The Electric Ugly Stick, a remote-controlled model airplane, whizzed into the air, flying upside-down and doing spins and flips about 60 feet up. Some people pointed in awe, others just watched as the small plane danced in the sky.

Thursday afternoon the Coeur d’Alene Aero Modeling Society invited local special needs groups to its 18th annual flying demonstration.

“We enjoy doing it for the kids,” said Dennis Edelbrock, secretary of the CAMS. “We do other events like fun flies with other clubs, but this is our big community thing.”

Special needs kids with Specialized Needs Recreation and Tesh, Inc., sat under the shade roof and filled the bleachers at the CAMS airfield, watching the planes do their tricks. Some danced to the music playing from the speakers.

SNR is a nonprofit organization that provides recreational opportunities for youth and adults who have special needs. Angie Goucher, executive director of SNR, has brought her group to this event since it started 18 years ago.

“They love it,” she said, motioning to all the kids dancing on the grass. “How could you not, there’s motors, helicopters, planes and flips! It really is amazing for these guys to come out every year for free for us.”

Paula Witkowski, the clinical supervisor for Tesh, Inc., a nonprofit developmental disability agency, said her favorite part of the event is watching the kids dance.

Classic rock tunes played throughout the demonstration, inspiring kids and volunteers alike to dance and sing along.

“I like listening to music, hanging out with friends and most of all watching the planes,” said Jon Klomp, a member of SNR. He loved dancing to “Footloose” and his favorite plane was the Electric Ugly Stick.

The concept of aero-model flying was introduced to the audience as being similar to playing video games. The controller looks like a video-game controller, but bigger, and instead of steering something on a TV screen, it’s in the air.

Some planes had small doll-like characters sitting in the front seat as if they were flying it — one plane was flown by Nintendo character Luigi.

Eight fixed-wing airplanes and one helicopter flew Thursday. All the planes were built by CAMS members, whether from kits or from scratch.

CAMS is part of the national organization, American Modelers Association, which controls the rules and safety regulations for flying model planes. To join CAMS, someone has to be a member of the American Modelers Association and pass a flying test to prove they can control their plane safely.

CAMS encourages people who want to learn to fly their model planes to come to them to learn how to fly safely and learn cool tricks.

As the last plane landed at Thursday’s demonstration, everyone clapped and cheered, then headed over to the plane-staging area. There, all the kids got a closer look at the planes, admiring the smooth surfaces and decorative patterns.

“That’s why we do this,” said Edelbrock. “It gives us a good feeling and they enjoy it. It’s a win-win.”