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>> This is a Tiny Whoop.
It's a fun name for what is an impressive bit of technology.
It weighs just over an ounce, or about the same
as a AA battery or an old-fashioned pencil,
but the Tiny Whoop is anything but old fashioned.
It has high RPM electric motors like a Tesla,
and you have to strap on some fiddley goggles,
a bit like the ones Mr. Zuckerberg
wants us all to wear in order to fly it.
And it goes like this...
With the power-to-weight ratio that would send a superbike
back to the gym, and the agility to make a fighter jet
look a little bit clumsy, the Tiny Whoop
is the most maneuverable of all racing drones,
making it one of the most agile crafts ever made!
And this is one of the best Tiny Whoop pilots in the world.
>> FPV drone racing is getting to see what the drone sees.
So it's basically like you are flying.
It's giving you the ability to have the gift of flight.
This all started actually watching a Red Bull video.
They showed footage of him flying
through abandoned buildings, and I thought
that was the coolest thing in the world.
I want to do that.
And then slowly, I started -- I got my first Tiny Whoop.
That's my first drone I ever got back in 2019,
and after that first Whoop, it went horrible.
I flew terrible, but as I put more time into it,
it's something that I grew to love.
And immediately I had to -- I had to get more of it.
>> And he got plenty more, which is a good thing,
because to get this fast, you have to fly a lot!
>> When you first pick up a drone and you try to fly it,
it's not something that you can pick up instinctively.
It's not something that you can just pick up
and be good at immediately.
It's definitely going to take practice.
It took me thousands of hours of just flying, and
even in the simulator, without even picking up a real drone,
just to be able to get to where I'm at.
>> But flying is only one of the many new things you have
to learn in order to get your own quadcopter in the air.
>> You need a transmitter.
You need a DVR headset, motors, frames,
many different parts of the actual Tiny Whoop,
but you also need to learn how to put those components together
to build a functioning quadcopter.
The biggest barrier of entry for most people is simply
the knowledge to be able to get a drone in the air.
Flying in the air is one of the hardest things to do
because you have to learn how to solder.
You have to learn how to program.
You have to learn how to manage your softwares and gear,
and program everything to be able to function correctly.
It's something that I've spent many late nights
just trying to get things to work right.
There's lots of glitches and lots of issues
with the hardware and the software that you have to learn
how to manage, because at the end of the day, it's not easy.
>> But there are people around to help.
These guys.
>> If that was wrong, it wouldn't be working.
Oh, there it goes.
>> The Indy Whoop Racers have been meeting up every other
Saturday night here at Indy Cabinetry for several months.
>> There weren't any races locally.
I really wanted to get something started,
and I realized that we have the perfect space already here
at Indy Cabinetry.
So talked to Robert, and I asked him,
hey, what do you think about starting a chapter here?
>> Robert Gough, alias Captain Mavic.
What we try to do, normally when we are racing,
we start at 6 p.m. and usually finish up around 9:00 or so.
About 7 p.m., we go live.
So we're using the OBS Software to not only take all
of these video signals and get them together,
along with the audio, but then we'll push out a livestream
to my YouTube channel on Captain Mavic.
>> At our Whoop races, we have pilots ranging from
the beginner level, all the way to intermediate and advanced.
They know how to fly, and each time they race,
they get better.
>> They get together.
They race, and they spend a fair amount of time
assisting anyone who may need some help.
>> The community is absolutely awesome!
Everybody is just there to help each other.
>> This hobby definitely doesn't come with any
instruction manuals, but from the very beginning, you know,
there have been guys -- the professional pilots
that are making YouTube videos on how to do the builds,
and how to bind your radio, and how to set up beta flight
to make it fly better and all that.
One of the first rules in the Facebook group,
the 34,000-member Facebook group for Tiny Whoop
is don't be a jerk.
>> 98% of the people are just so cool.
There's no judgment whatever.
They are just there to help each other out
and have a good time.
Yes, there's competition racing, but, you know,
in all your buddies, you know?
>> It's rare because even as a beginner,
people who are filming with Michael Bay
and David Attenborough will talk to you on Facebook,
and say, hey, you are doing this wrong.
You can do this better.
Here's a tip I have.
>> And there is one pilot here going even further
to make the hobby more accessible to newcomers.
>> So I'm Ian Mellencoat.
My racing name is Don't Crash.
>> Ian is one of our youngest pilots racing with us,
and he started a 4-H quadcopter group.
He actually helps others get into the hobby
through that club.
>> A lot of people, they are very new at this.
They are just getting into this.
So we help them with any kind of technical issue they will have.
Sometimes their video is not set up right.
Sometimes they accidentally change a setting,
and you just have to help them figure out
how to learn how to do it on their own.
The idea is to have them know how to do it
by the end of the meeting sessions.
That way they can actually be more independent
and just learn how to use the gear.
So we start off our meeting with a brief introduction,
kind of talk about what we are going to do in the meeting,
and how to, like, get their channels set up
so we don't have any video overlap.
Once we finish that, get everybody started,
everybody up in the air.
We had two groups today.
So we had one group go out.
We alternated to the other group
and had them get some flight time.
And then Agustin or Agilis, he got to do his talk
about what he does as a pilot.
I like going out and doing courses,
just because it gives me a good challenge.
I get to fly against other pilots, see what they use,
see what kind of gear they use, and just overall improve myself
and have fun.
>> Ian is one of the pilots that has improved tremendously
since the first time I've raced with him.
Every single time he comes and races,
he's got a different build.
He's got more knowledge, and he takes more time into practice.
>> And while they both get their fair share of practice,
Ian admits he's not put as many hours in the sticks as Agustin.
>> So I met him roughly two years ago.
Back then, he had about the exact same setup that I did
in terms of quad, and we were flying together,
and we were roughly the same speed.
I took a two-year break.
He didn't.
He practiced for those two years, and now he's crazy fast.
He's definitely put a lot of time and effort into that,
and he's crazy fast.
>> In this group, I'm usually in the top three or four,
and I usually get slotted in heats with Agilis,
and I get to see him zip by me, you know.
And I just -- I just tell people it's an honor to be able to,
you know, get lapped by Agilis every week.
>> And if you want to see Agilis and some of the best
drone racers in the world compete,
you should head to Muncie, Indiana,
for the Multi GP International Open.
>> Multi GP, it's based in Florida, and what it basically
is, is an organization that deals with chapters.
And chapters -- we're now a chapter, the Indy Whoop Racers
here in Indianapolis.
And the top pilots from all over America come to Muncie, Indiana,
and compete in the global championship.
We have tracks for beginners, for micro drones,
full-scale drones, and then we have team events,
and it's just unbelievable!
Thousands of pilots all compete
until the final race on Saturday night.
>> We have our first ever two-time World Cup Champion.
It's BMS Thomas!
>> At IO, you will see a dizzying variety of drones.
And if you find your way to the Tiny Whoop tent,
you will see a Hoosier pilot competing with, and who knows,
maybe even besting the greatest drone racers in the world!