First-person-view drone flying is the closest thing to being a bird
 

This looks fascinating. Anyone done it yet?

https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/25/FPV-for-beginners/

Intriguing. I haven't done it yet, but these videos inspire me.

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Yes it's fun, but a bit weird at first. The nano qx2 is a good starting point but you will need a set of Googles too. Figure 200 to 500 for decent Googles

Pretty neat, i'd love to try that.

Next would be to hook it up to a hydraulic seat to simulate the movements, with fans in front to simulate airflow.

But I guess one thing is, if you're looking in goggles and can't see the drone in real life (all you're seeing is the screen in the goggles) how is the experience that much different than a video game?

More expensive to crash?

yes but with it being VR I'd bet the drone would be easier to fly.

Isn't falling without a chute closer to being a bird than this thing?

not nearly as cool as the fpv tech being used in rc planes years ago. you put on a vr headset and could turn your head to get the camera in the cockpit to do the same. absolutely awesome.

quadcopter drones, blech.

not really the parts for these 250 sized racing quads are all cheap Chinese made items. You break alot of propellers.

The blade nano QX2 which was the feature of that article is very cheap to crash since it is too small to break anything on impact really. I ran into a light pole over concrete yesterday and only lost a 99cent propeller.

The cameras and trnsmitters are resiliant if mounted correctly.

Ive done RC stuff forever, over 70% or my life. My favorite rc things are traditional helicopters. I had the very first rc quad on the market in the 90s. I have always thought quads were pretty boring until FPV came out. Even without racing FPV is alot of funn, you really do feel like a bird! You need somebody to spot you while flying though.

found this on youtube. says posted 5 years ago.

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Yeah FPV, head tracking, and camera gimbals arnt all that new though 5 years ago would have been pretty early into the hobby.

Im not sure why its so much cooler in a plane than a quad though. I dont love quads really but they can do basically do anything that plane can do as well as sit still.

Also its worth noting that the FPV image quality is much worse than the Hi-def video everybody posts on you tube. Most all of these things make recordings in much better resolution than they transmit to the gogles or ground station

quads take the skill out of it.

I got out of rc flying a few years back when I recognized that I had a problem but could be tempted to get back in if the rig shown above could be put together for a reasonable amount.

It is a lot more difficult fpv a quad through an obstacle course as shown, than it does does to wonder above an open field with a foam trainer

Hang gliding is closer to being a bird.

Why not just do the real thing? Gliding for example isnt too costly.