Grand Canyon favour to ask

[jimgriff]

Greeting fellow prooners,

I post this on the pretext that if you dont ask you dont get......

Jimgriff juniour's student teacher is visiting the USA and would love to see the grand canyon by helo.

He has been really great to all the kids during his student placement and I wondered if anyone who has any sway over there could show him a bit of good old US of A hospitality and give him a ride during his visit?

Pretty please?

respect

jimgriff

[Heliport]

Welcome to the Rotorheads forum.

There are several Grand Canyon tour operators.
I'm sure someone will be able to recommend one.

Heliport

[belly tank]

I flew with Maverick heli tours back in feb 06 was a good tour, though not very personalised:hmm: they are a sausage factory and understandable for the movements they do!........EC 130's very tidy clean and presentable. pilot plus 7 pax config....the jockeys are young and full of beans, as you would be coming out of an R22 into an EC 130:ooh:
have fun but dont worry if they dont pay too much attention to you:{

[B Sousa]

All the tour companies are money factories. Load them in do the job. Consider the average Pilot there does easily four 1.5 hour flights daily and pushes the 14 hour workday.
BUT as one who flys there once in a while give Papillon a shot. www.papillon.com you can book over the internet.

Beyond the above you can have a good time enjoy the trip, take a ton of pictures. Also consider if you do it now its gonna be a whole lot of degrees Farenheit and between 40-45+ in UK degrees.

[james2210]

We're taking our 'nuts about helicopters' 3½ year old daughter on a trip with Maverick on their 'Silver Cloud' tour at the end of August and we're really looking forward to it. Works out at $343 per passenger which although quite expensive, has about 1½ hours actual flying time. Last time we were at the canyon, I thought about doing a tour from the south rim but in the end, we didn't have time.

Although we'll try to ensure she's as well behaved as possible throughout the flight (and that she's visited the restroom prior to take off), are there any things in particular that kids do to really wind chopper drivers up so we can stop her! She's going through a why this? why that? phase at the moment so unplugging her mic might be a good start!

We're expecting it to be very hot but I just wondered how effective the air-con in the cabin is. The wife sometimes gets cold in the car if I have the air-con up to high so should she take a cardigan?

Finally, are there any tips for taking photo's/video though the cockpit glass? Maverick do a DVD for an extra $60 which sounds like it would be a good memento, but me and my brother would probably like to take some stills too.

Thanks

[jumpseater]

james2210
'Finally, are there any tips for taking photo's/video though the cockpit glass?'

If either of you are 'keen' photographers and use polarising filters, they can sometimes give a rainbow effect across the whole image, so take them off before you shoot. If you have the facility to alter the shutter speed of your cameras try to use 1/500th of a second or above this, for the shots out of the window, this will reduce chances of vibration ruining the shot. If you're shooting the helicopters before and after the flight landing and taking off, and you want to 'blur' the rotors set 125th up to 200th of a second, the slower the shutter speed the more blur, have a look at the picture thread in this forum and you'll see what I mean.

[james2210]

Thanks for those tips jumpseater. I'll make a note of those speeds and will file them in my camera bag. I've got a circular polariser for the video camera but I rarely use it now as I find Canon's 'natural' setting gives similar results.

[belly tank]

James,

I got the DVD from Maverick, its Low quality with colour washout etc, but a good momento i guess. just dont expect it to be edited like a Spielberg film:ok:

[helopat]

I know this is all about flying, but for what its worth, from the south rim take a little walk down the trail into the canyon...may not be as 'gee whiz' as a helo ride, but the scenery is just as spectacular and you get to stay out as long as you want. Nothing compares to the north rim if you wan the real, raw natural beauty without the 15 jillion tour busses

[zorab64]

Concur with helopat - while it's impressive to look down, absolutely nothing compares with looking up. The expression "awesome" (but drawled lengthily in the American style) is rightly used in this spectacular environment.
Some years ago we spent 5 days on a raft, camping by night and marvelling at the isolation and spectacular beauty of the canyon as it carved it's way from Page down to the South rim area, where we spent 6 hours hiking up the 3,000 ft (I think) climb to meet the thousands who just peer over the edge and think they've "seen" the canyon. Sorry to disappoint, but you've got to get down into it to really appreciate this marvel of nature - and it's quiet too!
I expect they also still offer the possibility of going down & back up again from the South Rim on a pony - a deal faster than on foot and probably better value than a chopper ride!
Don't get me wrong, as a helo pilot I'm not trying to put you off rotary - it's just that this environment should be viewed in the NATURAL state to be appreciated properly and, as a national park, the river and banks are rigorously protected from debris, pollution & litter. It's just a shame that they allow such noise & pollution from above! :ok:

[B Sousa]

As to Kids and the "Why This" Most Pilots will answer those questions gladly. Most also narrate the tour so if interuptions continue, turn the youngsters Mike towards the roof.....
It will be hot even with Air Con. Best they do is keep things inside, "livable" (in the 90s) Once outside in the canyon, It will be ****ing hot....
Also make sure you do this on a no wind day. Turbulence in the canyon fill many a Take Away bag......and that means you use it, you take it away...
Your own photos will be better than some videos and unless its night you should have no problem. Some comanies push things a bit so the video turns out "exciting". Exciting in a Helicopter in the canyon has cost a few companies ..millions.
Take water, hat, sunscreen.

[helopat]

Concur with helopat - while it's impressive to look down, absolutely nothing compares with looking up. The expression "awesome" (but drawled lengthily in the American style) is rightly used in this spectacular environment.
Some years ago we spent 5 days on a raft, camping by night and marvelling at the isolation and spectacular beauty of the canyon as it carved it's way from Page down to the South rim area, where we spent 6 hours hiking up the 3,000 ft (I think) climb to meet the thousands who just peer over the edge and think they've "seen" the canyon. Sorry to disappoint, but you've got to get down into it to really appreciate this marvel of nature - and it's quiet too!
I expect they also still offer the possibility of going down & back up again from the South Rim on a pony - a deal faster than on foot and probably better value than a chopper ride!
Don't get me wrong, as a helo pilot I'm not trying to put you off rotary - it's just that this environment should be viewed in the NATURAL state to be appreciated properly and, as a national park, the river and banks are rigorously protected from debris, pollution & litter. It's just a shame that they allow such noise & pollutoin from above! :ok:

No kidding...my wife and I did the same trip (half canyon from Page to Phantom Ranch) back in 94...completely concur. Felt like a climb to everest on the way out...damn day hikers thought they owned the trail when we got toward the top. You can do the MULE ride (pony...sheesh!:) ) from either north or south rim.

I'm quite disappointed to hear that tour pilots don't do a little shpeil for the customer...I applied to one of the operators out of vegas recently (can't remember the name, but they were buying EC-130s like they were going out of style...Maverick?) ...I'm glad they were rude pricks and didn't get back to me now that I hear how the operators run.

If anyone's interested, I've got links to a few blogs of a summer pilot who worked for the south rim helo operator (Papillion)...her stories are a hoot...especially the one that goes 'on my second day I had to get another pilot to remind me how to start the aircraft'. She's also, I think, one of the only operators there who has had a jumper 'complete the act'.

[Pandalet]

I'd be interested to read those, if you fancy posting the links...

[helopat]

Gentlemen (and ladies), those blogs I mentioned earlier...make a cuppa cause some of these are going to keep you glued to your seat for a while.

There are more stores that just these two, but they're a start...commentary on this gal's (yes gal) odyssey from bush basher recip helo pilot into the wonderful world of tourist-driver-arounder in a jet ranger at the Grand Canyon...let me know what you think...probably worth a thread of their own.

Cheers and beers,

Helopat:cool:

http://www.marialanger.com/?cat=23&paged=2
http://www.marialanger.com/?p=239

[Gerhardt]

fantastic read. Thanks for the link.

[B Sousa]

"She's also, I think, one of the only operators there who has had a jumper 'complete the act'."

That was certainly an interesting story. Guy decided to end it all, could have jumped over the side, instead he took the big step from the left front of one of their Long Rangers....Adios......... Cheap Prick could have at least tipped her on the way out........