Oklahoma State UAS Airshow

This weekend, students can fly away from the stress of finals, even if just for a little while.

Oklahoma State University will host its first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Invitational Airshow and Speedfest on Saturday.

Sponsors of the show include the OSU School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University Multispectral Laboratories, NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium and Stillwater Radio Control Fliers Club.

Aerial events will occur throughout the day, including a seven-round race of high-speed aircraft produced by OSU aerospace design students, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department head Larry Hoberock said in a press release.

The show will include vehicles designed to go as fast as 150 miles per hour, said Joe Conner, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering assistant professor and lab director.

Stillwater Radio Control Fliers Club president Peter Stroukoff said his members will be flying in the show as well as displaying many vehicle models.

“We’ll have static displays of various types of models from free flight to radio control to aerobatic to scale,” he said.

Stroukoff said the show will include airplanes with cameras so that audiences can see a pilot’s view. He said there will also be jets, helicopters and scale warbirds from the Fliers Club.

OSU will have several event planes from different contests, and NASA will have one of its drones on display, Stroukoff said.

“(The show) gives people an indication of what state-of-the-art technology is in the UAV field,” Conner said. “We will not only have aircraft flying, but we’ll also be showing the aircrafts that are currently being done research on.”

Stroukoff said anyone interested in aviation should attend this event.

“Anyone who is interested in the least bit in aviation will get an opportunity to see a wide variety of model aircraft that are (designed) for fun and actually serve useful purposes,” he said. “This gives you a wide spectrum of (aviation) in one location.”