Grand Canyon tour - helicopter or plane (1 Viewer)

Perthmike

Perthmike

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I’m about to book a Grand Canyon your for the wife and myself for our upcoming trip.

I was looking at the papillon tours company that @moose recommended and I’m a bit unsure whether i should book the plane or helicopter.

First off, i feel that helicopters are way sketchier than planes and i’ve never been overly enthused at the prospect of flying in one.

The plane tour is $144 each and the helicopter $244. They seem pretty similar to me and I’m thinking of just booking the plane.

Is this a mistake? Would love to hear opinions of people that have done the tour.
 
id rather ride a boat down the Colorado. I've seen the planes and choppers from standing on the west rim, and there is something unnatural about looking down at them. Freaks me out. But the Grand Canyon is truly amazing to behold. pictures do not do it justice.
 
263978
 
Perthmike said:
I’m about to book a Grand Canyon your for the wife and myself for our upcoming trip.

I was looking at the papillon tours company that @moose recommended and I’m a bit unsure whether i should book the plane or helicopter.

First off, i feel that helicopters are way sketchier than planes and i’ve never been overly enthused at the prospect of flying in one.

The plane tour is $144 each and the helicopter $244. They seem pretty similar to me and I’m thinking of just booking the plane.

Is this a mistake? Would love to hear opinions of people that have done the tour.
Click to expand...

As an Arizona native with 30+ trips to the Canyon I can say this.

No way I'm getting in one of those helicopters. The plane would be the choice...but still not much interest in looking down at everything.

It is a much more rich experience to get below the rim. If you are in decent shape, I would plan to hike Bright Angel Trail from the rim to Indian Garden and back in one day easy, even in summer. Leave very early in the morning (about when you can see) and you will own the place on the way down. I've done this several times and was back on the rim by 1pm or so. Hiking poles are your friend for tired knees. Temperatures at Indian Garden in mid morning summer are still nice, just get started back up the hill by 10 am or so. Even the rim can get warm in summer and the elevation there is about 7000 feet.
 
slisk250 said:
As an Arizona native with 30+ trips to the Canyon I can say this.

No way I'm getting in one of those helicopters. The plane would be the choice...but still not much interest in looking down at everything.

It is a much more rich experience to get below the rim. If you are in decent shape, I would plan to hike Bright Angel Trail from the rim to Indian Garden and back in one day easy, even in summer. Leave very early in the morning (about when you can see) and you will own the place on the way down. I've done this several times and was back on the rim by 1pm or so. Hiking poles are your friend for tired knees. Temperatures at Indian Garden in mid morning summer are still nice, just get started back up the hill by 10 am or so. Even the rim can get warm in summer and the elevation there is about 7000 feet.
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Thanks for the info. That does sound great and I’d much prefer to, but unfortunately I won’t have time for that. We decided to spend extra time to drive to San Fran and do Yosemite. I’ve got a full day and most of a second day in Yosemite, so I’ll be doing plenty of hikes there at least. Half day flight on a plane or helicopter will be for the canyon I’m afraid.

I’ll have to come back and do the Canyon properly another time. And maybe get to a Colorado home game or meetup.
 
Personally I'd go with a plane over a helicopter but I'm a little biased on the subject. That being said I'm sure a helicopter ride would be interesting too and maybe would allow for longer viewing of things as he could hover in one area vs just flying past it.
 
Screw Helicopters. I've been in them a couple of times and I hated it (I'm not a heights guy). Air Force tried to get me to repel out of a chopper. I basically told them what they could do with that idea lol.
 
I made fun of my wife’s uncle because he made his family fly in separate planes to Vegas ”for safety”, but then they all went on the same helicopter tour.

That logic made no sense to me. Commercial aviation in the US IS EXTREEMLY safe, whereas about 1 grand canyon aircraft crashes per year. It's like avoiding the 1/100,000,000 risk while gladly taking the 1/10,000 risk. Both remote but one is vastly more likely than the other.

He is bad at poker.
 
I have been to the canyon twice.

First time - Wife and I flew in a helicopter from Vegas to the Canyon where we flew below the rim and landed and had a basic lunch and then flew back over the vegas strip. It was the highlight of our trip, we both absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it, I don't mind heights and was well worth the price for us.

2nd time - We were with our kids (college age kids but under 21 so their activities were limited in Vegas). This time we took a van to an airport about 45 minutes away, plane to the canyon, Helicopter into the canyon, 1/2 hour boat trip on the river, back to the top where we had time to explore the top, and of course back the same way. This was a full day trip, the whole family loved it. Again well worth the trip.

If you only have a half a day then to just the helicopter trip, if you have a full day then the 2nd trip was well worth it.

I have never hiked in the Grand Canyon, maybe I will try that next time.
 
detroitdad said:
Screw Helicopters....Air Force tried to get me to repel....
Click to expand...

"Repel" -- Freudian slip? :)

They're not that bad. I spent a lot of time in choppers in 'Nam courtesy of my rich uncle Sam. The actual flying is relatively easy, especially if the cockpit is fully enclosed -- but loading and unloading while the rotors are turning does take some faith. Especially if the ship is hovering while your're doing it...
:confused

Take the chopper over the plane -- you only live once.
 
I don't get the heli hate. The most dangerous part of a plane flight is the take off and landings. Heli's eliminate that possibility.
 
I’ve been in helicopters twice and had no issue with it.

Watching youtube videos the helicopters seem to generally be flying much lower over the canyon producing a much better view. I’ve always thought actually descending and landing at the bottom would be incredible.

I’m sure there’s more risk in a helicopter than a plane. This is a poker forum so it’s all about your evaluation of that risk and the reward for taking it.
 
moose said:
I don't get the heli hate. The most dangerous part of a plane flight is the take off and landings. Heli's eliminate that possibility.
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Yeah, by "landing" like this....... (2 days ago in Oregon...) :cautious:
no one died though...

264060
 
No posting to discourage what is surely an epic experience. Just to make aware of risks which are higher than other places due to unique geography and sheer volume of aircraft.
 
My wife and I got the Costco package online. $360 each and it included travel to and from the airport, The GC tour, and a more than decent lunch at the bottom of the canyon (really about 2/3's of the way down).

I sold a set of chips to finance it to surprise my wife. We had such an amazing time, I don't regret selling the chips.
 
We did a heli trip from Vegas to the canyons couple years ago. It was super windy! Like 30-40 mph. Everyone thought “well guess this isn’t happening today” then the pilot came in and said “let’s start filling out your paperwork”. Lol honestly, it was my first heli ride. I was nervous. But when we got off the ground I didn’t feel nervous and it was pretty smooth. After about a minute I forgot all about heights or the wind. We landed in the canyon for about 10 minutes and gassed up and went back. It was really cool. When we landed though the pilot told me he was a little nervous on the runway cause he was having problems keeping it straight. They say helicopters can land without power better than planes so I guess that’s a plus.
 
moose said:
I don't get the heli hate. The most dangerous part of a plane flight is the take off and landings. Heli's eliminate that possibility.
Click to expand...
For me personally in my mind if a plane engine goes out there is a spare. If there isn’t a spare there is always a chance you can crash land it.

If the helicopter goes wrong you are pretty much screwed. That and I can think of a number of Motorsport professionals that survived their careers only to die in a helicopter crash.

That being said, I’m not massively bothered about it and if the wife wants to go in the helicopter then I’ll do it. It’s just not my preference.
 
p5woody said:
I have been to the canyon twice.

First time - Wife and I flew in a helicopter from Vegas to the Canyon where we flew below the rim and landed and had a basic lunch and then flew back over the vegas strip. It was the highlight of our trip, we both absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it, I don't mind heights and was well worth the price for us.

2nd time - We were with our kids (college age kids but under 21 so their activities were limited in Vegas). This time we took a van to an airport about 45 minutes away, plane to the canyon, Helicopter into the canyon, 1/2 hour boat trip on the river, back to the top where we had time to explore the top, and of course back the same way. This was a full day trip, the whole family loved it. Again well worth the trip.

If you only have a half a day then to just the helicopter trip, if you have a full day then the 2nd trip was well worth it.

I have never hiked in the Grand Canyon, maybe I will try that next time.
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I had a look at that one including the boat trip. It looks pretty awesome, a lot more cash though.

We’ll see what happens. I reckon I might end up with the standard helicopter tour. It’s $209 each v $439.

If I hadn’t just gone on a $3400 downswing I might have just withdrawn it from bankroll cash and done it.
 
Didn't read any of the prior posts...thought this was a thread about Arnold.... :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: so apologies if this was already covered...

...but my $.02. We did a heli tour of the Grand Canyon and it was pretty amazing. Our tour flew over the hoover dam and into the canyon and then we landed, had some champagne and then flew straight up and out of the canyon and landed at the rim, where we could bus to a few of the scenic points, come back and then heli back to LV. We then flew over the strip at night/late afternoon, and that was amazing too. I would do it again. Sorry no experience with the airplane or boat tours.
 
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