Bird's eye view of Cork countryside for drone enthusiast

 Zoran Bregovic from Bandon who flies his racing drones at Cork FPV. He is pictured with his drones and wearing his First Person View goggles. Picture:  Denis Boyle

A Bandon man is enjoying stunning bird’s eye views of the beautiful rural scenery surrounding his town — via a pair of high-tech ‘flying binoculars’.

The 35-year-old bicycle mechanic has built a whole range of FPV (First Person View) drones incorporating a small camera and video transmitter which send signals through a pair of special goggles, giving him the sensation that he’s flying through the air.

“You send it up into the air and you get a bird’s eye view of everything it sees,” said Zoran Bregovic, originally from Croatia, but who has lived in Ireland for six years.

“You wear the goggles, and you see through them; the drone transmits pictures to the goggles,” he said. 

He said that when he is using the drone in fields and countryside around his home town makes him feel “as if you're a bird.” 

“You see the trees, and fields and the river, for example — it’s not a very detailed picture and it’s not high resolution, it’s just a bird’s eye view. The idea is to just enjoy the sensation of flying. It’s a hobby, flying the drones and repairing them."

Building drones

He said that after buying his first-ever FPV drone at Christmas 2019, he then built one himself during the initial lockdown in April 2020. 

Since then he has constructed five drones of different sizes at his home in Bandon.

Although special assembly kits are available for hobbyists, Zoran enjoys actually sourcing the parts and patiently piecing his drones together himself.

Zoran Bregovic has built First Person View drones incorporating a small camera and video transmitter which send signals through a pair of special goggles, giving him the sensation that he’s flying through the air.

He is passionate about his new hobby and recently joined the fledgling Cork FPV club (www.corkfpv.ie), a non-profit drone racing club founded around 2016, which is a member of the Model Aeronautics Council of Ireland.

“You have to know some basic electronics, and how to solder, for example. I’ve been interested in electronics since I was a child so I already knew some of the basics,” he said, adding that the secret to building a successful drone is to build it slowly and carefully.

Rise in popularity

Zoran, whose eight-year-old son David is equally passionate about the sport, says that although building and flying these sophisticated gadgets is still a relatively new hobby to Ireland, it is one that is rapidly increasing in popularity.

“It’s fun, because every drone is different and I now have them in several sizes."

However, he said, drone users must always respect the privacy of others.

“You have to make sure that you fly safely and that you don’t go into peoples’ gardens. You must always respect the privacy of others,” he said, adding that he and David enjoy flying their FPV drones over fields and countryside, away from houses.

To contact Cork FPV email [e-mail]