went to my first real drone meetup last month and it was fine i guess but also kind of weird? like everyone was flying at once and i had no idea whose aircraft was whose half the time. one guy kept flying really close to where i was hovering and it made me nervous even though he obviously knew what he was doing. i still had a good time overall but i wasnt expecting it to feel so chaotic. do most meetups have like any kind of structure or is it always just everyone does whatever

honestly it depends a lot on the club. the one i fly with has a designated flight line and you basically announce when youre taking off, but ive been to others where its complete free-for-all and yeah it can get stressful fast especially if youre not used to keeping visual on your bird with a bunch of other stuff moving around. you get used to it after a few times though, your brain starts filtering out the other aircraft pretty naturally

same experience here when i first started going. felt like i was the only one confused but everyone else had just been doing it long enough that they had their own unspoken system going on. someone eventually explained to me that you kind of just watch the general altitude other people are using and try not to be in the same space. not exactly a rulebook but it works i suppose. now i actually really look forward to these things, the community aspect is half the reason i got deeper into the hobby tbh