LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. -- So, you think you know the Lake. You have boated from Truman to Bagnell dam, driven from Warsaw around to Lake Ozark. You have a clear picture. Think again.
"You've Never Seen the Lake Like this Before."
It's the slogan at Lake Ozark Helicopters. They borrowed it from the first words of hundreds of customers after touching back down.
ExpoDeal: $10 for a $20 Gift Certificate toward a helicopter ride
"It's the best way to see the Lake," said Lake Ozark Helicopters' President Jerry Bice. "A lot of people don't realize how big the Lake is until they see it from the air. They go back home and try to describe it to their friends, but usually words just aren't good enough...It's true, you've never seen the Lake like this before."
PHOTOS: Most memorable flights with Lake Ozark Helicopters
Flying for the U.S.A.
Dan Doornink caught the need for speed early. Straight out of high school, as his buddies went to college, he enlisted in the Navy with a mission - to fly.
After a stomping in boot camp, Doornink got his feet wet with six months of training in aviation in Pensacola, Fla. The Navy trained him in San Diego for another three months before sending him to Asia to conduct surveillance on submarines and surface vessels out of North Korea.
He then spent a one-year stent in San Diego before redeploying to the coasts of Iraq and Iran. The mission: protect freighters and hovercraft carrying thousands of soldiers on the way to Iraq through the Horn of Africa and Straits of Omen.
Soon after, his squadron was charged with protecting two of the Middle East’s most critical oil wells and platforms - Ebot and Kbot. The two pipelines and platforms combine to move over $36 million of crude oil per minute.
During his time in the Middle East, Doornink also made humanitarian drops of food and water to Indonesia on 12-hour missions, seven days a week.
His tour of duty ended in 2006.
Instead of reenlisting, he chose to pursue a career in aviation within the private sector.
After another 15 months of training, he worked out of San Diego before landing in South Dakota to fly tours of Mount Rushmore. There he worked with Bruce Schultz who at one time operated a helicopter service at Locks Landing next to the Grand Glaize Bridge in Osage Beach. Shultz ran tours of Lake of the Ozarks until the bridge expanded encompassing the area that had been his helipad.
Doornink, originally from Sioux Center, Iowa, vacationed at the lake in his youth and always had an affinity for the area.
He learned about the lake from Shultz’s business experiences as they flew Mount Rushmore.
When the time was right, Doornink jumped at the chance to open Lake Ozark Helicopters, Inc. The family now runs the helipad from the Historic Bagnell Dam Strip in Lake Ozark.
Tours start at $29 for customers looking for their first glimpse of the lake from above, but it doesn’t stop there.
“We have several tours to choose from,” Doornink said.
For customers looking for natural and manmade beauty, there’s 800 acres of untouched state park property and Million Dollar Cove. Doornink has become well versed in the needs of real estate clients as well as businesses on and off the water. Lake Ozark Helicopters has even done family photos from the air.
“One thing helicopters do very well is hover,” Doornink said. “You can get a helicopter right over the area you want to see because (a helicopter) can go wherever you want it to go. As long as it’s legal, we can do it,” Doornink says. “If someone can think of it, we can do it. We have the experience, know-how.”
Lake Ozark Helicopters, Inc. is located at the corner of Business Hwy. 54 and Horseshoe Bend Parkway HH. Walk-ins welcome. Visitors, business professionals and photographers should call to reserve time 573-302-0022.
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