Big Sky RC Meeting Minutes
2 Sep 2025
President Dan Woods brought the meeting to order at 7:05 PM at the Pitstop with 11 members in attendance.
Secretary Don Gilles read August’s meeting minutes and they were accepted as read.
Treasurer Darrell Anderson read the Treasurer’s report and it was accepted as read.
Old business:
Dan Woods opened the meeting with an update on Wednesday night racing and how it’s going. Jason Naranjo chimed in with some status on the track and planned mnx for the remaining 3 nights and our upcoming Fall Fury race.
Dan Woods continued with an update on indoor flying. Dan is going to contact GFPS and see if we can start flying at Paris Gibson the 1st Wednesday night in October which also happens to be the 1st of October.
Darrell Anderson brought up the Leo Sommerfeld Memorial Fly-In scheduled for Saturday, October 4th. After much discussion about the Sommerfeld field not being a FRIA it was agreed that although we’ll fly at the Sommerfeld field, the club wouldn’t sponsor the event but will advertise it. As such, remote ID modules are required to legally fly at this location. Jerry Knight asked if we could get a FRIA waiver but after discussing this and Darrell looking it up it’s something that might work for next year’s offsite events.
At this time, John Sandy interjected with apparent new business about the old outhouse, old sheds and gravel even though we were officially still on old business. John asked if we could get some more gravel to fill in a mud hole near the wind sock and other areas. We paid $246 for 5 yards of 3/4″ road mix from Great Falls Sand & Gravel. John also let us know that Steve Woodhouse would like the old outhouse to use at his flying field if no one else was interested in taking it. Nobody was. John Weinzettel made a motion that the club give the old outhouse to Steve Woodhouse. Motion passed.
The outhouse discussion morphed into what are we doing with the old sheds discussion, also while we were still officially in old business. The plan is to sell the sheds. If there’s no takers and nobody in the club is willing to take them then we’ll decide on their final fate.
New business, officially:
Dan Woods continued with new business… and let everyone know he’s tentatively made our Christmas banquet reservation to be held at the Pitstop on Saturday, December 20th. Don Woods made a motion we agree to hold the banquet on December 20th, 6pm, at the Pitstop. Motion passed. Questions were asked about the menu and Dan let everyone know that’s TBD, I’ll state that again, the menu is TBD. Last year we had a 64-piece chicken dinner with tater tots, beans and garlic bread. Lots of people also brought desert side dishes. There were 20 folks eating and we sent leftovers to the food bank.
Dan Woods gave a rundown on our 30 August Fly-In and reported that revenue was generated! We charged $5 for a burger / drink / chips. As most of this food was purchased earlier in the year to support other events it was about $50 of pure cold cash to be deposited in support of all club activities… not just more mower blades.
Dan Woods let us know that registration is open for the 13-14 September Fall Fury race. There isn’t a lot of mnx planned for Fall Fury, or rather maybe none. Dan is going to take a look, as a test, at setting up our oval to run inside of the inside lane for a shorter track. This is based on talk with Hobby Time and the guys who race oval up there.
Dan then continued with his thoughts on running Mini-Z this winter as another indoor activity. There was discussion on racing locations such as the Pitstop or maybe the Ursuline Center gymnasium on Central Ave. This is all TBD.
Closing out the night, we welcomed our newest member, Mitch McCauley, at our meeting tonight. Mitch will be out flying 40 – 60 size planes when he gets them ready to go.
Thanks to all attendees, the meeting was adjourned at 8:06 pm.
Donald Gilles
BSRC Secretary
AMA Club 400
FYI:
Club meetings are the first Tuesday night of the month at the Pitstop, 7pm.
Club lunch is every Friday, noon at Hardees.
Wednesday night is our designated “get-together” night for club flying.
Upcoming Events:
– September 13-14, Fall Fury R/C Off Road Racing, Great Falls, MT, BSRC Track
– October 4, Leo Sommerfeld Memorial Fly-In at the Leo Sommerfeld Field
– December 20th, BSRC Christmas Banquet, 6pm, Pitstop