Originally Posted by
cooperplace
Recently I was on a chopper out of Grand Canyon to Bar 10 Ranch, AZ. Both choppers (Bell 206) that took our group out flew very low, maybe 30-40 feet AGL. Very exciting. Why do they fly so low?
NB: not a complaint; as a crappy fixed-wing pilot, I know zip about choppers.
Thanks.
I have no idea why that flight was not conducted at a higher altitude, except, as posted elsewhere, 'it's fun'.
A fair few operators (everybody I've ever worked for) have minimum en route altitudes that vary from 300' to 1000' AGL.
Over the decades of my career, I've asked pilots why they fly low and gotten answers like 'why waste time in a climb?' and 'I want to be low in case of a main gear box emergency.'
Me? I want to see more than you can see flying NOE or contour or whatever you want to call it. My rule of thumb was a hundred feet up for every minute en route.