Kootenai RC Flyers Annual Fun Fly event a success
By Brian Baxter
Brothers Steve and Sam Scheer have hit back to back home runs by inspiring remote control plane and car enthusiasts in our area. Along with the folks that enjoy the hobbies, the AMA Silver Leader Club 4960, community support, and the Scheer Brother’s own efforts, both the Kootenai Remote Control Flyers and Car Racers are stacking up wins with their events.
Brother Sam said about the recent Fun Fly Event, “This is the sixth year we’ve had the event and each year it grows and changes. This year, it was a bit interesting due to the challenges of Covid-19, but we still managed to have a great day flying with great people.”
The Kootenai RC Flyers held their annual Fun Fly on July 11, in Libby, Mont. This was an Academy of Model Aeronautics sanctioned fun fly event with members of the public attending as spectators and to learn more about RC flight. Sam Scheer added, “It was a beautiful, sunny Montana day, with lots of open flying and people enjoying learning more about our hobby and watching a very relaxed event. Ten AMA registered pilots signed in for the flying, including members from the Glacier RC Club in nearby Kalispell, Montana.”
A special feature for this year’s fun fly involved members of local Boy Scouts of America Troop 1971 taking turns flying KRCF buddy-boxed Apprentice Planes. In January, the troop leader asked KRCF to make a presentation to the troop about their hobby. The presentation included basics of flight, how an RC plane works, how drones work, and a busy question and answer session. The presentation was to be followed up with a Scout Flight Day at KRCF Field, but due to COVID-19, it was postponed until this years fun fly.
During the event, scouts were organized into small groups and given an instructor orientation on the apprentice planes and transmitters before individually approaching the flight line. The main club instructor stayed with each student, providing in-flight feedback to help them be successful, while the other instructors manned the buddy-box bail-out button and controls. Eight scouts, three scout leaders, and an interested attendee were able to enjoy the beauty – and terror – of their first flight. As an added feature to this year’s fun fly event, the Boy Scouts also brought their food trailer. They cooked a bunch of great food for everyone attending the event.
Fun Flyer remote control planes are sometimes designed and decorated like older famous planes of our proud country’s history, and some of world history. The Wright Flyer, created by Orville and Wilbur Wright holds the honor of being first in flight. This machine that made the first successful flight in a heavier – than – air powered aircraft just could be the most important airplane of all time. The backbone of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command of Britain, and the only British fighter that was continuously produced throughout the Second World War was the Spitfire. This aircraft was famous for beating back the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The unique elliptical wings were designed to have the thinnest possible cross-section, which ended up resulting in higher speeds than most other fighters of those times.
The futuristic looking (at that time) Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which last flew in 1999, still holds the world record for the fastest air-breathing manned airplane in history, when it first flew in 1976. The record still stands. The Blackbird’s basic stealth and it’s amazing capacity to operate at unbelievable speeds and altitudes enabled the SR-71 to perform challenging reconnaissance missions. When it was shot at with surface to air missiles, the standard protocol was to accelerate and outrace the threat.
And no article on aircraft, flying RC planes, or tailored to appreciators of aeronautical design would be complete without mention of the highest selling plane of all time, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. I have been privileged to fly with experienced pilots in those aircraft while performing aerial reconnaissance for extensive remote forest inventory plots, wildlife inventories for wolverine, Canadian lynx, and Great Blue herons, as well as fire reconnaissance, and flown by these veteran pilots they are indeed a remarkable plane. First released in 1956, the four – seater, single engine, high wing personal aircraft is reliable and stable. Even under some tricky meteorological conditions. Which makes it an ideal aircraft for wildlife and forestry researchers in our rugged corner of northwest Montana.
So, if you and your young ones are enthusiastic about flying and airplanes, why not check out Kootenai RC Flyers in Libby, Mont. Folks can email them at kootenaircflyers@gmail.com, see their website at kootenaircflyers.com, and check out facebook.com/kootenaircflyers. Or call Scheer Brother’s Hobbies at 293-9362. Even better, stop by their shop at 410 Mineral Avenue in Libby, and talk with the friendly Scheer brothers while checking out their cool remote control cars and planes.
Boy Scouts flying RC Planes. Photo courtesy of Scheer Bros Hobbies.