![]() ![]() We’ll get back to that legality question. ( Editor's Note: See the comment below from the President of the Academy of Model Aeronautics.) Team Black Sheep recorded the whole thing on video and posted it online, stirring up a Web-wide buzz about the legality of the flight (but mostly about how cool the footage is). ![]() Later, he guided his airplane to the Statue of Liberty and buzzed her head. Last December, Pirker stood in a park near New York City’s East River, put on a pair of goggles, and flew around the Brooklyn Bridge. He and a friend, who calls himself RiSCyD (“Risky D”), are an informal flying duo called Team Black Sheep. Pirker has a strong presence online, where he goes by Trappy. There’s always the clash between fear and temptation in life.” “But at the same time you want to push the limits. “You’re naturally nervous about losing ,” he says. Some of the adrenaline comes from knowing he’s got $2,000 worth of equipment rocketing around up there, inches from the rocks and miles out of his reach. The videos Pirker puts up are often of thrill rides: The camera shows the nose of his Zephyr as the airplane careens down the face of a cliff or zips between tall alpine trees, rolling its wings at the last possible moment to avoid a crash. Most FPV pilots record their flights-and post the videos online-sometimes using a second, record-only camera that shoots in high-definition. “But with FPV I can just go places, and within five minutes I’m up on a 3,000-meter mountain.” Originally from Switzerland, he now lives in Austria, where he finds some pretty dramatic landscapes to fly over. ![]() “It’s like, you know, you’re traveling,” says the 26-year-old business and IT student. Thanks to high-power transmitters and other clever gadgetry, Pirker has roamed as far as 27 miles from where he stands. His airplane, a flying-wing-style Zephyr with a 54-inch wingspan, is light and fast, with a top speed of 90 mph-ideal for feeding his addiction to high-speed aerobatics. In effect, it’s like being in the cockpit. Now Pirker flies FPV, or First Person Video, using electronic goggles to watch video streaming in real time from a camera mounted on the airplane. ![]()
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