CFL FPV 2013 Event

January 2013 FPV Meet in Leesburg, FL

This hobby keeps getting better! Some months back I was purchasing a video receiver from an forum member who happened to mention an upcoming FPV event. At this point I didn't know anyone else in the are who flew FPV, so I was very excited to get the chance to meet some others who were into FPV and maybe learn a thing or two.

The gathering took place on the weekend of the 25th - 27th of January. Doug, (traderdmb), secured a plot of land for the event to take place at. It was a nice large open pasture with surrounding trees that provided welcome shade, and the weather ended up being quite perfect. The whole weekend was mild wind with temperatures in the day reaching mid 70's and partly cloudy. Clouds are always fun in FPV, for those who can reach them!

I arrived there Saturday noon and was pleasantly surprised to already see a ton of cars and people there. I felt like a kid in a candy shop walking past everyone's set-ups and gear, I knew it was going to be a good weekend.

The day consisted of hanging out, meeting people, discovering some that even lived near me! I ended up meeting the owner of www.fpvmanuals.com Tim Nilson, who come to find out lives in my town.

He has developed some impressive tri-copter and quad-copter designs, so I'm looking forward to doing some flying with him and learn what I can.

Unfortunately I didn't have an FPV plane at the meet since I had just lost my plane only the weekend before! Bad timing for sure. I still had lots of fun taking photos and videos during the event and just watching everyone fly. There was a wide variety of crafts there ranging from flying wings, EDF jets, high wings, sail planes, tri-copters, quad-copters, hexa-copters, all being quite impressive. Some of those multirotors can just hover in place so still that you'd think they were hanging from a rope in the air. There was a "limbo" pole set up in the field which provided entertainment as people attempted, not always successfully, to pass underneath.

Later in the day there was a race held for both the planes and quads consisting of a 3 point course having to maneuver around trees and obstacles. Many people there were impressive pilots, dodging trees and power lines at high speed, and as the day turned to night the flying only got more interesting. A few pilots took to the full moon-lit sky with their planes and did some night flying. 

Alex from Urban Drones flew a number of times at night while live streaming his feed to a big tv and live on the internet for all to watch. Later on we all sat around the camp fire sharing stories and watching the day's flights on a screen and projector.

Sunday was nearly as big as Saturday with lots more flying, and even some prizes being given out via raffle and competitions. I won a nice t-shirt and some stickers from Urban Drones and ReadymadeRC. A few guys showed off flying way above the clouds upwards of 5000 feet up with a successful flight home as well, very impressive. I flew my little micro quad around and my small foam Trojan T-28 for fun most of the day. All in all it was a great event and I can wait for another!

Pictures and video of the event below!

Bloopers and Fun