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.
Comments
Truly an inspirational blog....Thanks for sharing
I second about this great community and awesome devs...
Don, your willpower is amazing! There are no limits... just your imagination.
My admiration also for all the developer's and people involved in the project.
What a wonderful post! Many thanks for sharing that, Don. It's posts like this that make all the hard work worthwhile.