I've been flying drones for about a year, and I started out flight a cheap Hubsan X4 quad that I bought off Amazon for about 30 bucks. You fly this one 'line of sight' and it is a great starting point to get used to the controls as it is easy to begin with and then you can progress onto the 'expert mode' which is similar to the 'Acro' or 'Rate' mode which are the stable of FPV mini-quads.
The Hubsan X4
FPV Mini quads are what it's all about in this hobby, and after a few months of infrequent flying with the Hubsan, I bought myself a Falcon 180. This was my first FPV (First Person View) quadcopter. I bought it from a Chinese website called 'Banggood' and it took about a month to arrive! It was what they call "RTF" - that means ready to fly. So it comes with a controller. So after a long month waiting for it to arrive I finally had my first full 'proper' FPV quad copter.
Eachine Falcon 180
With this I bought a set of FPV Goggles and I was off. I could fly FPV. Except that flying 'acro' is difficult. The first time you try to fly you crash after about 2 seconds. Or at least I did. I could see I needed to learn to fly before trying to fly the Falcon otherwise it would quickly get destroyed. So time for the simulator! I bought a controller compatible with the simulators and I started practicing.
I soon reached a level where I could keep the quad in the air properly in the simulator. Here is a video I uploaded to my channel about 6 months ago:
I felt I was ready to give my Falcon it's proper maiden voyage. On that day I flew my first pack without crashing. Sadly it was my first and last pack that day because I didn't land well and the VTX (Video Transmitter) got ripped off. That is one of the most fragile parts of a lot of quads because the antenna is attached to it, and that can easily get caught up when you crash - especially in the branches of trees!
I felt triumphant that the hours I had put in on the sim had worked and I could fly. And when you fly FPV it really feels like you are flying. For me whether it is in real life or in the simulator it is one of the most exhilarating feelings I have ever felt.
I practice on the simulator as often as possible, and this video is the last footage I captured with the Falcon 180. It is recorded with a Runcam 2 action camera which I strapped to the top it:
I have lost the Falcon 180 now, so I am focusing on my other 2 mini quads. I have a QAV-R 5 and an X-Charpu clone. Charpu is an excellent pilot and I will post an article with some links to some of his best stuff. The X-Charpu clone I have built myself. Here it is in the early stages of build:
And after a fairly long process, my finished QAV x220 Charpu clone:
On my SteemIt channel I will post footage from the Simulator and from my real life quad flying. I expect to post more simulator footage to begin with because it is alot easier to get the time in. Flying these things needs a lot of space and nobody around. They are travelling at high speed and could cause serious injury if they hit someone - so for me I fly as often as I can but ensure I am getting constant 'stick time' in by flying very frequently in the sim. Even just a few minutes is always worth it.
Thank you for reading and I'll post up some more FPV related stuff soon!