My anticipation levels had been building for days as taking a Helicopter Scenic Flight was one thing I had always wanted to do
. When I saw joy flights advertised in the local newspaper I called the company immediately and booked our flight. The pilot (Amy) was really friendly and very reassuring with her natural self confidence. Before we could go she took our names and weights (which was a little embarrassing) so she could do the necessary paper work.
We were on the South East coast of Australia and our ten minute flight was to take us around the Twelve Apostle Cliff formations.
Once Amy had given us a safety briefing, in which she told us what to do in an emergency. She also told us in no uncertain terms not to touch any of the controls inside the Helicopter and not to raise our hands above our heads unless we wanted to lose them!
When our machine was fueled up and the mandatory pre-flight safety check was complete we were loaded into the helicopter buckled up and prepared for take off; we were all smiles except for Mum who was suffering a little. Fortunately Amy's calm and collected voice came through our headsets which settled Mum's nerves. We could hear Amy make her radio calls and then she asked us if we were all good and ready for take off...."yes!" all three of us replied in unison.
The noise of the engine grew louder and louder and we seemed to lift off in slow motion; a sense of weightlessness took over as we climbed away from the ground. Everything grew smaller and smaller as we climbed. Amy started pointing out interesting features of this spectacular part of Australia. The formations themselves came into view almost immediately and we descended down to have a closer look. We had seen them earlier that day from the shore but we couldn't appreciate the shear size of them from such a distance. It felt like we could almost reach out and touch them! Amy explained the geographical processes of wind and water erosion which slowly erode these magnificent formations, hence why there is now only eight and not twelve. Eventually none of the original Twelve will remain but perhaps with time more will be carved out of the coastline.
All too quickly we were on our way back to the Helipad as there were more people waiting to experience what we just had.
After a few quick snap shots in front of our ride, I managed to ask Amy a few questions about becoming a pilot before her next mission, it turned out she had only recently finished her Helicopter Training and this was her first gig.
She told me how to go about my helicopter training, and gave me some good advice before she had to go and do it all again.
We left the helipad with smiles from ear to ear, I just wasn't sure how I was going to tell my still shaking Mother that I want to be a chopper pilot.