First-person view (FPV) drones are becoming more and more popular, outpacing government regulations dictating who and where the remote-controlled aircraft can be operated. Dale “Hiway” Settle is an FPV drone racer, taking the hobby to the level of sport by competing with other drone enthusiasts in a closed obstacle course setting.
According to Settle, he very rarely takes his multi-rotor craft out in public, because he feels that’s inviting trouble. He finds the race setting the safest option as far as getting the same rush of adrenaline he used to get from Harley riding.
In the world of FPV drone racing, you can have a very fast-paced piloting experience through goggles that contain a video transmission from the perspective of the drone. It’s slightly goofy-looking when you see the operators sitting in lawn chairs with an antenna sticking out of their sunglasses, but when you take a look at the footage of the actual drone races from the air, you can see where it would become very addicting.
Drone racers stress that they act responsibly with their equipment and never allow racing among inexperienced hobbyists. But in the following mini-documentary from The Atlantic, the co-founders of a company called DroneShield state that unregulated use of small craft in public airspace grows more dangerous the more popular the activity becomes. They’ve developed netguns and other civilian drone defense equipment to provide a solution for people concerned with their privacy when less conscientious hobbyists than Settle get their hands on drones.
The comparison between the two entities provides great perspective into the growing world of civilian drone craft. And it really makes me want to become a drone racer.
