Meet Our Pilots: The Team That Flies with HobbyDrone

29/10/2026

Behind every drone there’s a pilot. Some chase tenths of a second between LED gates, some hunt for the perfect shot on a mountain pass, and some are just learning their first flips with a whoop in the living room. What they all have in common is that they live and breathe FPV. That’s why we want to introduce you to the people we work with – pilots who actually fly with our gear.

For each pilot you’ll find their flying style, what they fly and links to their socials so you can follow them. If one of the styles grabs you, you’ll know where to start.

🧭 Meet the pilots – click a name:

1 Jakub Jícha 2 Honza Szabo 3 Pavel Kolinský 4 Marek “Mára” Hošta 5 Lukáš (FPV Royals)6 Ruda 7 Dejf Václavík

Pilot 1

Jakub Jícha – Head of Sales at HobbyDrone

“Crashing drones so you don’t have to.”

🎥 Cinewhoop🔧 Builds💬 Advisor📍 HobbyDrone

Jakub Jícha wearing FPV goggles at a race — Jakub Jícha – @oopsjakub, flying on the job and off the clock.

If you’ve ever asked us which drone, radio or goggles to choose, there’s a good chance you were talking to Jakub. He heads sales at HobbyDrone and every day he helps pilots – from total beginners to seasoned builders – find the setup that really suits them.

He jokingly calls himself an FPV “pilot”, in quotation marks, and says he crashes drones so you don’t have to. That’s exactly why he knows what holds up and what doesn’t. His favourite is the Spark cinewhoop – still his all-time favourite drone, in his words, even if it “tries to die on literally every flight”. You may also know Jakub from the videos on our Instagram, where he explains props, flight modes and how to choose a radio.

✅ What Jakub can help you with: choosing your first drone and a complete kit, radios and goggles, props and spare parts, custom builds, and advice after your first crashes.

🛠️ What he flies:
Drone: Spark cinewhoop, ELRS, O4 and analog
Radio: RadioMaster Pocket ELRS
Goggles: DJI Goggles 2 or Flywoo analog box goggles

💡 Jakub’s tip: Props aren’t just bits of plastic – they define how your drone flies. And because they break all the time, every FPV pilot carries a spare set in their bag. Always.

📲 Follow Jakub: Instagram @oopsjakub · Instagram @hobbydronefpv

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Pilot 2

Honza Szabo – FPV, always analog

17 years old and, as a broke student, a true analog loyalist.

🌀 Freestyle📺 Analog🔧 Builder🚀 Projects📍 Prague 🇨🇿

Honza Szabo wearing analog FPV goggles — Honza Szabo – @honzik_szabo. Analog goggles, a whoop and an evening in the park.

Honza is seventeen, and FPV stopped being just a hobby for him a long time ago. When he finished his first 5" custom build this spring, he wrote that it was “an addiction that will flourish at the expense of my wallet”. And that’s exactly how it goes – he builds, tests, burns out the odd motor and goes flying again.

His motto is “FPV – always analog”. While most newcomers head straight for digital these days, Honza swears by analog video – low latency, simplicity and cheaper parts. He’s a member of the Prague-based SIK Group, a community crew focused on FPV, drone filming and tech projects. With them he also took part in the Czech Rocket Challenge, where the team tested a rocket with an unconventional way of slowing its descent. Away from drones, you might find him kitesurfing.

✅ What he’s into: building drones of all sizes, analog freestyle, community projects with SIK Group and filming events with a drone.

🛠️ What he flies:
Drone: 5" freestyle build
Radio: RadioMaster TX16S
Video: analog – but for projects, DJI digital, of course
Camera: GoPro

💡 Why analog? Analog video has minimal latency, the parts are cheaper and a crash doesn’t hurt your wallet as much. For beginners and for freestyle, it’s still a great choice.

Honza Szabo flying at a race in a hangar — Goggles on, smile on.

📲 Follow Honza: Instagram @honzik_szabo · SIK Group

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Pilot 3

Pavel Kolinský – Czech Whoop League champion

A racer, a builder and the guy who built the world’s second-lightest FPV drone.

🏁 Racing🛸 Tiny Whoop⚡ 5" racing🔧 Builder📍 Nový Bydžov 🇨🇿

Pavel Kolinský with the Czech Whoop League trophy — Whoop Legend – Czech Whoop League champion, 2025/2026 season. And a Prusa MK4S as a bonus to go with the trophy.

Pavel is proof that you can start with models really early. He was driving RC cars and flying helicopters at the age of five, flew planes in a model aircraft club from first grade, and then discovered FPV. Today he’s one of the top Czech whoop racers – he’s the 2026 Czech Whoop League champion with the Whoop Legend title, and he regularly travels to the big whoop races in Poland, where he finishes near the top.

Besides racing, Pavel loves building. In 2023 he built a drone for a BetaFPV competition called “Kolibřík” (Hummingbird), weighing just 11.9 g – the second-lightest in the world in its category (the winner weighed 11.2 g, while typical drones in that class weighed around 18 g at the time).

✅ Biggest achievements: 2026 Czech Whoop League champion (Whoop Legend), 1st place in the CWL final race at Výstaviště Praha (May 2026), Tiny Whoop junior champion title in Poland defended twice, 18th place worldwide in the RaceGOW online competition (418 pilots), the world’s second-lightest FPV drone in the BetaFPV competition.

🛠️ What he flies (race whoop):
Frame: BetaFPV Air65 Champion
Motors: RCinPower 0702 EVO 31,800 KV
AIO: BetaFPV Air 4-in-1 AIO
Receiver: BetaFPV ELRS Lite with flat antenna
Props: Gemfan 1207
Battery: Tattu 1S 300 mAh BT2.0

💡 Did you know? Pavel and his friend Pepa run a YouTube show called Dronař Srdcař, where they explain FPV drones in a way even complete beginners can follow. And if you want to hear more from him, check out his episode of the Jsem Pilot podcast (both in Czech).

Pavel Kolinský at a Czech Whoop League race — Build, fly, crash, repeat – at the races and out in the field.

Pavel Kolinský flying a whoop outdoors — Build, fly, crash, repeat – at the races and out in the field.

📲 Follow Pavel: Instagram @pavel_fpv · YouTube Dronař Srdcař · Jsem Pilot podcast

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Pilot 4

Marek “Mára” Hošta – motorsport from a bird’s-eye view

A photographer and videomaker who came to FPV through the lens.

🎬 Cinematic🏎️ Motorsport📸 Photo & video📍 Czech Republic 🇨🇿

Marek Hošta wearing FPV goggles in the mountains — Marek Hošta – @_maraphoto_, cinematic FPV in the mountains.

Mára came to drones from the other side – through the lens. Photography started out as a hobby for him and today it’s his full-time job. His biggest love is motorsport: he shoots race weekends including MotoGP, track days, riders and their machines, and he has more than 16,000 followers on Instagram.

For him, FPV adds a whole new dimension to the shot – dynamic footage where the camera flies right behind a car or a bike, in a way a regular camera simply can’t. He films for racing teams, car brands and events like the Tour des Alpes on mountain roads.

✅ What he shoots: motorsport and race weekends including MotoGP, track days, promo videos and reels for teams and brands, and cinematic FPV shots of cars on mountain passes.

🛠️ What he flies:
Drone: 5" cinematic with a DJI action camera
Goggles: DJI Goggles 3
Backpack: Torvol

Marek Hošta with a 5-inch FPV drone on a Torvol backpack in the mountains — A 5" cinematic rig with an action camera, always ready on the backpack.

💡 Tips for filming cars and bikes: Always agree on the route, speed and signals with the driver beforehand. Fly a few metres behind the car and slightly to the side, so the wheel and the landscape around it are both in the shot. An ND filter on the camera gives the motion a natural smoothness. And above all, the safety of the driver and spectators always comes before the shot.

Marek Hošta with a camera — When he’s not flying, he’s holding a telephoto lens.

Marek Hošta at a race track — When he’s not flying, he’s holding a telephoto lens.

📲 Follow Mára: Instagram @_maraphoto_ · Website & portfolio marekhosta.mypixieset.com

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Pilot 5

Lukáš (FPV Royals) – pure freestyle flow

“Building ’em, breaking ’em, repeating ’em.”

🌀 Freestyle🏚️ Bando📡 Long range🔧 Builder📍 Slovakia 🇸🇰

Lukáš from FPV Royals in an abandoned building — Lukáš – @fpv_royals

Lukáš is a freestyler through and through. He builds his own drones, isn’t afraid to crash them and puts them straight back together. His favourite places to fly are bandos – abandoned factories and halls where he weaves through windows, under beams and between pillars in one smooth flow. When he gets tired of buildings, he heads out for some long range flying across the countryside.

And when something goes wrong in his videos? That’s part of freestyle too. Lukáš happily shares his fails and calls it “turning luck into skill”.

✅ Flying style: pure freestyle flow without unnecessary pauses, lines through windows and between pillars in abandoned buildings, and long range trips across the countryside.

🛠️ What he flies (5" freestyle):
Frame: FPVera 5"
Motors: XT Hobby 2306.5 1750 KV
Stack: Pilotix
Camera: DJI Action 2 with an ND8 filter

‼️ Heads up: Abandoned buildings are freestyle heaven, but abandoned doesn’t mean open to the public. Always make sure you’re allowed on the site, and fly with a spotter. Find out more in our guide How to find the best place to fly your FPV drone (in Czech).

Lukáš flying with FPV goggles in a bando — Build it, crash it, fix it, fly again.

A 5-inch freestyle drone, goggles and radio in an abandoned hall — Build it, crash it, fix it, fly again.

📲 Follow Lukáš: Instagram @fpv_royals

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Pilot 6

Ruda – the youngest pilot on the team

Nine years old, his first whoops and enthusiasm you can’t miss.

🛸 Tiny Whoop🌱 Beginner🎮 Simulator

Ruda wearing BetaFPV FPV goggles — Ruda’s first flights in goggles.

The youngest member of the team is nine-year-old Ruda. He’s only just starting out with FPV, but he has more than enough enthusiasm. He flies whoops – small drones with ducted props that can survive crashing into a wall or the sofa, making them ideal for first steps at home or in a gym.

Ruda is exactly the kind of pilot we do all this for: he’s learning step by step and getting a little better every day. And who knows – in a few years we might see him on the podium next to Pavel.

🛠️ What he flies:
Drone: BetaFPV Air75
Radio: RadioMaster Pocket ELRS
Goggles: BetaFPV

💡 Tip for young pilots and their parents: The best start is a whoop and a few hours in a simulator. A whoop is light, safe and can be flown at home, so kids learn the controls before moving on to bigger machines.

Ruda holding a radio and flying a whoop — Full focus – every flight a little better than the last.

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Pilot 7

Dejf Václavík – FPV creator, podcaster and event organiser

The voice of the Jsem Pilot podcast and the man behind Bando Radar and the Chmelárna freestyle jams.

🎬 Cinematic🌀 Freestyle🎙️ Podcast🎪 Events📍 Litoměřice 🇨🇿

Dejf Václavík showing a cinewhoop drone at a Forbes event — Dejf Václavík – @dejfvaclavik, showing our drones with HobbyDrone at a Forbes event.

Dejf flies FPV drones and turns them into videos. His favourite size is 3 to 5 inches – big enough for proper freestyle and cinematic shots, small enough to squeeze through tight gaps. He shoots commercials, promo videos and music videos, flying unusually close to buildings and people or tucking in right behind a drifting car. He has even flown FPV live during an ice hockey game in Pardubice.

He’s just as busy off the sticks. Dejf hosts the Jsem Pilot podcast, where he talks to people from the world of drones and RC, and he created Bando Radar, a community map of FPV spots. He organises FPV freestyle jams at Chmelárna, used to run whoop races, and today he’s part of the Czech Whoop League team, looking after its marketing. On his YouTube channel you’ll find jam aftermovies, podcast episodes, drone tests, LiPo battery repair tips and practical guides to drone rules.

✅ What he does: cinematic and freestyle FPV footage, the Jsem Pilot podcast, the Bando Radar spot map, Chmelárna freestyle jams, marketing for the Czech Whoop League, and YouTube videos about FPV.

🛠️ What he flies:
Drones: 3–5" freestyle and cinematic quads with DJI O3 and O4 air units
Goggles: DJI Goggles 2
Radio: RadioMaster Boxer Crush Pink
Backpack: Torvol Urban

💡 Did you know? On Bando Radar you’ll find FPV spots discovered and recommended by the community – a great starting point if you don’t want to search from scratch. Before every flight, though, check the rules for the spot yourself; our guide How to find the best place to fly your FPV drone (in Czech) shows you how.

Dejf Václavík hosting an FPV freestyle jam with a headset microphone — On the mic as host of an FPV freestyle jam – where the Czech FPV community meets.

📲 Follow Dejf: Instagram @dejfvaclavik · YouTube @dejfvaclavik · Website dejfvaclavik.cz · Bando Radar

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✅ That’s a wrap: Racing, freestyle, cinematic or a very first whoop – each of our pilots flies differently, but they all started the same way: with one drone and the urge to give it a try. Follow them, get inspired by their setups, and you’ll find most of the parts they fly with in the HobbyDrone online store.