so anyway i finally made it out to one of those local club meetups after putting it off for like a year and honestly it was way better than flying solo. flew with maybe 6 or 7 other people, mix of fixed wing and multirotors, one guy had this massive octocopter thing that sounded like a lawnmower. learned more in 3 hours watching people than i did in months of youtube videos. someone showed me how i was trimming wrong this whole time which was embarrassing but whatever. if theres a club near you just go, i was nervous for no reason

totally agree. first time i went to a club fly i was convinced everyone would be snobby about gear but it was the opposite. old dude with a 10 year old phantom was getting more compliments than the guy with the expensive DJI setup. good community when you find the right group

eh depends on the club tbh. went to one last year and it was mostly retirees flying line of sight stuff and they were pretty dismissive of fpv. not a bad experience just wasnt really my scene. think it comes down to finding people who fly similar stuff to you