London heli route trip

[Skylark58]

I am looking at the possibility of a helicopter trip from somewhere, preferably west of London, down the heli lanes into central London and back. I have looked around the web and there seem to be any amount of 'Adventure Experience' type sites, but I am looking for something more than that, so either a dual flight with an instructor, or a shared cost trip with a PPL? I am an experienced FW pilot and ideally would like to bring one other passenger. Turbine would be my preference. All ideas welcome

[Daysleeper]

I would go direct to a training place then rather than via a middle person selling vouchers.

I'd try Heliair (spelling) at Fairoaks, Bell 206 Jetranger, under an hour would get from Fairoaks to the Isle of Dogs and back along helilanes H3 and H4 and allows a bit of time to practice hovering on the airfield for afters. Alex or Gary will sort you out, training rates aint cheap on the 206 though somewhere in the region of £600-£700 an hour. Otherwise Denham or Wycombe have training places with different entry points.

[CRAZYBROADSWORD]

A 206 is naff for the guys in the back just use an R44 much cheaper too and you could fly from Wycombe with heli air or heli services , Denham with HQ or heli air , elstree with VVB flying pigs or heli services , Redhill with any number of people or fairoaks as previously mentioned

Cbs

[Flying Lawyer]

Skylark58

Over the years, I have trained with and/or hired from a few of the schools already mentioned.
IMHO there's a clear choice between two: Helicopter Services at Wycombe (and Elstree) or HQ Aviation at Denham.
Both are first class.

I understand why your preference would be a turbine. (Mine too.) However, they are significantly more expensive than an R44 - only you can decide if it's worth the extra cost. Your passenger would get a better forward view from an R44 but he/she will enjoy the experience whatever you use and rear pax tend to spend more time looking out (and down) from the side rather than forward regardless of helicopter type.

Enjoy your flight. Flying the heli routes over London is a wonderful experience.

[Efirmovich]

Helicopter services every time..


E.

[Maff]

Simple. Helicopter services at Wycombe, second to none.

[Skylark58]

Many thanks for all the helpful replies

S58

[vancouv]

I did a trip from Southend, going down the Thames and then cutting across to overfly Heathrow - I'm not a rotary pilot so don't know which helilanes they are. If you can still do that I would 100% recommend it - we had to hold between the runways as a BA 777 landed and then crossed the threshold behind it - absolutely fantastic.