Night FPV & "WHY I FLY AT NIGHT"

Why I Fly At Night

As I hope you'll understand after watching the video, night flying is very important to me.  It can be profoundly moving when shared with others.  I thought I would pop together a few tips in this article and let you know what parts I am using to take part in this truly wonderful fork of our hobby.  My intention is that by the time you've finished reading this article and watched the video you'll have enough basic knowledge about night FPV to go out and try it for yourself. 

It can be an amazing experience and one that I cherish being able to do. 

That video is my attempt to share what flying FPV at night means to me.  I am hoping that it has inspired you to want to know more about night FPV, and while I am not an expert I can give you an idea on how to get started and point you towards the right kit for the job. 

Where to Fly

There's a few important things to consider when choosing a place to fly FPV at night.  

• Try and choose the largest area you can find, idealy one you know or even already fly at because things look real different in the dark. 
• Make yourself familiar with how it looks during the day, pick landmarks to help estabish a boundary to stay within.
• If possible wait for a moonlit night as it may not look like it to the naked eye but that thing kicks out a tonne of beautiful light for you to FPV under. 
• One of the great thing about flying at night is that most places are empty.  Make sure that there's no one that you can injur or upset by flying.  One bad experience can close a location to you.

Choosing Your Gear

• Light source.

If you are flying without the assistance of moonlight you will need a source of light I have used these from Surveilzone http://bit.ly/1JjiAMp with some success but just about any light will do.

• Return to home aid.

You might also find some sort of ground strobe to use as a beacon to find your way back to yourself.  Ground Strobe

• The Camera.

You could use a couple of work lights to provide enough illumination to fly with but the most important thing is the FVP camera. I have searched high and low for a cam that does what I need and finally a while back Surveilzone launched this ultra low light camera http://bit.ly/1GyT0Mv There are other options depending on your craft size and intended use but for what I do this cams worked out great.

Crashing, When Not IF

So what if you crash?  Trust me, as a man speaking from experience, you are gonna crash sometime sooner or later.  Having lights on your craft will greatly improve your chances of finding it.  In fact finding a downed craft at night is infinitely easier as they tend to glow which can be seen from a long way off.  That said sometimes the battery will disconnect leaving you a bit of a challenge.  So obviously some for of lightsource torch etc. is a good idea.  If you have a DVR recording the flight you can always play it back to get a better idea of where you were when the poop hit the whirly thing....

A Final Tip (or two), But Hopefully Not THAT Final

Be safe, and be polite.  You're always an abasador for the hobby.  If you do encounter people, be pleasant, offer to share what you're doing with them.  Do not be confrontational.  As I said earlier, all it can take is one upset person to ruin a flying location for all of us.  We have a cool hobby, and the more people on our side, the better.

Last but not least, let someone know where you are going so that if god forbid something happens to you they'll know where to look for the body. =D

Wrapping up

So now you have some great pointers on how to get started in this truly wonderful fork of the hobby. This is something you can do alone (a little spooky at night with goggles on) soaring around peacfully or shooting the gaps in the dark. You can also have massive fun chassing friends around, following their LED bumbers through the trees. My advice is just do it! This is one of the most relaxing and incredibly rewarding things I have ever done, some views at night are just incredible.

I hope that this helps and if you wouldnt mind please share the video, I made it with the intention of humanising the "drone" a little by showing how it can help people like myself.

ATB Malc

RCTVUK