Former Dexter man films NFL game from the air

DEXTER, Mo. -- Former Dexter resident Larry Wallace went to Atlanta to see the Falcons play the Indianapolis Colts. But he wasn't in the stands.

Wallace works for Wolfe Air of Burbank, Calif., a company that specializes in aerial video footage.

Working as a corporate pilot, Wallace was covering Thursday's NFL game from the air for ABC as part of an eight-game contract.

Wallace is a backup pilot for the company, which filmed such movies as "True Lies," "The Sum of All Fears," "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Air Force One."

Wolfe Air also has a contract with Red Bull Racing to cover aircraft races. The three-plane fleet has even been used to film private satellite missile launches for the U.S. military.

"While this is out of the ordinary here, this kind of company is commonplace on the West Coast," said Eddie Hicks, owner of Stoddard Aero Services at the Dexter Municipal Airport.

The 1973 Cessna SkyMaster is equipped with a Gyron video camera capable of filming in high definition. The plane is also capable of doing live feeds through an uplink extending from the bottom of the aircraft that resembles an automotive oil filter.

"The whole thing is really a fun experience," Wallace said.

Wallace moved to Dexter in 2003 and lived there for a short time before moving on to Las Vegas, where he lives now.

He has been piloting airplanes since he was 15 and has been a professional pilot since 1990 when he began delivering The Wall Street Journal out of a Corvair 440 from the West Coast to Phoenix.

"Being a corporate pilot is relatively new to me," Wallace said. "This job is why I left Dexter."

He worked at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport while he lived in Dexter, and has since been with Wolfe Air.