'Otto the Helicopter' brings comedy to Cape air show

With an action-packed lineup of returning pilots and stuntmen plus a new set of aerial displays, visitors may leave this year's air show with a sore neck.

Drawing up to 12,000 people from about a dozen states, the Regional Air Festival is one of the biggest annual attractions in Cape Girardeau.

The gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and the ninth annual air show starts an hour-and-a-half later at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. On Saturday, the gates open at 11 a.m. and the day show starts at 3:30 p.m. with the night show beginning at 8 p.m.

"This may be the largest and most exciting show we've ever done," said airport manager Bruce Loy. "We have something in mind for everyone."

For children, Otto the Helicopter will perform a comedy routine. Pilot Roger Buis, a retired Army veteran, will operate a 55-pound yo-yo with the helicopter, which has a Mr. Potato Head-type face clamped onto it, and will communicate with the audience with help of Buis' wife, Pauline. She will narrate through a PA system from the ground.

Pauline Buis said there's only so many display airplanes to see, so the helicopter will change the pace.

Roger Buis will also direct an aerial transfer as he hovers Otto over the wing of an airplane and stuntman Todd Green gets out the cockpit of the airplane without a safety harness and hangs from the helicopter's landing runner.

"It's sort of like 'Fear Factor' live at the air show," Pauline Buis said.

While this will be the first time the Buises participate in the Southeast Missouri air show, Paul Stendor has been to every show since it began.

Stendor, who will drive a Dodge Ram with a jet engine, said his truck is the fastest in the country, maxing out at 319 miles per hour. He'll be racing an airplane.

The U.S. Army Golden Knights will put on a skydiving routine as they free fall from 12,500 feet in the sky. The parachute team will pass batons and cross paths at more than 200 mph while smoke comes out of the heels of their boots.

Loy, the air show host, said the show wouldn't be complete without paying tribute to the military. This year will be the last time the volunteers from the Navy Operational Support Center will participate, because the Cape Girardeau facility will be closing down in a few months. The air show has been going on consecutively since 1998, with the exception of the summer following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

This year the show cost about $150,000, about $50,000 more than usual, but Loy said the show has a lot of sponsors. Two hundred people volunteered to help organize the air festival.

John Mehner, president and CEO of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, said he mostly looks forward to Troy Widgery, the "Jet-Pack Man," this weekend. Widgery will hover above the airport with a jetpack similar to what was used in some James Bond movies.

To learn about the rest of the acts at the Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival, visit www.capeairfestival.com or call the airport at (573) 335-6230.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137