
Behind The FPV Goggles: Ummagawd
AIRVŪZ STAFF NOTE :
Los Angeles-based first person view (FPV) pilot Ummagawd was one of the biggest names in the early years of FPV, and he continues to play an outsized role as FPV has continued to expand its appeal. A longtime member of the Rotor Riot crew, he has been active in the DR1 racing league and was one of the first FPV pilots to secure corporate sponsorship. In this episode of the AIrVuz original series Behind the FPV Goggles, you'll meet this talented FPV pilot and see some of his most epic flight footage.
- over 8 years ago
- 2.5k VŪZ
31 - 20
- Report
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.
We joined Tommy Tibajia, aka Ummagawd, in LA on location with the Rotor Riot crew where he told us what being behind the goggles means to him.
"It’s a ball of things for me. I would say that the first thing that it is for me is it’s a step away from the real world. I mean for me I always go back to being Superman and I always say that and I feel like everybody always says that. I’m just gonna say if you’ve ever had that dream where you’re floating in the air and you look down and it’s like ‘I’m flying’ and I’m not talking about flapping your wings and stuff I’m talking about you can go there you can soar there as fast as you want. You can do
flips and rolls and soar through and sweep through things and trees that’s what it is for me. That’s what it is for me number 1, and being able to do tricks and being like ‘Hey look what I can do’ comes second along with racing. I like the thrill of it, I don’t like the rivalries and stuff but just the thrill of it and being able to say ‘Hey, I beat you today!’ or ‘Check out my cool new trick that I figured out,’” Tommy said.
We asked him if the creativity is what inspires him and he said, "Absolutely. For me it’s very much like an art form, especially when it comes to making videos. The creativity out of that just goes back to being a DJ and making music. I love the whole creative aspect to it, which is why I like the freestyle side of it as well. It’s very subjective, yeah, but there’s a certain respect to that that I enjoy very much.”
Tommy gave us the dirt on how the Rotor Riot crew began and why they work so well, then told us where he thinks the sport will go in the next few years. "It’s kind of a hard question for me at least to answer because it seems like every month that world for me changes and it’s like the horizon just gets bigger the vision just gets bigger. I definitely see it being a huge market, there’s a really small population out there that didn’t have that childhood dream of being able to fly and to me this is the closest thing to it.”
To hear from all of your favorite FPV pilots, follow Behind the Goggles on www.AirVuz.com
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