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John Dickow: [00:00:00] hello and welcome back. Another episode of Your Drone Questions Answered. I'm John Dicko here to find the person to answer your drone questions.

And today, that person is Dusty Jolly, he's community Manager at Drone Launch Academy. Dusty, thanks for joining me

Dusty Jolley: today. thank you very much for having me.

John Dickow: So we have a question here on F P V drones, but first I wanna just give you a chance to introduce yourself. Kind of talk to us what you do here, as community manager at D L A.

Dusty Jolley: Sure. So, about a year ago we started an online, community, just a network of drone pilots from all across the world. And so I'm the community manager for Drone Launch Connect. And Drone Launch Connect is the online membership that we have. where I. We get together on monthly, q and as.

just different topics, workshops, we got discounts on drone, drone accessories, but it's just a great place to, to come into network and to meet other drone pilots really just kind of to share in each other's journeys.

John Dickow: Oh, that's fantastic. And I know we've actually had gotten a few of our, Y D Q A questions submitted to the Drone Launch Connect community, which is, pretty cool.

So anybody who's listening, feel free to submit a question. So, dusty, our question for today is, what's [00:01:00] the difference between an F P Z drone? A traditional drone. But first, can you just sort of explain to me what an F P V drone is?

Sure.

Dusty Jolley: So an F P V drone, so F P V stands for first person view, because the difference is when you're flying a traditional line of sight drone, you're holding the remote in your hand, but you're actually looking at the drone in the air. And, you know, and so you're getting your images from seeing what's on the screen.

That's how you're seeing what you're videoing or what you're taking pictures of. so you know, you're kind of seeing what's in the camera at that point, but you're also able to adjust the gimbal on a traditional drone, you're able to pan it up and down. So on an F P V drone, for first person view, what that means is the pilot is actually wearing goggles.

And so there's. traditionally two cameras on an F P V drone, you have one that actually is what the, the pilot is seeing through the goggles itself. And so that is a static camera. Uh, once you kind of set the angle on that, that doesn't move at all. And then you'll have typically, like another, like a GoPro or something like that really to capture the video that you're wanting to get out of it, whether it be four K or, or whatever.

John Dickow: Wow. Okay. And so, and I think I've seen that. I was watching [00:02:00] drone racing and they had those goggles on. That's an example of F p B droning,

Dusty Jolley: Correct. That is it. so the main differences too, with the traditional drone, uh, especially any dj I, I'll tell, uh, Scotty Drone is that they're based on the locked onto like G P s.

So, you know, they can lock onto A G P S, they can hold that coordinate their. For the most part, hold their spot in space pretty well without any sort of input from the pilot. Now the difference with an F P V drone is, as soon as you take off, typically, you know, you're in full control of, of that drone at all point in time.

So there is no, it never sits still. there actually. Not the easiest just to hover themselves at that point. But, you know, being able to see what the camera's seeing and having full manual control of this drone allows you to fly extremely close proximity to things. So, like when you're watching these guys on the drone racing league, you know, they're able to fly extremely fast through these hoops or whatever it may be, these race gates and, with this precision, just because you do have that much control over these drones.

Which also that, that is one of the things that makes him a little bit harder, to get started in versus regular [00:03:00] drones, you know? 'cause there is a little bit of a learning curve, in flying these things.

John Dickow: Obviously I've never flown an F P V drone, never done anything like this before, but when I see goggles on a person like that, are you looking around at all?

Is it, it's not like a virtual reality kind of situation where you can just kind of look around at your surroundings, and so I'm assuming that's what makes it so difficult to know where you're going and not to crash. Yeah,

Dusty Jolley: so that is part of it. So when you're flying an F P V drone, uh, again, the camera that you're seeing is at a, you know, it's, it's not moving at all.

So the way that you're changing, unless you're changing the direction of the drone, is the way that you kind of change what the camera's seeing at that point. So there is no, like looking around, and it can be a little bit disorienting, especially starting off When you start flying, the hardest thing in the world is to learn to kind of keep your head just looking straight.

a lot of people kind of get the Stevie Wonder effect and start looking around because you do feel like you're, if you're going around a tree, you kind of wanna start turning your head to look and, and it's just kind of a natural instinct to try to do that. But as you do it more and more, you kind get to where you can, uh, you can kind of focus and stay, just let your eyes do more of the movement than your head.

and not [00:04:00] that there's anything wrong with that either, it's just kind of a matter of how do you wanna look, you know, when you're flying F P B. ,

John Dickow: and you mentioned that it's, it's really beneficial to getting close to your subject or to other items. Outside of racing, How are, F P V drones applied? What are they used for?

Dusty Jolley: so right now, you know, you're seeing a lot more of F P V drones being used and I feel like a lot of one take videos too, like, uh, I'm sure everybody would probably be familiar with the bowling alley video to where the guy flew in from outside.

I think it was Jaybird films, that went through the bowling alley. And then, you know, through different areas of the bowling alley and ended up actually going down the lane into the, the pins. And so it's a really unique way to kind of showcase or just kind of get some different shots that you couldn't do with a traditional drone or a camera for that most part.

You know, especially having the ability to fly inside. really kind of get some dynamic shots. So you're starting to see a lot of this being used more in movies production as well. So I think, Netflix just came out with Gray Man and that had a lot of F P B stuff in it. but now there's companies like Beverly Hills Aerials that are [00:05:00] doing stuff for NASCAR events so you're starting to see it implemented a little bit more into, you know, live racing events, those kind of things as well.

So, I think a lot of it is just kind of depending on, people are finding different ways to use it, but for the most part it really is just a way to kind of, captivate your audience and really get them engaged and kind of showing them just a different way to, to film something for the most part.

Very cool.

John Dickow: it sounds like it's a lot of, it's kind of, you're, you're looking for that aesthetic

Dusty Jolley: video and that's what it is. A lot of times you'll see you don't wanna, if you have too much F P V in something, it can almost be a little bit overwhelming for the viewer.

some people really like it and appreciate it, and it is one of those things that just really makes you wonder how they get some of these shots. But there's also a group of people that just think that it's too much and just prefer the traditional. drone shots that are just kind of more smooth and, and slow, but, but cinematic at the same time.

John Dickow: so somebody who's looking to try an F P V drone or buy an f p drone, it's a specific drone you have to buy. It's not something that you can necessarily. Customize your existing D j I drone? Correct. And set something up as F P V you, it's a specific drone.

Dusty Jolley: Correct. up in the past couple years, d i has come out [00:06:00] with their F P V drone and the abta, which is more of their, uh, traditional F P V drone.

But that's one way to get into it. I know that it's really easy. They've made it, with some of the features that they've added to theses, they've made it a lot easier to. To kind of learn how to fly these things, almost in baby steps to where you can get to the full manual control. So there's also, a lot of different beginner kits that you can buy that are, you know, $250 that gives you the goggles, the drone, the remote.

And it's something that you can practice flying around indoors. My advice would be for anybody that's looking to get into this would be to purchase a remote control. And it can be one that you could use later on down the road, or could just buy a cheap one that you can use with a simulator.

But I would say, get in remote control and then you can get online and find a couple of simulators. I think they're typically. To way to kind get experience to learn

out.

you can get on and buy a lot of these drones, but [00:07:00] flying F P V, you're gonna end up crashing a lot more, which is gonna, pay off to know how to fix these things and to build 'em yourself. So ultimately, if anybody really gets into F P V, you end up building these drones yourself.

you buy a frame, you buy the, the electronics, the motors, and, for about three 50 to 400 you can build one. once you have something go wrong, you have a crash, you now have the understanding and the capability to, to build it back yourself at that point. and that's also part of getting better at F P V.

You wanna push yourself a little bit more, whether it be, flying a little bit closer to something a little bit lower to the ground. you're gonna make mistakes and you're gonna have things happen. So, knowing that you can kind of push yourself and if you do have a crash or something, that it's not the end of the world, you're gonna be able to fix it and get it running, you know, in a couple of days.

John Dickow: Cool. I didn't even know that was an option. You actually build it yourself. That does kind of give you a little sense of power and control over the situation if you're able to put it back together after

Dusty Jolley: you crash it. It does. I mean, man, it's frustrating, but that's the, you know, I've probably got four or five, right now, but I've built, but I, they've all been rebuilt at least two or three times a piece at that point too.

So you're constantly like having to replace motors on these things [00:08:00] and. once kind of build one, it's.

Unless something just really goes wrong, most of the time it's less than 50 bucks to repair it, you know, if not, it's just like a broken arm. So it could be like five, propellers. You go through those pretty quick. Fortunately, they're three or $4 a pack, so

John Dickow: Absolutely. I mean, it's a common anxiety for all drone pilots is, beginner drone pilots is not wanting to crash their expensive drone.

Mm-hmm. So that doesn't sound too bad. Uh, you know, not a bad option for somebody who wants to get into F pv

Dusty Jolley: for the people that are gonna get in and wanna start off in the simulator, the one thing that I, would advise that I didn't do enough of in the beginning was when you get into the simulator, It's a lot of fun to get in and just practice flying that way. And it does translate really well into real life. So when you get out and you take off for your first time, it's amazing like how, it's like, oh wow. This is just like the, the simulator I've been flying, the one thing I didn't do enough was actually practice landing.

that is one of those things that hits you kind of when you're in midair at this point. I've gotta bring this thing home and I'd never really have practice. So the first few landings I have were pretty rough and you can almost just call those crashes more so than landing. that is [00:09:00] one of the things that I would say make sure to practice if you're getting in, spending the time in the simulator.

John Dickow: I'm assuming there's no return to home button then, huh?

Dusty Jolley: No. No.

John Dickow: is it like landing a plane?

Dusty Jolley: you have full manual control. I mean, so you can get these things to do, barrel rolls, flips, there is really no limitation to these things.

and another thing too, the difference, one of the big differences is like your traditional d i drones, they're gonna fly anywhere from 25. with the F P V drone, if it's set up right and if you can get six minutes, you're really doing good at that point, you know, anywhere between six and seven minutes, that's probably maximum flight time that you're gonna see out of a lot of these things.

Very

John Dickow: cool. Random question. just came to my head. But if somebody were to start learning how to fly an F P V drone get okay at it, Would flying a basic normal drone seem like a piece of cake?

Dusty Jolley: I can tell you it definitely does make it a lot easier. there is just so much more to learn as far as , being able to have full control over a drone versus, flying a D G I drone that pretty much, it's just makes it a lot easier.

And one of the things that I can say that [00:10:00] flying F P V has also made it, a lot easier for me to look at the screen and be more confident with maybe how close I am to an obstacle, to where I can kind of stay focused a little bit more on my shot. Whereas I'm having to look up and constantly wonder, you know, where the drone's at.

it does give you a little bit more of a better understanding of kind the drones location and space. When you're just looking at a screen flying one that way.

John Dickow: Interesting. Thank you for humoring me on that question.

Dusty Jolley: Yeah,

John Dickow: I know we're kind of running low on time here, but I just wanted to give you another opportunity to give any, I know you, you gave a little bit of a piece of advice a second ago. Any final words for our, uh, viewers or listeners on anybody who might be interested in trying out F P V?

Dusty Jolley: Sure. Getting into F P V is a lot of fun it's not a cheap thing to get into, and typically there is the initial investment 'cause you've gotta buy remote, you've gotta buy goggles. You know, you've gotta buy batteries a charger. So there is kind of a, entry level cost to get into this, but once you get past that, it's one of those things that it's totally worth it.

to be able to kind of take off and fly a PV is about the closest thing I think that you can actually get to just feeling what it's like to fly. it's almost like a [00:11:00] therapy for me sometimes just to get out and, uh, just to, just to go fly a PV for a little bit. something I definitely recommend people.

That are interested in pursue, but also make sure you start off with the simulator and see if it's something that you're gonna wanna get into and spend the time on before you actually spend the money, on, on the investment. Awesome.

John Dickow: Thank you so much, dusty, for being on, today and, and kinda introducing this topic.

It's, it's pretty cool and it's almost kinda exciting. It kind of makes, you wanna give it a shot,

Dusty Jolley: so there's a lot there, man. Yeah, we, we can do it. Come to Florida in September and we'll, we'll make it

John Dickow: happen. Awesome, awesome. Oh, that's right. Big event happening. Uh, drone Lunch Academy in Florida. look it up.

dusty, thanks again for coming on. we'd love to have you on again, talk more drones later on. . In the meantime, viewers, listeners, you can submit your own drone questions, uh, yd qa.io. Find somebody who can answer your question, or if you're part of the Drone Launch Connect community, feel free to drop a question, in there.

And, we'll see it. We'll, we'll do our best to answer it. In the meantime, we'll see you in the sky.