Get Started
← Advanced builds · Mission 28 of 30

Build, tune and fly your first FPV drone

Goggles on, thumbs on the sticks, and you're sitting in the cockpit of a 5-inch quad that flips on the spot and climbs a hundred metres in a few seconds. Learn in a simulator until crashing is boring, solder your own quad together, set it up in Betaflight 2026.6, bind it over ExpressLRS 4.1, and fly your first packs in a field, with every check that keeps the first flight from being the last.

900 minAdvancedTools: Around £750 to £950 all in (radio, goggles, digital video, quad parts, batteries, charger, tools)Step 1 free
A 5-inch freestyle quad you soldered and set up yourself, with HD digital video
A radio and receiver on ExpressLRS 4.1, bound and failsafe-tested
A Betaflight 2026.6 setup done in the right order, with a CLI backup that rebuilds it after any reflash
  • Simulator hours first, then a first-flight plan that builds from hovering to proper acro flying
  • A kit: parts list with UK prices, a thrust and flight-time calculator, the Betaflight checklist and a first-flights plan
Before you start
  • A RadioMaster Pocket ELRS radio (about £55 to £70) and a simulator (about £10 to £20 on Steam)
  • DJI Goggles N3 (£189 to £229) and a DJI O4 Air Unit Pro (about £209), or an analogue or Walksnail/HDZero equivalent
  • Quad parts from the kit list (frame, stack, motors, receiver, props) for about £180 to £250, plus four 6S packs and a charger
  • A temperature-controlled soldering iron (60W or more), 63/37 solder, flux and a smoke stopper
  • A big open field and a friend to spot for you
01/06Learn in a simulator before you buy the quad0 done
STEP 01 of 06~300 min

Learn in a simulator before you buy the quad

Get 5 to 10 hours of stick time where crashes cost nothing.

  1. Why firstAn FPV quad in acro mode doesn't level itself: let go of the right stick and it holds whatever angle it was at. Everyone crashes constantly at first. In a simulator a crash costs a keypress; in a field it costs props, arms, motors or a camera. Pilots who put in simulator hours first fly properly in their first week.

  2. Buy the radio nowThe RadioMaster Pocket ELRS (about £55 to £70) is small, cheap, runs EdgeTX and has ExpressLRS built in. Get the LBT/EU version in the UK. Plug it into the PC with USB-C, choose USB Joystick (HID) on the radio's screen, and simulators see it as a game controller.

  3. Pick a simulatorLiftoff, Uncrashed and VelociDrone (Steam, about £10 to £20) all model real 5-inch quads well. Calibrate the radio's sticks in the simulator's controls menu and leave rates at its Betaflight defaults.

    • Hours 0 to 2: hover, then land on a spot. Fly slow circles round a tree.
    • Hours 2 to 5: figure eights at head height, then through gaps. Keep the throttle smooth.
    • Hours 5 to 10: first tricks: split-S, power loop, flips over an object.
    • Always acro (rate mode): angle mode in the sim teaches habits you'll have to unlearn.

  4. The kitDownload the kit or open kit.md. first-flights.md has the full simulator plan.

✓
CheckpointYou can fly three clean laps of a figure eight round two trees at head height in acro mode without crashing.
If it breaksThe simulator doesn't see the radio + 1 more
The simulator doesn't see the radio
On the radio, unplug and replug the USB-C cable and pick USB Joystick (HID), not storage. Then calibrate in the simulator's controller settings.
The throttle stick springs back to centre
Some radios ship with a self-centring throttle option; the Pocket's throttle gimbal should hold position. Check the gimbal's spring and ratchet settings in its manual.
Still stuck? Ask the community
Next mission · Advanced buildsA pocket translator that works with no signal at all
→