What to learn after your first flip — the freestyle stuff worth your time right now
so this is the first post on the FPV Compass blog. quick idea behind it: the best freestyle stuff on the internet is scattered everywhere — a banger clip buried in r/FPVFreestyle, a tutorial that finally makes a trick click, a comment thread that quietly solves a problem 500 of us have. nobody has time to dig through all of it.
so that's what this blog is. every issue we pull the most interesting freestyle things from across the web into one place, and tie each one back to where it lives on the skill tree — so it's not just "cool, look at this," it's "cool, here's what to actually go practice."
let's get into the first one.
1. the trick everyone learns out of order
if there's one thing the community agrees on, it's that almost nobody learns freestyle in a sane order. the classic mistake — going straight for the power loop because it looks sick, eating dirt for a week, then realizing you skipped the basics that would've made it easy.
the order that actually works for most pilots:
- foundations — clean hover, throttle control, rates dialed in, comfortable flying line-of-sight
- basic tricks — flips, rolls, power loop, split-S, matty flip
- intermediate — juicy flick, inverted yaw spin, trippy spin, tight proximity
- advanced — rubik's cube, flow combos, bando lines
each of those is broken down trick-by-trick on the skill tree with the prerequisites mapped out, so you can see what unlocks what instead of guessing.
what to learn next, in one line: if you can hold a clean inverted hover and land a consistent power loop both directions, you're ready to start on the juicy flick. if you can't, that's your homework. 🫡
2. the tutorial that makes the power loop finally click
the power loop is the first "real" freestyle trick for most people and also the first one that humbles you. the thing that trips up beginners isn't the loop itself — it's the throttle timing on the back half, where everyone chops throttle too early and pancakes into the ground.
the fix that gets repeated across every good tutorial and thread: commit to the throttle longer than feels comfortable, and start with a big lazy loop high up before you tighten it near objects.
we've linked what we think is the clearest power loop tutorial on the trick pages — if you've got a better one, the comments and the submit button are right there.
3. clips from the community we actually rewatched
the part of the hobby that keeps you flying when your quad is in 4 pieces on the bench — watching other people rip. a few that stood out this month:
- a beautifully smooth stairs line in r/FPVFreestyle — proof that proximity doesn't have to mean fast, it has to mean clean
- the eternal dirty ND filter reminder, because half of "cinematic" is just keeping your lens clean
- and a reminder that the best clip is usually the one you almost didn't post — exhibit A
if you've got a clip that shows a trick being learned — not just nailed — send it our way. those are the most useful ones for everyone climbing the same tree.
4. one thing worth arguing about
a question that splits every freestyle thread we've read: does proximity flying belong on a trick tree at all, or is it a completely separate skill?
half the community treats it as the natural next step after basic tricks. the other half says it's an entirely different discipline — closer to racing lines than to freestyle flips — and shouldn't share a progression with the matty flip.
we put it in the intermediate phase for now. think we got it wrong? that's exactly the kind of thing the tree should get right, so tell us.
that's issue #1
that's the idea — a little progression, a little tutorial, a few clips, one thing to argue about. if there's a trick, a tutorial, or a thread you think more pilots should see, send it in and it might end up in the next issue.
and if you just want to know what to learn next without reading a whole blog post: that's literally what the skill tree is for. free, no signup to look around.
see you in the next one. fly safe, fix often. 🫡
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