PBS story explores the appeal – and physics – of FPV drones

PBS, the Public Broadcasting System, has pulled together a really awesome video that introduces the FPV experience to non-pilots. It even goes into the physics of how drones fly.

It’s always great when PBS takes on a topic and decides to explain it. You’ll generally wind up with a well-produced primer that provides a really excellent overview. And now, PBS has decided to give the same treatment to the world of FPV drones. A new video explores not only the physics but also the passion that fuels this sport/hobby.

Trust us, it’s worth watching.

A very special guest

Stories like this generally quote experts. And they aren’t many with more expertise than two-time Drone Racing League World Champion Jordan Temkin. “Jet,” as he’s known, turns out to be the perfect person in this role:

A brand-new audience

Here, PBS is preaching to the converted. But on the PBS YouTube channel, many viewers had clearly either never seen this sport – or at least not seen it explained this well.

Here are a few snippets from the comments:

“The best/worst hobby ever,” wrote Shane Watters. “For every five minutes of blissful flight is hours of fixing, soldering, programming.” Lol – very true, Shane. We didn’t see much of that – or the crashes – in that video.

“Oh… this video may cost me a chunk of money,” wrote Chris Davis. “I have thought drone flying looked kinda cool, but wasn’t into the photographic aspect and didn’t see a lot of other point. FPV? Hello! I never knew this was a thing.”

There’s always a critic…

One commenter pointed out, quite correctly, a line from the narrator that didn’t quite line up with the facts:

“7:08 ‘Maybe we have to wait a bit longer for scientists to make personal flight a reality.’ Seriously? That shows little to no research at all on the matter, what about paragliding and hang-gliding? They exist since a few decades already and they are literally that: personal flight without the need of any engines or batteries,” observed Dani MS.

But the number-one comment? Well, this one from Bao Nguyen gave us a chuckle: “This provided absolutely no flight lessons.”

What’s the matter with you, PBS?

;)