| Helicopters again buzzing around Tri-Lakes Area |
 Ozark Mountain Helicopter pilots Shanon Christensen and Casey Evertsen prepare to take the new company helicopter up for a tour. BDN photo by Donna Clevenger By Donna Clevenger BDN Staff Writer This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it TANEY COUNTY — Want to see what your neighborhood looks like from the air, or Table Rock Dam, or maybe just the hunting or fishing in the jungle of green called the Ozarks? Many people were disappointed when the popular helicopter tours on 76 Country Boulevard ended in the spring of 2005. This summer Ozark Mountain Helicopters began to offer tours from 10 minutes up to an hour flying around the area. For those uninitiated, flying inside a helicopter is very different than watching one take off, where the air beats the ground and everything around it, and the noise is deafening. Inside, with a headset on and the pilot muttering to ground control, there is a slight feeling of unreality and mostly silence as the land sweeps past. As the helicopter slowly rises and swings away from the tarmac, and the ground moves away with buildings and cars and people becoming ever smaller, the pilot runs the machine up to running speed. “We’re going about 150 mph right now and we’re about 1,500 feet off the ground,” Primary Pilot Shanon Christensen said as he tilted to turn. This reporter was absolutely thrilled with the ride and more than a little surprised at my pleasant first experience in a helicopter. Describing the sensation without the experience would have been impossible. OMH’s machine holds four people, including the pilot. OMH has given more than a dozen tours in the company’s first 10 days of operation. Director of Marketing Casey Evertsen said tours can range as far as 25 miles in the Tri-Lakes Area. The helicopter can actually make a round trip of 400 miles, and OMH is planning an expansion into charter service by fall at the latest. “We’re in the process of acquiring our 135 certification needed so we can do charter service in a few months,” Evertsen said. “There’s a huge market for tourism in the fly fishing industry. We could fly people into places along the lakes that they couldn’t get to by car. The charter service is really all encompassing — just taking people from one place to another for whatever reason. It is more cost effective than a private plane or jet.” There are also options for those who would like to learn to fly. Mark Parent, Taney County Airport manager, said flying lessons with private planes are available and affordable. However, anyone wanting to learn to fly a helicopter won’t find a teacher locally. He said that can be found in the Kansas City or St. Louis areas. |
