Behind The FPV Goggles: Zero FPV

Description: Drone Racing and FPV Freestyle are some of the fastest growing sports in the world. Meet the men and women behind the goggles, who are changing the way we see our planet.


At just 13 years old, Sorell Miller is an up and come'r in the FPV community, but you wouldn't know it from talking to him. "Do you ever get nervous? Because talking to you, you're not exactly a nervous teenager..." "No, I'm not very shy. Like if someone asked me in front of a lot of people who i am when I’m flying drones I wouldn’t hesitate to say ‘yeah I’ve been to a couple races and I fly drones because that is pretty cool." He hasn't just been to a couple of races, he won his very first race, the Pacific Northwest Drone National Qualified at age 12. He then went on to compete in Drone Nationals.

"How old were you when you picked it up?" "Twelve; it was just one year ago. At this time." "You've only been flying for one year and you're winning qualifiers for Drone Nationals? You realize that isn't normal, right?" "Yeah, I guess not."

His dad, Conrad Miller aka Furadi, got him into flying. Sorell says that after the first two days of FPV flying it was just an instant love of the sport. Sorell says it wasn't that big of a deal to beat his dad since they race all the time in Boise. Flying FPV in Boise is pretty awesome, since there are a lot of public places to choose from.

A year into taking fight, Sorell is going up against guys 2 or 3 times his age. He trains and competes against them weekly because not many of his friends are as into the sport. The ThrustUAV team have become his drone racing peers. But when kids his age do watch his drone racing videos, they usually think it's pretty sweet.

"What would you say to someone who wants to know what it's like to fly?" "It’s a really fun experience and it’s very fun to compete in. I’d recommend getting the best equipment to start with because once you start you’re just going to get hooked it;’s almost guaranteed it’s like 99% out of a 100% you're going to get hooked onto it and never want to stop."

Thanks for hanging out with us, Sorell! To learn more about some of your favorite pilots, follow Behind the Goggles on AirVuz.com
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Speaker 1: Drone racing and FPV Freestyle are some of the fasting growing sports in the world. Meet the men and women behind the goggles who are changing the way we see our planet. At just 13 years old, Sorell Miller is an up and comer in the [00:00:30] FPV community, but you wouldn't know it from talking with him. Do you ever get nervous because talking to you, you're not exactly like a nervous teenager? Sorell Miller: No, I'm not very shy. Like if someone asks me in front of like a lot of people who I am and if like when I fly the drones, I wouldn't hesitate to say, "Yeah, I've been to a couple of races, and I fly drones," because that's just pretty cool. Speaker 1: He hasn't just been to a couple races. He won [00:01:00] his first race, the Pacific Northwest Drone National's qualifier at age 12 and competed in last year's Drone Nationals. How old were you when you picked it up? Sorell Miller: 12. It was just like one year ago. [crosstalk 00:01:12] It was last year at this exact time. Speaker 1: You're winning qualifiers for Drone Nationals, and you've only been flying for a year. Sorell Miller: Yes. Speaker 1: You realize that's not like totally normal, right? Sorell Miller: No, I do, but yes, that isn't normal, I guess. Speaker 1: What made you want to pick it up? Sorell Miller: Well, he got me into [00:01:30] it, and then after the first two days of flying, it was just instantly I just loved it. I could see how anyone would love it because it's just awesome, but I probably enjoy it more than most people do. Speaker 1: The he Sorrel is referring to is his dad, respected drone racer Furadi, who documents their outings on his pilot page. So what's it like when you beat your dad in Bend? Sorell Miller: In Bend? Speaker 1: Because he's a pretty [00:02:00] big deal. Sorell Miller: It wasn't much to me since we'd race every weekend, but I don't know how it is to other people. Other people probably thought that I wasn't very fast at first, but now that they know that I beat him, they probably think different of me. I don't know, though, so it didn't feel any different than as if we were racing at the fairgrounds or something. It felt pretty good since it was at a big race, like a bigger race, but other than that, it wasn't much [00:02:30] different. Speaker 1: Sorell doesn't let the hype get to his head. He's busy becoming a better pilot. Sorell Miller: I don't really think about that. I just ... If I'm going to a big race, I'm just like kind of excited to race there because it's like a different destination. I don't know how it's going to be there like weather wise or like competition, but it's not much different to me. I just like racing with them. Speaker 1: A year into taking flight, Sorell is going up against guys two or three times his age. He trains and competes [00:03:00] against them weekly because not many of his friends are as into the sport. Sorell Miller: I don't think they know about my videos. They mainly know about my dad's videos more than me because I'm not very obvious yet because I don't ever post videos on youtube. A couple of my friends have seen my videos, and they get into it, yeah. They ask like how does it work and everything. I just tell them like how you put it together and how it all comes together and make it fly. Speaker 1: If you were to tell everybody what it's like [00:03:30] to be a drone racer, like what you see when you're putting on the goggles, what would you say? Sorell Miller: It's a really fun experience, and it's very fun to compete in. I don't know, it's just really fun. I don't really think too much about it. It's just like a fun thing to do. I guess if I was recommending it to someone, like tell them what equipment to get, like what you should get. I would say get the best equipment to start out with because once you start it, you're just going to get hooked like immediately. [00:04:00] It's like almost guaranteed. It's like 99 out of 100% chance you're going to get hooked onto it and just never want to stop. Speaker 1: And don't worry about creating a cool pilot name. Sometimes the name comes to you by mistake. Sorell Miller: This story- Speaker 1: It's kind of a good story, isn't it. Sorell Miller: ... it's so. I was at this event called DRL where they do like the best racers in the world- Speaker 1: This small event called DRL, yes. Sorell Miller: It was big. I [00:04:30] didn't get to race in it, but even though I went there with my dad, I was meeting people before all the stuff started, and I met this guy. He mispronounced my name, thinking that when I said Sorell said zero. So after everyone thought my name was zero, I just thought maybe since they think that's my name I would just stick with that as my pilot name. Speaker 1: I like it. Sorell Miller: That was a good mistake. I like that. I'm kind glad [00:05:00] that that happened.