subject: Grand Canyon Helicopter Rides And What To Expect [print this page] When you decide to find the best Grand Canyon helicopter tour, you'll be giving yourself the opportunity to enjoy a unique, adventurous canyon experience. You will begin your journey in a private holding area where you can dine on complimentary snacks and drinks. Believe it or not, you will have to step on a scale before you get on a chopper.
An instructional video explains why this is necessary and how the information is used to assign seats. Knowing your weight helps the tour operator evenly distribute weight in the helicopter, which is necessary for safety reasons. The video will also explain interesting details about the chopper you will be riding in during your tour. Most pilots on Grand Canyon tours also serve as tour guides during the flights.
You'll then ride to your boarding point in a small van. In addition to taking all the photographs you want, you'll have the opportunity to pose for others. Most of the helicopters used in Grand Canyon flights are situated so two passengers sit by the pilot and the rest sit in the back. Your seat placement doesn't matter a whole lot because each seat has a great view. The helicopter has tremendously large windows designed specifically for sightseeing.
Guests on the choppers are given headphones to wear. Then they can listen to a voice narration in a choice of languages that explains the tour as it unfolds, plus there are pleasing musical interludes that help drown out engine noises.
The helicopter must obtain clearance from the control tower before it will be allowed to take off. Many pilots stay at low altitude for a while after takeoff, but they then increase their helicopter's altitude. The altitude and speed is under the control of the pilots who know exactly the best way to fly to provide passengers with the optimum viewing experience.
Only licensed and professional pilots are allowed to fly the tours and they make the job look easy. Some people may be a little afraid at first, but once underway, most everyone relaxes and enjoys the amazing experience.
It is fun to spot animals and identify types of trees from the helicopter. People with disabilities, kids, and those of all ages can enjoy one of these canyon flights. Although fun, one of these trips is also very educational for kids and teaches them much more than they could learn in school about the region.
These fun tours take off from Vegas and from the Grand Canyon National Park. The Las Vegas tours go to the West Rim, about 120 miles from the city. Tours of the South Rim fly over the southern portion of the park. You can fly only or land at the rim. When you land, you can take part in other activities such as venturing out on the glass Skywalk or floating down the Colorado River.
You can choose the rim you want to land on, unless you want to land inside the canyon. The best tour operators are very careful about disturbing the natural surroundings of the canyon. When a helicopter lands, it stirs up a lot of dust which lands in the riverbed or on the shoreline. Because of that, choppers can only land in certain designated areas inside the canyon. Upgrading to a landing tour with other activities will cost more, but the experience is worth it.
