Air Fair to include an aerobatic demonstration

Havre's Air Fair Saturday has added an aerobatic demonstration to the events, put on by Brittanee Lincoln and Craig Gifford. They are both on the US National Aerobatic Team, and they compete for the United States at the World Aerobatic Championships, which is their equivalent to the Olympics.

Lincoln was born and raised in Montana. When Lincoln was just 3 weeks old, her grandfather, Roger Lincoln, took her up in his Cessna 180. She is a fourth-generation pilot, and the first female pilot in her family. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were crop dusters.

Brittanee Lincoln is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Aerobatics Club, also known as IAC. She is one of only 10 women in the 50-year history of the IAC to earn and be awarded the All Five Special Achievement Award. Aerobatic competitions take place all throughout the US.

Lincoln has been flying aerobatics for five years and discovered her love for aerobatics at an airport in Northern California.

"There was a gentleman there that I just, by happenstance, met. I walked by his hangar, and his hangar doors were open, and he had these beautiful airplanes. I had no idea what they were," Lincoln said, "One of them was a two-seat aerobatic airplane and he offered to take me for a ride, and I didn't know anything about aerobatics. I actually loved it."

Lincoln's plane is an Extra 330 SC that was designed and built in Germany. It has a 6-cylinder engine that produces 340-350 horsepower and weighs just under 1300 lbs. The plane's cruise speed is about 180 knots, which is approximately 207 mph. For aerobatic maneuvers, the plane can get up to 210 knots, or approximately 241 mph. The roll rate is 400 degrees per second.