My name is Stan Maziarz Jr (Stan FPV) and I've been flying for about 2.5 years now in August. I used to compete and do shows on bicycles doing flips and tricks for 15 years until ACL reconstruction surgery on BOTH knees and a pending back surgery (among many other injuries) has taken me off of my bike completely for over 5 years now and sometimes I can barely walk.. I'm 30 now, Freestyle BMX was my life from 10yo-25yo.. I breathed, ate, and dreamt my bike for all that time.. When I couldn't ride anymore I went thru a deep depression and I wasn't able to do the one thing(riding my bike) that used to clear my head and regain my sanity in my hardest mental times.. I was lost.. 4 years ago my whole life changed.. I saw my first phantom drone in real life.. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.. A month later I talked my wife into letting me get my own.. I fell in LOVE with flight.. EVERYTHING about it was new and incredible, seeing a view that most people never experienced in their whole lives was in my control.. After I got 4k footage of everything 17 times, I wanted something a little more challenging that I could work on building a skill doing.. Three years ago when my amazing daughter was born, my injuries were making driving a semi truck, delivering beer for Budweiser, difficult and miserable.. So my wife and I decided that I should stay home and take care of our daughter and myself. While at home with my little girly freshly home from the hospital, right at the beginning, I came across FPV drones on the internet and started researching and learning all the new skills I would need to build my very own manual high performance flying robot.. I had never even heard of soldering before this 😂.. I learned about electricity, antenna, batteries.. I learned how to do SO many things getting into this hobby. I spent months researching and making sure I wouldn't short or burn out all my new parts as soon as I got them.. I used to build car models as a kid and I stopped after a close family member destroyed them all one day in a rage (I had sort of a tough childhood, one reason bmx was such an escape for me) so I hadnt built a model in over 15 years until I found these drones.. They are similar to a car model, but then you get to have the most fun ONCE it's BUILT! I built my first quad Feb '17 and it didn't smoke when I plugged it in! Such a GREAT moment.. 30 seconds into my first battery tho I was on a random roof. I re-armed and full throttled.. I instantly ended up 300ft up looking at a lake I didn't know was around me.. I somehow landed next to the lake and rolled into a creek a half mile away from where I was standing! I spent the next 2 hours searching in mud all the way up to my knees for the tip of the receiver antenna poking out of the creek water all that ways away.. That was the day I realized that this sport/hobby/skill was a lot harder than it looked, and I spent the next full month on simulators. My next flight after that month went OK and I have only gotten more and more passionate about this hobby ever since then! It's literally the same exact mental feeling being in the goggles as I used to get flowing on my bike, but without the risk to my body. And instead of being limited to just the skatepark, I can flow the entire WORLD! I wish this stuff existed when I was younger, I would have flown FPV drones instead of destroying my body! My two year old has watched all the drone learning videos as I have and loves drones and flying as much as I do, she wears her own goggles and co-pilots with me and has also flown her own little tiny whoop already! She can even fly a little acro on the sim and do flips and rolls on command.. Raises throttle, cuts throttle, rolls, and regains control.. It blows my mind. You'll see her in the future I guarantee it 😉 .. I have a strong feeling that now that I've found this I will be flying until I 💀.. I'm even more into everything FPV now then when I first started (which is a high bar 😂) and I wish to continue to progress my skills and share the "experience" of FPV with everyone I can.. Lots of content and new ideas coming! Fly like a bird! 🤘🏼
