Introduction

I love anything that flies, and in 2017 I couldn't stop watching FPV freestyle on YouTube. If you don't know FPV freestyle, this video by LeDrib is the best one I've ever seen. Anyways, I wanted to build one, and since I wanted a lot of things at that age, my parent's didn't just buy everything the next day. Instead, they suggested I ask the school for financial support. So me and two friends prepared our first ever slide deck and bill of materials, presented it to the principal and got the funding. This sounds simple, but daring to request an audience with the principal took us 2 weeks.

Mistakes and Learnings

• Don't short your LiPo battery through the drone frame. It's made of conductive carbon fiber and burns.
• If you blow out a flame quickly enough, neither the sprinklers nor teachers will detect it. You'll only have to deal with that one random pupil who glanced in your direction at the wrong time.
• Cheap fake components come with a hidden cost. One of our flightcontrollers was faulty and I gave up repeatedly trying to debug the issue. Replacing it solved the issue eventually.
• When starting out as a total noob in something, things go wrong. Plan with a few more spare parts.
• Joshua Bardwell's YouTube channel was and maybe still is the best ressource for emerging fpv hobbyists out there.
• Flying in a simulator sounds boring, but saves you countless cycles of crashing and repairing your drone. I learned this the hard way.

Credits

When I left the school, I will always be grateful to my dad who, without hestitation, purchased the full BOM and spares so I could continue following this passion and keep learning. I ended up building multiple RC planes as well.