Crowds at air show bigger than expected

The line of people waiting to see the 2013 Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival on Friday already was a long one before the gates opened at 5 p.m.

Some of the people who came to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport traveled from outside the area to witness the spectacle.

"I was here for the last show in 2010," said Frank Rupp, who brought his family from Doniphan, Mo.

Rupp said he expected this year's air festival to be as good as the one he last attended.

"It has to be," he said. "We've waited three years."

Hannah Seesing, performer liaison for the air festival, said attendance for Friday night's show was higher than organizers had expected.

"They've estimated about 3,500 people came to the show Friday night," she said. "We're expecting more than that Saturday because the weather's so nice and so many people are off work."

Friday's opening ceremonies included a tribute to veterans from the Missouri Veterans Home and parachutists Craig and Doris Dumey of Cape Girardeau, who made a perfect landing on the ground between the airport runways. Then it was time for the airplanes to take off and entertain the crowd.

The first plane up Friday night was the Jelly-Belly Interstate Cadet flown by Kent Pietsch, who grabbed everyone's attention by pretending to fly incompetently with seemingly uncontrolled nose-dives and nearly scraping the runway with a wing of his airplane.

"It takes a lot of work to make it look like you don't know what you're doing," Pietsch said after he landed safely.

On Saturday, Pietsch attempted to land his plane on a moving Jelly-Belly recreational vehicle driving down the runway. But because of strong wind gusts and turbulence, he was unable to complete the stunt, even after three attempts.

The planes that followed brought cheers and applause at both performances while they performed their harrowing routines. Wayne Roberts flew his Extra 330LX aircraft with inverted flying and vertical rolls, as did Bill Leff in his U.S. Air Force Mark T-6. Randy Ball brought his MiG-17, formerly used in the Soviet Air Force, to a speed of almost MACH 1.

"The chances of seeing a real MiG at an air show are infinitesimal," Ball said. "But trust me: They're tough and unbelievably reliable."

Another rarity at the shows was a jet-powered school bus. It topped out at 288 miles per hour as it flew down the runway and erupted 75-foot flames from its back.

The Aerostars Acrobatics Team, the final act in both shows, delighted the audience with air tricks in a tight formation. David "Cupid" Monroe is the right wing pilot for the three-plane team. He earned his nickname from his part in the "Big Heart in the Sky" trick the team performs at every show. While the other pilots form a heart shape from smoke trails, Monroe flies through the middle to draw an arrow.

The trick is especially popular among young audience members. Monroe said engaging children in aviation is what the team is all about.

"What I really get the most out of it is seeing what the kids see," he said. "After the show, they come up to us and we see the smiles on their faces. I really just want to shed light on the benefits of aviation and being a pilot because there's going to be a lot of need for that in the future as kids become interested in other things."

Monroe and the team gained at least two new fans after their Saturday performance. Kade Fritz, 8, and his 6-year-old sister Addyson both agreed the Aerostars performance was their favorite.

"It was awesome," Kade said. "Sometimes it almost looked like they were going to crash into each other because they were so close."

"The part where they made it look like a heart out of the smoke was my favorite," Addyson said.

Audience members were encouraged to stick around after the show to speak with pilots who performed and take photographs next to the vintage planes parked around the airport. At the close of Friday's festivities, a mass sky-lantern launch was held along with a fireworks display and a dance with live music in an airport hangar. The Southeast Missourian was a sponsor of the event.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, Cape Girardeau, MO