Behind the Goggles: Johnny FPV

Drone Racing and FPV Freestyle are some of the fastest growing sports on the planet. Meet the men and women behind the goggles who are changing the way we see our planet. Johnny Schaer, or Johnny FPV, is one of the younger pilots in the game. But don't let his age fool you, this Chicago native has mad skills and his future is looking pretty bright. He says he got into flying after watching what he calls inspirational videos by Charpu, Skitzo, and Mr. Steele. As we saw first hand, other pilots are starting to be inspired by him. He says editing is important to him because it sets him apart from other FPV pilots. His skills weren't learned in school, he figured it all out on his own, and he thinks if other pilots want to be successful they should do the same. Johnny took a semester off of college at Denver University to focus on FPV full time; he hopes that someday it could turn into a career because he "loves flying that much." Thanks for taking the time to fly with us, Johnny! Catch up with all the best FPV Freestyle and Drone Racing pilots by following Behind the Goggles on AirVuz.com. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Interviewer: 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. Johnny Schaer or JohnnyFPV is one of the younger pilots in the game. But don't let his age fool you. This Chicago native has mad skills and his future is looking pretty bright. Johnny Schaer: I had never made a video before. I never have editing, edited anything really so it was just the fact that you're flying. You could go anywhere, do anything and then you could really create something, create something out of it so you could - really, it's your canvas. The sky is your canvas out there. You could create something out of nothing. It's kind of cool. Interviewer: Johnny got into flying after watching what he calls inspirational videos by Charpu, Mr. Steele and Skitzo. Now other pilots are starting to be inspired by him. So it's kind of becoming a thing. Like people are starting to really know you. What's that like? Johnny Schaer: It's cool. I mean I put a lot of time into my clips and I really try and create something that's higher quality than maybe some of the other things out there. But it's awesome. I mean I love anything FPV in general. So to see other people as enthusiastic as me and to really - I mean it's awesome when they come up to me and say, "Oh your video is awesome man. I love your style." Yeah. It's really cool. Interviewer: You have a video that I love. It's called Dune Diving. You're in Michigan. You're in this cool state. You're right over the water. You're going through sand dunes. But what I really like about it isn't just the way that you fly. It's the way that you edit things in post-production. You've mentioned it but how big is that to you? Johnny Schaer: Editing, I think it's very important. I think flying is the most important thing so going to all these awesome locations to get that unique perspective. But editing kind of brings everything together so you need a great song. You need to make sure everything is precise and it flows really well. And editing really consumes a lot of the time that I put into FPV. The edit can take anywhere from two to ten hours. It really depends. But I enjoy every second of it. It really helps legitimize things a little bit when you get that really nice quality from a video. Interviewer: Do you see the sport really going that way, less just putting a raw video on the website, actually people really spending time developing into the editing side of it? Johnny Schaer: Yes and no. If you really want to get serious you need to because you want to stand out and have that extra quality that maybe not everyone has or they don't want to put in the time. But it will be both. There will be both sides. Some people just do it for fun, for casual, just as even a stress reliever. But I do it because I love it and I want to get that high-end product to people who enjoy watching it. Interviewer: You go over water in some of your videos. I don't see a lot of people doing that because the technology still isn't quite 100 percent right now. Why do you do it? Johnny Schaer: Yeah. Well, to stand out and to really get that kind of, whatever, awesome footage, you need to risk. You need to risk your drone. You need to take those risks to get that epic content. But yes, the technology is not quite reliable enough to do it safely. Luckily, I haven't had too many go in the water but again, it's just to get that really epic content and people really seem to enjoy that. Interviewer: Johnny took a semester off from the University of Denver to focus on FPV. Could FPV turn into a career? Johnny Schaer: I really hope it does. It's sort of my dream to do this. I love it that much that I would sacrifice almost everything and anything to pursue it and make it a thing that I can support myself with. So that's definitely the dream. Interviewer: If you could describe flying in one or two words, what would they be and why? Johnny Schaer: I've heard it a lot before but it really makes you feel like you're Superman and you can just get this - it's an out of body experience so you really feel like you're in the drone and you get these, capture these perspectives that aren't really possible with any other equipment out there. And just the fact that you can go anywhere in a split second, it's really special. And I think that's why FPV is really starting to boom a little bit and gain all of this momentum. It's unique. It's different and it's just pure awesome. [End of Audio]