APV Drone is honored to get a chance to speak with Franco de Leon. Franco goes by the pilot name @dadboddadbod.  Franco is from Lake County, Illinois. In the time he’s been involved in FPV drone pilot he has had a huge impact on the entire Chicagoland FPV drone pilot scene.

Franco’s efforts bringing pilots together have been manifest in the events he creates, organizes and runs, which he excels at.

Everyone knows that when winter hits in the Midwest, flying slows down.  But Franco has taken it upon himself to cultivate a community centered around indoor racing.  He’s hosted events in local libraries and skateparks allowing area pilots to keep their skills sharp through the cold winter months.  However, his events have thrived and continued to draw huge numbers even throughout the warmer months. More on this later. 

In addition to his love for drones, he is also a musician.  You can hear his work on almost every one of the flight videos he posts.  The music on those edits is entirely produced by him! If you’re looking for some custom and unique beats for your edits hit him up!

“I didn’t think I would be in any kind of leadership position at all, because for me, it’s all about flying drones as much as I can”

APV Drone asked him “What got you into the FPV drone hobby?”

His response?  It was his wonderful wife who got him hooked!  She bought him a Syma drone for Father’s Day 2016.  By July 4th of 2017 he had outgrown the toy and upgraded to a DJI Spark.  Soon after he realized that he really connected with the experience of flying. The photo and video aspect of drones wasn’t as exciting.  This is where FPV came in to play. He started off with a Horizon Hobby Inductrix in August 2017. Since then he’s had numerous drones and has been flying FPV hardcore ever since.

As we mentioned before, Franco has a knack for organizing events.  He get’s a lot of enjoyment out of meeting new pilots and inspiring them to fly in new places.  He loves pushing pilots to different levels and inspiring them to become better. 

 So we asked “Did you ever think you would be in this position to be able to influence so many people in the area to get out and fly?”

Franco said, “I didn’t think I would be in any kind of leadership position at all, because for me, it’s all about flying drones as much as I can. While organizing chicagoland FPV drone pilot events is related to the hobby, it is not actually flying.

However, I personally wanted to have more indoor locations to fly drones during the cold months.  I had already purchased equipment to create and time drone race tracks. I decided to see if some local venues would be interested in hosting our meetups.

As it turned out, both a local library and also a local indoor skatepark (@Asylumskatepark) were open to the idea. I began setting up monthly events in both locations.

It’s been great to see how the local pilot community has begun to make these events on their own. I just got us started. I am having a fun time watching others begin to grow the event, and subsequently the community.”

APV Drone has been attending the events at Asylum Skate Park regularly. It is clear how much of an impact Franco has had on the FPV community.  We wish him the best of luck and continued success pushing these events as well as any other future endeavors.

If you live in the Chicagoland or Milwaukee areas please join Franco’s Facebook group:  Lake County Illinois FPV. Here you can find out more about local meetups and events. Including indoor whoop racing @Asylumskatepark which takes placed every other Monday in Lake Bluff, IL.  You can also meet and interact with other great pilots from the area.

Be sure to check out Chicagoland FPV drone pilot Franco’s edits on Instagram here. 

And if you haven’t yet, please follow @APVdrone38 on Instagram for content from us.  To read about other talented pilots check our blog.

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Thank you and have fun!

It’s All About The Community!