By Tony Conboy III
This was going to be my first helicopter flight and I could tell right a way it was going to be much different than a normal flight on a regularly scheduled passenger plane. When I arrived at the Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopter passenger lounge, located away from the normal passenger terminals on a separate portion of McCarran Airport just off the Strip, they didn’t want to weigh my luggage, they wanted to weigh me! They asked me to step onto a scale built into the floor so they could weigh me and anything else I was going to bring on to the plane. (They did the same for my daughter.)
After the weigh in, it was time to wait in the private waiting area equipped with plush sofas, as well as complimentary coffee and drinks. We also learned what helicopter we would be flying on, watched a safety video and learned why we had been weighed. It seems our seat assignments had been carefully assigned based upon our weight with careful consideration made for equal distribution of weight. Our European-made A-Star helicopter would be carrying five passengers and the pilot, who would double as a tour guide.
A small van then taxied us a short distance on the airport tarmac to the helicopter where we quickly posed for group photos before getting on board. Our helicopter was configured to allow two passengers to sit in the front with the pilot and four passengers to sit in the back. Because of the glass cockpit, and extensive glass sides of the helicopter, there isn’t a bad seat in the house; no matter where you end up sitting. My seven year old daughter ended up sitting in the back and in the middle, but she still had a great view of all the sights.
Each passenger had their own head phones which served a number of purposes: to drown out the sound of the loud engines; to set the stage of the flight with dramatic music and finally, to allow the pilot to explain what we were seeing during the flight. (Tours are also narrated in Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and French.)
After quickly getting clearance from the McCarran control tower, the engine started and we were airborne. We started going in the direction opposite the Las Vegas strip and then quickly reversed direction and proceeded directly toward it at a very, very low level. We slowly, gained altitude and then turned away and headed the 85 miles toward to the Grand Canyon with our “wingman;” another Papillon helicopter filled with tourists.
According to pilot, the majority of the flight would we would be traveling at an altitude 800 feet and a speed of 140 MPH, allowing passengers maximum visibility. I was struck at how effortlessly the pilot flew the helicopter; it looked like he was playing a video game. A few passengers, who had been apprehensive before take off, quickly settled in and became awed at the views out all sides of the aircraft.
