ok so i finally went to one of those AMA club fly days after lurking in this forum for months and reading about how great they are. and yeah it was cool but also way more intimidating than i expected? like everyone seemed to know each other already and the flight line rules took me a second to figure out, i nearly walked out onto the strip when someone was landing which apparently is like the cardinal sin. nobody was mean about it but i could feel the stares. my mavic felt really tiny compared to some of the giant fixed wings and turbine jets these guys were running. stayed for like 3 hours and by the end i was more comfortable but man the first hour was rough

haha yeah the first time at a proper AMA field is a lot, those flight line rules exist for good reason but they dont exactly hand you a manual when you walk in. it gets easier, most clubs are pretty welcoming once people realize you're not going to do something dangerous. just ask questions and youll be fine

i had almost the exact same experience at my first club day, felt like i was crashing a party where everyone already had inside jokes. stuck around anyway and now i go basically every other weekend. the turbine jets thing is wild btw, one guy at our field has a turbine f-16 that is absolutely absurd to watch