Building to Flying
This is sort of a quick crash course in the principles of getting your equipment and what to do with it.
So how do you go about this ?
First your going to need a plane. The plane choice is up to you. For a first FPV platform everyone would recommend an easy to fly stable platform that’s not too twitchy and has mild flight characteristics. Something like a glider is ideal. A funjet for your first attempts at FPV is not recommended.
Secondly you need to buy the right equipment to go with your Rc link. Buy following the other articles on this site you can have a educated view on what you want and be able to choose a suitable system for your needs.
Okay, you have your plane, you have your FPV equipment and your Rc control equipment. Sling it all in and throw it in the air and fly FPV !
Well that’s a possibility, but frankly destined for failure.Your going to have to plan your installation first, putting everything in “where it fits” is a sure fast way for trouble.
What you have to understand is that the electrical signals and voltages travelling down each of the wires in your RC control side and FPV side can have adverse effects on each other.
Its not rocket science by any means, some of its common sense, some of it can have you scratching your head without a clue whats going on.
Following simple principles will put you on a good path for success
1) Make sure all your voltages are compatible. Trying to power a 12 volt Vtx off a 5v supply wont work.
2) Try to have video and audio signal wires as far away from motor and servo wires as practically possible
3) Use low Rf noise ESC`s, this can be a real pain if your FPV works fine until you fire up the motor and find the ESC destroys the picture
4) Try to keep the Rc control antenna and Video antenna a decent distance apart
5) When cutting into plane to channel wires for both Rc and Video system make sure the structural strength is still intact
So lets say you have a good idea of where your going to place everything, you have as much space between interfering wires as possible. Now check your CG. If your CG is too far out your going to have to add a lot of weight to balance the plane out and it could destroy the flight characteristics. Try moving your equipment about so you get a good overall balance that you can fine tune with the positioning of the lipo.
Okay, you have reasonable CG, you can now fit it. Well don’t. If possible have everything dry fitted and switch on your new system.
1) You have glitch free radio control
2) Your failsafe are set
3) Your FPV equipment is providing a picture, your receiver is receiving it and when your motor is up to speed there’s no interference. When checking for motor interference you don`t need a prop on to do this and its much safer
Cool if every thing’s working fine, your getting crystal clear pictures with no interference its time to continue. Now and only now should you start installing everything permanently.Take your time. Double check connections and any joint you have had to make. Make sure your lipo is secure as a loose lipo can damage and destroy some equipment and if it shifts during flight can lead to fatal results for your plane.
Once in, its fun time, yes switch it all and and check it again. Hopefully nothing was cut, or damaged and it should again be fine.
You should already have your failsafe set. Make sure this works again. When flying FPV you should always have your failsafe set with zero throttle on Rc control loss
Okay, its the day of the maiden. Everything is working fine, you have tested everything and know it works fine.
Time for a range check……….. This range check is slightly different to a normal range check. You still perform your standard range check as described in your transmitters manual. Do this with your FPV equipment turned off. You should check to make sure that it is giving you full range to fly.
Now perform your range check again, this time with your FPV equipment plugged in and turned on. If you find a large reduction in your radios range compare to the previous range check something is up and you shouldn’t fly. A small reduction in range check results are normal, but only a small amount.
Okay so now you have both range checks done and all passed with flying colours. Its time to fly 
You should always have a spotter there to fly with you as this is a legal requirement. Your spotter should be able to fly your plane via Line Of Sight. Why ? Well the reason is the best way to start flying FPV is to actually not fly at first.
What you should do is let your spotter fly your plane after you have set the trims and got it flying level and true. Once they are flying round, put the goggles on and start for the first time to experience FPV.
At first it will be a bit disorienting. Its best if your looking via goggles to be sat down. This is so you don’t fall. You can really get carried away and loose your balance. This is why someone else should fly first as you condition yourself to being immersed.
At first on banked turns your head will follow the turn and some that suffer from motion sickness might not like it.
Once your use to it, maybe even after a fair few flights its time to take the controls
First either get your spotter ( for ease ) or you yourself to fly the plane to a good height then pop on the goggles and take the controls. If you run into difficulties then height is your friend, take the goggles off and regain control.
What you will find in your first FPV flight is that everything seems exaggerated on your sticks, small movements have a much larger influence through the goggles and its very easy to over compensate
Land the plane at first by line of sight then as your experience grows you can take off and land later on.
Have a lipo alarm and a timer set on your transmitter. Its so easy to get carried away and forget that your lipo is running low and your plane falls out the sky 
Study your flying site so you are very familiar with the feature so you don’t get disorientated
Make sure your spotter knows your video range so you don’t go flying off loose video and don’t stand a chance of safe landing. Start small tight circuits and gradually increase the area as you go
Most of all enjoy it