Behind The FPV Goggles: Freybott

Drone Racing and FPV Freestyle are some of the fastest growing sports on the planet. Meet the men and women behind the goggles changing the way we see our world. Phil Freybott or just Freybott, brought us to the infamous abandoned GoKart track outside of the Atlanta to talk past careers, future plans, and to crack a few jokes. Jokingly refered to as "the model" Phil knows the FPV scene is a lot more than looks and a little flying; recognition is key. He says you need to know how to craft and build an image that people can recognize to be successful. Phil says that a decade long BMX career taught him that and it helps with his flying. He compares the sport to FPV Freestyle because it feels like he's always in a skatepark, where he can go around obstacles and other things. Plus, he loves the creativity involved in Freestyle more than Racing. We talk about his fellow Atlanta quad guys and how they have big plans for the rest of the summer to shred air and how he always tried to make a memory with his videos and flying. Thanks for flying with us, Phil! For more on your favorite FPV Freestyle and Drone Racing pilots follow Behind the Goggles on www.AirVuz.com VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Speaker 1: 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. Phil Freybott, or just Freybott, brought us to the infamous, abandoned go cart track outside of Atlanta [00:00:30] to talk past careers, future plans, and to crack a few jokes. Why are your shoe laces always untied? Phil Freybott: Because I didn't pay attention in kindergarten. It's really hard for me to tie them. Speaker 1: You're blaming kindergarten on this? Phil Freybott: Who else? Me? Speaker 1: I guess. Jokingly referred to as The Model, Phil knows the FPV scene is a lot more than just looks and a little flying. Phil Freybott: I have the feeling it's not enough to only fly good. You know, you have to present the lifestyle and [00:01:00] everything around it, so that people can recognize you. Because if you just fly in the open field, I mean, everybody does that. Speaker 1: How much do you think personality plays into being a pilot that people will recognize? Phil Freybott: I would say 50-60%. Speaker 1: So pretty heavy, compared to a lot of sports. Phil Freybott: Yeah. I mean, I was riding 10 years professional BMX, and there were some really good guys that won every competition, but they don't have any friends or people who like them. So I mean, they're still good from their talent-wise, [00:01:30] but people are not feeling connected to them. Speaker 1: Phil says that decade-long BMX career helps his flying. Phil Freybott: I'm glad that I did the BMX before because it makes my freestyle aspect of drone racing or drone flying much easier because I always feel like I'm in the skate park, so I can use the obstacles and stuff. I mean, I like freestyle because I have the freedom, so I can do whatever I want. If I want to power loop the tree, I can do it. But also I like [00:02:00] sometimes competition because you can race against your friends. Speaking of that, racing with your friends, not against them, because I always want to have a good time, not being too competitive. Speaker 1: One fun fact about you, that maybe not everybody knows, is that you've had some modeling in your past. Phil Freybott: Do we have to talk about it? Speaker 1: Can we show your best ... can I just see your best modeling face pose? Can I see it? Phil Freybott: Oh, I thought you're [00:02:30] going to put in my hottest tape, right now, in the video, but sorry. Speaker 1: We could. Phil Freybott: Yeah, I did modeling for six years or something. We traveled all around the world. I lived in Brazil and Uruguay and did modeling there. Some of it was pretty cool. But I mean, maybe for outstanding people, it's like, oh my God, he was a model, and stuff. But compared to FPV, it's pretty boring. Speaker 1: Being a former model sometimes gives people the wrong impression. Phil Freybott: I have sometimes the feeling, when people just see me online, [00:03:00] I don't know if they follow me on Instagram and stuff, and they see the pictures and all that stuff, they maybe think I'm a little bit arrogant or whatever. So they don't ... But if they meet me, then in reality, they always say, "Hi, hey you're totally different." Because I'm super down to earth. I don't care about what people are saying and thinking and stuff. Speaker 1: Right. Phil Freybott: I always try to be friendly and helpful. Speaker 1: Tell me about some of the guys in Atlanta, like who do you fly with? Phil Freybott: Probably they're unknown. I mean, nobody knows them really, [00:03:30] but I like them. It's Skitzo, Jonathan Davis, and Stinger's [inaudible 00:03:36] Kevin, and Mr. Steel. I don't know if you guys heard of them. Speaker 1: Yeah, I know who they are at least. Phil Freybott: I was just kidding. I mean, we have a pretty awesome scene, here in Atlanta. Speaker 1: Right. It's like a hot spot. Phil Freybott: We want to be the FPV Central in the world. Speaker 1: I think you're pretty close. Phil Freybott: We're going to be there after the summer. Don't worry. I'm planning good things. Speaker 1: Phil wants his [00:04:00] flying to be more than just a cool FPV video. He wants to create a moment people remember. Phil Freybott: I want to be creative, and that's good. That's why I love FPV so much because I can have shots like, just from the place itself, and then I have the aerial footage, so it combines a pretty good video, I hope. With every video, I want to try to tell a story to people. I'm just, I don't want to go there, have the video, fly, and go. I want to tell what's happened on that day, some scenes with [00:04:30] friends. Speaker 1: Make a memory. Phil Freybott: Yeah.