Cleveland, PeterJoseph, FrancesFerraris, SilviaRognoli, ValentinaNimkulrat, Nithikul2025-02-232025-02-232023-06-18International Conference 2023 of the Design Research Society Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG). Conference Proceedings. From Abstractness to Concreteness – experiential knowledge and the role of prototypes in design research. 19-20 June 2023. Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Ferraris, S; Rognoli, V; Nimkulrat, N. (Eds.). Published 2023 by Politecnico di Milano. ISBN: 97888941674369788894167436http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18748The practice of First Person View (FPV) drone flying is not entirely understood. The physics bending agility of the technology and tight coupling of this with a pilot’s senses is an emerging field of research into embodied relations and Human Drone Interaction (HDI). The assemblage, integration and tuning of a boutique system of FPV hardware and software that is bound together with open-source firmware in a selfdirected mode allows an enormous amount of freedom and application, but also involves tacit knowledge and continuous experimentation that is inextricably bound to processes of prototyping. The role of a do it yourself (DIY) remote control aviation hobbyist who flies FPV drones is complex and multifunctional. The act of flying these high performance tele-operated robots for recreation is built upon a foundation of specialist craft and technical knowledge across multiple fields that range from materials science to computational systems management. This paper will unpack a creative technologist approach of how a DIY FPV pilot integrates hardware, software and firmware with their drone and generates new experiential knowledge through iterative processes of prototyping across multiple fields. This practice is driven by a desire to perfect a phenomenon known as ‘flight feel’ that sits outside the normal aims of a staged prototyping scenario and involves a variety of prototyping methods that when combined with modes of sensing and flying in the wild, becomes what could be considered proto-flighting.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – 4.0 Noncommercial International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/EmbodimentFirst Person ViewHuman Drone InteractionProto-flightingPrototypingConference ContributionOpenAccess