently

and how can we push innovation
to create even cooler shots.

Tommy, "ummagawd" who came up
with this you know, a little conversion

of the Cinewhoop where you basically
de-case a GoPro and then put it on top.

And that became It became a standard now.

More often than not, you know,
I have a director asking like,

oh, can you get like this
close to the guy's face?

I want to make out his eyelash and,
you know, fly through this tiny little gap.

And today we're at a point where we are
literally just taking apart a GoPro down

to it's bare minimum so that I can fit
onto a small little form factor like this.

I mean, look at this guy.

You can pretty much
fly this through anything.

The third one I have is called the Thicc.

It's a seven inch - X eight,
which is an octa copter.

So, instead of four motors there's eight.

So it can lift a bigger camera like a
Blackmagic Pocket or the Red Komodo.

The center of mass of the
drone is as centered as possible.

And it's quite timely that all these
manufacturers are coming out

with kind of smaller form factor
cameras that are worthy of feature films.

You know.

I've been on shoots with Gab and Nurk,

and they're like almost a
computer programed robotic arm.

They can fly the same line
again and again and again.

So for a director, it's
almost like having this instant

camera that can go anywhere

because, you never know what
the director will start throwing at you.

It is definitely skill based, 100%.

Snowboarding, wakeboarding.

I see a lot of wakeboarding
content and it's just pretty wild

some of the stuff thats out there now.

Like snowboarding is cool.

You know, mountain
biking is a perfect example.

Wingsuit pilots,

base jumpers, paragliders, all
these kind of things that previously

you couldn't really film very safely
are now possible because of FPV.

And because of mini quads.

With FPV we can get real close to someone

and you can move in a
similar way to that person.

Mixing, drifting, and FPV is kind of

the best of what we've got right now
in two different hobbies and art forms.

These two together, like these
two troublemakers together,

just makes sense in the end I think.

So we are constantly hearing what
the director says, and sometimes

when we're lucky, we get to
see on the big screen over there.

This is also, by the way, live,

and hundreds of thousands of
people are watching it across the world.

So you better not mess it up
because if you do, everyone's

everyone's going to see it.

Live is a completely different animal.

But yeah, I love it

because you get to work with
new technologies and try things out.

This thing that we did, no
one did it before in that form

and we made those FPV drones

just so that they can fly

with that technology on.

I think we all are like
adrenaline junkies in the hobby

because we're just looking for it.

With drifting, with cars
drifting at 100 miles an hour,

and us flying about a meter away from them.

Especially when you see some of the
shots that can be done with drift cars

you quickly realize there's no other way

to get a shot like this.

Drifting and FPV just
is like the perfect match.

Drifting cars are not that super fast.

They always have the same speed.

It looks spectacular because
you have smoke and tires bursting.

And it goes really well with each other
just because the way a car drifts around

the corner is very similar to how
a drone flies on a banked turn.

It is very much like a dance
when you pair the two together.

Drifting, you know,
it is kind of like an art.

You're out there, you know,
the drivers are doing their things,

trying to hit those lines
smooth, trying to get that time.

And the drone above it is
also just trying to keep it's line

above the drift car, trying
to get those smooth lines.

And they just complement
each other so well.

Drifting is very much an art form.

Also, it's got this

like technological motorsports,
kind of modification culture around it.

And that's like the
same exact thing as FPV.

A lot of people

in the FPV community
view Atlanta as the Mecca.

They want to go there.
They want to fly these spots.

Just having the diversity of a
growing, expanding city, all the foliage

and then the melting pot of
people and culture that lives here,

it is ultimately became like
this amazing FPV Mecca.

Early on in FPV, so many great FPV pilots

seem to come out of Atlanta and
they formed this community together.

That was just this amazing
birthing ground for great FPV skill.

I think they all made themselves better

as a result of all these great pilots
being together in the same community.

They are like a really
special breed of people.

Like they have very short
attention span, but they are like

neurotically focused on
details in other areas. Right?

So like the communication
is - it's like herding cats,

but once they're on site
and everything is ready to go,

like they make magic happen.

When you have a community

to inspire you, to challenge
you, to show you things

that you would never have thought
were possible, you become better.

Everyone becomes better as a result.

Atlanta specifically in 2016.

It was all about me, Steele,
Skitzo and Wild Willie.

Nick Willard.

We always had this really
ambitious, like wanting to push things

all the time and not necessarily
trying to stay ahead of the curve.

It was just something
that came natural to us.

Meeting up with Kevin and
John and some other people.

I hear quads

and see what's going down.

And we always just pushed each other.

I would be flying around a spot trying
to find lines and then I'd watch Kevin.

I would tap into his feed and be
like, Oh, I didn't know we could do that.

The progression in that little group
and that little area is just intense.

Like, you go there, you come back
feeling like you really accomplished

something huge.

Every pilot down
there is really killing it.

Guess who else moved to Atlanta?

Have you ever heard of this guy?

It's just a big melting pot of very extreme

and talented people.

So I just, I'm just looking
forward to getting together

with a bunch of great pilots and a
bunch of friends and flying for a day.

Kevin is like, he just
has this innate, magical,

skill to find dope spots to fly at.

It was just really easy to
go there and just on the daily

find a new spot that
was really cool to rip that.

There's so many good spots in Atlanta

I don't know if it's just because
I lived in Atlanta for a while,

because of the schools that are there,
you know, Georgia Tech being one.

There's a lot of technically minded
people that adopted FPV early on.

And so you have all of these amazing
office parks that were able to fly.

It has more trees per square mile
than any other metropolis in the US.

This is an amazing spot.

Office parks like this are so much fun.

There's so much cool
architecture to interact with.

There will be carnage.

There will be

I mean, I won't be too broken because
I'm running the Bot Grinder AFX frame

which is the strongest
frame on the market right now.

But there will be some carnage for sure.

When we get together. It's like, you
know, Hey, what have you been working on?

Or what's that? What's
changed on your drone?

Because it's always like
an ever changing process.

There's new technology,
there's new equipment,

there might be new motors, new props.

All of this stuff like equates
to how the drone flies.

And honestly, it's just fun
to interact and kind of share

the knowledge of what you've done
and see what other people have done.

Vista?

Naked Vista?

Oh, that's hot.

But what's your controller still X9D?

X9D Baby.

Again!

How many times?

I reside in Greenville, South
Carolina at the moment.

I'm a part time FPV Pilot.

I work a lot.

Whenever I get a chance, I go
out and fly empty parking lots.

I love it. Probably going
to do it up to the day I die.

All right. I'm ready to rip.

Let's go fly.

Frequency Management, it
was a lot easier with less people.

The bigger it gets, the more
confusing it gets, the more tempers

start to come out because people plug
in, and that causes someone to crash.

Can I power up now on race eight?

I'll walk over here, get away from y'all.

You can only have two to
four guys up in the air at a time.

So I don't want to go to a flying
spot and have 40 people there.

I want to have like half a dozen.

You have to, find this middle
ground of making it a social event,

but not too big of a social event so that
you can actually get some flying time in.

Who's on race eight?

I'm on race eight!

Because at that point, once
there gets to be too much people

like you can't go as far or you can't,
you know, because you have video issues.

All right, going up on eight.

Why are we all on race eight?

Basically, instead of swapping
the whole motor, you can just put

this piece of motor on, screw it in.

We're done.

I just was doing some little wa-ha-ha.

I'm going to go between the pillars

around the thing, turn left and weave in

and then up through the gap and
over the dome and down into the gap.

And then weave out and miss everything.

And it's going to be awesome.

Oh, son.

Oh, damn son!

Two in a row!

So we're trying to, you know, hit
all of these certain clipping points

and then also be able to
do it in a smooth fashion.

But once he did it, then, you know,
I'm following right behind him and then

you got to take it to the next level.

And that is him chasing me or me
chasing him getting that double footage,

the third person style footage.

Power cycle. Good as new.

Mostly.

I'm going to take the B+

It ain't the A+ but
it's the B. I'll take a B-

I was like, well, I can't
be smoother than Skitzo,

I can't be more technical than
Steele, so all I can do is like go bigger.

So I'm going to do sh♪t that people
think is impossible and make it possible.

And that's kind of what I did

Just power looping,
trying to chase each other

because it's always fun
trying to follow quads.

Especially with analog.

Because you literally can't see anything.

Kevin!

You know, everybody
started doing their own thing

and moved away, so it was
really nice to come together again

and see everybody vibing off each
other and trying to one up each other.

And flying and everything.

It really did feel like like those
trips used to be back in the day.

I told Stingy that, you know, I was
like, man, this feels like back in the day.

Being able to go out and fly with your
friends is like going to a soccer game.

Or doing something that allows you to
hang out with people that are like minded.

And I really enjoy being with them.

And I hope that, you know,
regulation doesn't take away from that.

It's possible that this could
be one of the last times

when this many people come
together in one place and fly.

If remote it goes through, a lot
of people are going to drop out.

The trippiest thing for me when I started

was to take off and circle myself

and see myself fly.

It actually does

provide this kind of spiritual experience.

I mean, you literally are having
an out of body experience.

I think one of the first times you
really bug out when you're flying

is the first time you are flying

and you see yourself, you're
like, Oh, that's me not in my body.

You see like a GTA version of
yourself with a remote controller.

And then see myself standing there

while I was clearly in this
little machine in my head.

It was literally an out of
body experience the first time.

It's 100 percent an out of body experience.

You know, I say all the
time, like when I'm flying,

I'm like, Oh, drone me did this.
Because that's what it is. At that point.

At that point, when you're flying in
the goggles you're two separate beings,

you're human you that's controlling things
and your drone you that's flying around.

I think what we're all
looking for is that state of flow.

You are essentially one with the craft.

You're not fighting it. You're not

trying to overthink what you're
doing and everything is just natural.

We're there resonating
with the environment.

To really make very smooth movements,

you have to kind of anticipate
where your drone is going to be

in the next 10 seconds.

And you have to make the
movement transition into that state.

To just have that state of flow
where you never appear to hesitate

and it always feels like you
know where you're going next.

Just everything feels
like it's going right.

You feel completely connected to
the quad, all the tricks are leading

into each other and flowing
between each other perfectly.

And you just get this amazing
sense of bliss and accomplishment.

But I get this kind of release of
endorphins by getting into the flowstate.

I'm being able to control the drone

in a way that I just don't
even realize is happening.

I cannot describe it other
than being in a state of flow.

And it's an addictive state to be in.

There's never a ceiling.

You've never figured out every
trick, figured out every flow,

mastered every possible
line, and if you think you have,

you're just not being creative enough.

You can't get this
experience any other way.

It's beyond the capabilities
of the human body.

Everything is like making noise at you.

And then you put on your goggles
and for three to five minutes, it's

absolute silence and you're just focused
on that screen right in front of you.

When you get to the point of entering
that flowstate, it's ultimate happiness.

You're not worried about anything else.

There's nothing in the world.

There's no stress,

there's no anxiety, there's no depression,
there's no hate, there's none of that.

It's just you and the quad.

When you're in that, you're
no longer thinking about

anything other than the
movement that's happening.

Everything else turns off

except for the one or two things
in your brain that you need to fly.

I'd almost say that it
becomes effortless at that point.

Once you get into this crazy Nirvana state.

When you hit that man, it's
like there's nothing else like it.

We just go out of our bodies
and suddenly you're limitless...