Helicopter tours of Grand Canyon take Vegas visitors far from madding crowd

Winnepeg Sun ^ | 03/21/2015 | DONNA DONALDSON

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Pilot Christopher Diamond manoeuvres his helicopter with the precision of a laser as it zips along the edge of the mighty Colorado River.

Passengers with cameras at the ready are awestruck as Diamond gently guides the chopper 1,000 metres deep to the base of the cavernous Grand Canyon.

It’s the culmination of an unforgettable adventure for thrill-seekers who also have the chance to explore the area by foot and document its wondrous beauty.

Surrounded by the backdrop of the rugged Grand Canyon walls, glasses of champagne are used to toast a picnic lunch, served in ethereal surroundings.

It’s never about destination ... it’s the journey. Sundance Helicopters of Las Vegas offers just that. It flies more than 230,000 guests annually, including top United States officials, celebrities and industry leaders.

Diamond, who has more than 10 years of flight experience, greets guests at McCarron International Airport and ensures each passenger is safely secured in the six-passenger executive helicopter and outfitted with headsets, life vests and safety belts.

The 3.5-hour tour traverses iconic landmarks in Nevada and Arizona, including the turquoise waters of Lake Mead (one of the largest man-made lakes in the Western Hemisphere) and the Colorado River with amazing views of the mighty Hoover Dam.

Blazing sunlight brings to life colourful rock formations and highlights lava flows and extinct volcanoes.

Flora and fauna populate the expansive desert terrain and, if you’re lucky, you may just spot some indigenous wildlife below.

Diamond narrates the epic journey and gives notices of approaching points of interest so passengers will be prepared to snap photos or take video.

Diamond points to a cliff where the final scene from the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise was filmed, at a point between Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon, just south of Dead Horse Point State Park.

It’s not only scenery that has made cameos in Hollywood films, he says, adding Sundance Helicopters has been featured in flicks like the 2001 romantic comedy America’s Sweethearts and the 2001 comedy heist film Oceans 11.

The exhilarating flight winds up with close-up views of the Las Vegas strip and its renowned hotels and attractions.

And even after landing, it takes a while to come down from such a high-flying experience.

[snoringbear]

My wife and I took one of these helicopter tours about two weeks ago. It’s the only way to see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam as far as I’m concerned.

[Rich21IE]

I’ll have to check this out. The GC is on my wife’s bucket list.

[KeyLargo]

Be very careful in your selection of an any air tour operator and know their safety history.

Helicopters: the Wrong Way to see Grand Canyon
Posted on May 23, 2014

Five days ago, a pilot employed by Papillon was killed when his/her helicopter rolled over while being repositioned on the floor of Grand Canyon. [article] The air tour passengers had already been off-loaded, so none of them were injured when the fatal accident happened. In the five days since, there has been no new information; neither FAA nor NTSB has released the gender, age or name of the pilot, nor have any weather conditions or other pertinent facts been presented to the Public. We are left to wonder why this tragedy happened, and could it happen again.

There have been many fatal air tour crashes around Grand Canyon. In fact, a careful analysis of news stories and the NTSB accident database reveals thirty significant accidents since 1980, some fatal and some non-fatal. A few were horrific, killing six, ten, and as many as twenty-five. Even the minor accidents hint at air tour practices that add unnecessary risk:

crowding too many helicopters together at remote landing spots,
parking helicopters too close to picnic tables,
worker fatigue, due to long workdays for the pilots and mechanics,
lack of maintenance oversight,
lack of FAA safety oversight, etc.

Here is a link to a list with short summaries for each of the thirty accidents. Each dated event has further links to online news articles and NTSB reports.

Read at:

http://aireform.com/helicopters-the-wrong-way-to-see-grand-canyon/

Also comments from readers of the LVRJ News regarding the crash last year:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/fire-rescue/pilot-killed-helicopter-crash-sunday-grand-canyon

[Thermalseeker]

I’ve flown over the canyon many times and used to think the same thing. That was until my wife and I floated the Colorado. There is no comparison. The way to really see the canyon is from the river.

[Covenantor]

Big ditto on the helicopter tours.

Way back my wife and I took a ride on Maui, from the Hana Ranch to see the Haleakala crater. Absolutely awesome! Didn’t take a camera which turned out to be a good thing as it allowed both of us to experience the unwordly beauty to the max. In any case one needs a superwide angle lens and polarizing filter to capture the sense of vastness without glass reflections. The pilot advised us to wear dark clothes to minimize relections ftom the glass.

[HotHunt]

When I was a Boy Scout back in the day, I walked from the south rim to the bottom at Phantom Ranch and back out again, after spending the night. I did it again as a scout leader with the boys in our troop. Both times it was a real humbling experience, being able to see how massive the canyon is up close and personal and overcoming the physical limits on the body.

In high school, I was a delegate to Boys State in Arizona and roomed with a fella named Charlie LaBenz. He later went on to became a track star at Arizona State University. But he said his biggest accomplishment was the record he held for running the Grand Canyon rim to rim and back again. It's called R2R2R. I don't know how long he held it or remember what his time was, but as a long distance runner myself at the time, I marveled at his accomplishment. Since then, others have replaced his record, but it was his for the time I knew him.

[liberalh8ter]

My husband and I were married in the Grand Canyon via helicopter out of Las Vegas. A year later, we flew out of Vegas to Arizona where we took a helicopter tour of that portion of the Canyon. For both trips we used Maverick helicopters and both experiences were top notch. I would highly recommend doing this and doing it through Maverick.

[Fiji Hill]

The Grand Canyon--Tioga County, Pa.

[Mean Daddy]

We went to Vegas for a wedding back in 2002. We rented a car and drove to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Some of the most beautiful country you will ever see. They have a nice hotel on the reservation, but the reservation itself is very poor.

http://www.takemytrip.com/featured0705.htm

[snoringbear]

“I’ve flown over the canyon many times and used to think the same thing. That was until my wife and I floated the Colorado. There is no comparison. The way to really see the canyon is from the river.”

No argument. I neglected to mention along with my “as far as I’m concerned” comment that I’m 70 years old, an artificial knee, bad back. So, lots of hiking, climbing is out for me. Also, too heavy for the donkey ride into the canyon. Sooo, a helicopter fit is. Just glad one of those big Sikorsky’s used on construction sites wasn’t necessary :)

[Steve0113]

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