BILLINGS — A Red Bull stunt helicopter is turning heads at this weekend's Yellowstone International Airshow in Billings — and the pilot has been perfecting his craft for decades.
Aaron Fitzgerald has been flying the Red Bull aerobatic helicopter for about 10 years and has flown helicopters in general for more than three decades.
"We do loops, rolls, hammerheads, half Cuban eights … almost everything the airplanes can do, we can do in this helicopter," Fitzgerald told MTN Sports.
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The aerial display is more involved than it might appear from the ground.
"I take off with four skydivers on board and then they get out at various intervals and various altitudes. And then when they're all gone I take over just doing the helicopter display and that's about six minutes of aerobatic helicopter flying. It's really fun," Fitzgerald said.
For those curious about the fuel demands of such a performance, the answer may surprise you.
"Not very much. I burn about a gallon a minute," Fitzgerald said.
Wayne Wilcox got the chance to ride along after winning a bid at an auction.
"I wanted to do something fun, and what are the chances I would get to do a backflip or a barrel roll in a helicopter?" Wilcox said.
Wilcox didn't parachute out, but he pushed the experience as far as it could go.
"Probably the wildest rollercoaster you can get on," Wilcox said.
The Yellowstone International Airshow's final Billings performance begins Sunday at 11 a.m. near the Billings airport.
