Whoop Up

Saturday May 17th, after the long tradition of the Whoop up Parade, a new remote controlled model aircraft club, the “Conrad Area R/C Pilots Association” sponsored the “First Annual Golden Triangle Pilots Air Show”.  There were several guest pilots from Great Falls and Dearborn, also in attendance was Tib and Clarice Aakre, club benefactors. We and our spectators want to extend a special thanks to them and Kevin Moritz for the use of his land.

Amazing three dimensional aerobatic displays were exhibited by some of our more advanced pilots in the club, Kelly Fowler, Jim Bartsch and Duane Habets. Barbecue concessions kept everyone’s appetite satisfied. A combat exhibition was displayed with Duane Habets as the victor. Another exciting event was the surface-to-air marksmanship which the public was invited to try their hand.  They were required to shoot and hit an R/C aircraft target drone with a high powered paintball gun. Amazingly, there were two confirmable hits by two of the younger participants, Austin Fowler, nine, was the first to hit the fast moving target drone deftly piloted throughout the day by Randy Rossmiller. Then Kelci Watterud, seven, was the second to hit her mark on the agile target. This was a favorite event during the day. Duane Habets was able to fly one of his magnificent F-16 jets off the club’s new grass runway. On a sad note he also won the most spectacular crash award for putting in his beautiful 3-D aerobatic Cap 231 due to radio difficulties. The club earned 6th place in the parade for its 24 foot float full of beautiful aircraft models. All in all fun was had by everyone in attendance.

Next years event will be on a much grander scale with improved events, event prizes, more aircraft, as well pilots exhibitions. We hope to make this an anticipated event during all future Whoop up celebrations. We have a very talented and diverse group in our club. Each member complements the others with different specialties. All of us are willing to help out wherever we can. Anyone interested in this sport, can call any of the club members mentioned in this article for more information, they are all locally listed.                                                                                                                                             Submitted by Al Cady

Kelci Watterud after shooting the drone        Photo by Al Cady

Austin Fowler after shooting the drone, Drone pilot Randy Rossmiller,      Photo by Al Cad

Kelly Fowler Hover his model a few feet off the ground        Photo by Al Cady