I started in RC ages ago but i did not really get serious with the hobby till about 15 years ago. I started out with traditional heli's and then moved to fixed wing aircraft as well. I became very proficient in both, flew IMAC and was a known regular at our field. I truly enjoyed the hobby and spent a great deal of time and money to support it as well.
About 5 years ago due to personal reasons involving my then spouse, work and other things i decided to give up flying. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes i made over the years, it truly was one of the few things i enjoyed doing and was good at.
Not to long ago I discovered Diydrones and was hooked again. These multicopters truly fascinated me. Off to the storage i went to dig out radios, receivers and other things i needed and my first quad was purchased.
Shortly before i could maiden my quad I suffered another life changing event.. I had multiple strokes. The strokes left me walking like a 100 yr old man, no balance. My hands suffered from loss of precision, it was hard for me to do things i used to. And worse, my vision was damaged. I had diplopia and saw double vision as well as my distance vision was very bad. I have to wear an eye patch until i can get proper glasses to repair the vision(if it can be).
This really limited how much i can enjoy flying, as it is, i can only hover visually fairly close as i loose orientation very easily and have problems seeing things at a distance.
Then.. I discovered FPV. Several months back i saw videos by David Windestål and YTchim on YouTube, I researched this area of RC and began buying equipment needed and gaining the knowledge i would need to successfully FPV.
Now i am the proud owner two FPV tri-copters (both ArduCopter powered) and an FPV Sky Surfer. It has taken me many months worth of investment (both time and money) and i believe i finally found a way i can really enjoy the hobby once again.
After getting used to and not scared to death when wearing the goggles i realized that i did not feel limited in what i can do based on my vision. Don't get me wrong, i am not blind by any means and could successfully land the craft visually thanks stabilize mode.. but this has opened a new set of doors for me into this great hobby.
I am mainly writing this blog post as a big thank you to the ArduPilotMega team and everyone involved. If it were not for your efforts and this site I probably would have never got back into the hobby and fully enjoy it as i do today.