Who offers the best Chopper city tour of Sydney?

[nivsy]

Hi,

I will be visiting Oz for a vacation during October from Europe.

Would like to consider a helicopter city tour around Sydney.

Plenty on offer via various websites but are there any particular companies worth looking at (the usual 25-30 mins around the sights of Sydney required) and for that matter any particular ones to avoid (try and be subtle!).

Any info greatly appreciated....(the cooler the chopper the better).

Nivsy

[OPT/MAX]

Hey Nivsy,

Sydney Helicopters operate a variety of tours or customise your own. It's a great operation and have a variety of aircraft to choose from: R44, B47, AS350 or B407.... Take your pick!!

Heres the site: sydneyhelicopters.com.au

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip downunder!

[Ascend Charlie]

There are two good choices:
As stated, Sydney Helicopters have a good tour. They are based 10nm out of town, at the Parramatta Heliport and are not subject to air traffic delays. Their basic tour is to the north at Hornsby, across the national park to the northern beaches from Narrabeen to Manly, along the harbour and cross the Harbour Bridge, then along the harbour / Parramatta River at 500' to the Olympic site, and then home. Advantage, no delays. Disadvantage, starts out of town.

At the international airport, 4nm from town is Blue Sky Helicopters, talk to "Mork". Their tour goes over the city to the harbour, along the harbour to the heads, then south along the beaches from Bondi to Maroubra and into Botany Bay and back to the airport. Longer tours can cover the Olympic site, the Parramatta River and the harbour. Advantage, closer to the city. Disadvantages, part of the flight along the southern beaches has to stay out to sea 2nm from land so the scenery is a bit restricted.

[Never in Balance]

Disadvantages, part of the flight along the southern beaches has to stay out to sea 2nm from land so the scenery is a bit restricted. Interesting that, i saw a R44 Clipper II flying scenics at 500' 300M from the beach down Bronte/Bondi way, at the started of the year. Looked like it would have been a fun scenic to go on. :ok:

Is the 2NM a company rule or a fly neighbourly rule?

NiB

[puntosaurus]

I'm normally very dismissive of our plank wing brethren, but I have to say that the seaplane tours out of Sydney Harbour are some of the best I've done. There are two companies I know who work out of Rose Bay, Sydney by Seaplane (http://www.sydneybyseaplane.com/) and Sydney Seaplanes (http://www.seaplanes.com.au/). I've not used the latter, but Steve Krug at Sydney by Seaplane has done some great tours for us. Landing in a Seaplane in Rose Bay is pretty wild (there's not much space !) and you can chill out at Catalinas afterwards. Very civilised.

[Ascend Charlie]

Never in Balance, (try pushing the pedals!), Depends on whether the air tragic controllers allow a Bondi One clearance, which lets you hug the coast and almost stay within auto range. Otherwise, it is a straight line from Bondi headland to Maroubra headland. Most days you get lucky, but when noise sharing forces the use of runway 25, no Bondi Ones are available.

[nivsy]

Never really thought about sea plane around Sydney. That has given us something to think about...

In a way quite like the thought of departure from the airport as it may offer some good aeriel shots of the metal on the ground....?


Nivsy

[puntosaurus]

The seaplanes are amphibian (well Steve's is anyway), and he's based at Bankstown. So if you're determined to do an airport you can start there and finish at Catalina. He'd be delighted to have someone pay for his positioning flight to Rose Bay !

The other advantage of the seaplane is you can get to Berowa Waters - one of my favourite restaurants, and even helis can't get in there.

[nivsy]

Thanks for all the replies and looking forward to the trip to Australia.

Regards,
Nivsy

[Auschick]

Try Sydney Helitours AVTA - Aviation Tourism Australia (http://www.avta.com.au) , they also provide free transfers from city hotels