Helicopter Sightseeing Flight

[Yurgon]

How awesome is that? My friends and colleagues got me a sightseeing flight in a helicopter for my birthday. :thumbup:

 

The flight will take place next week and I'll try to take some pictures of the helicopter and, if possible, from up high.

 

Judging from the website, they fly a Bell Jet Ranger: http://www.skyandfun.de/

 

I haven't flown in a helicopter for a long time, I'm already excited about it. :)

 

Now I need to figure out a way to get to sit in front (if they even allow that), because looking at all the instruments is going to be much more interesting than seeing my hometown from above. :D

 

Edit: See below for some pics.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Yurgon

[Cali]

What nice friends, enjoy it!

[EagleEye]

Above Hannover City? Have fun.:thumbup:

[Viersbovsky]

That sounds awesome!

That reminds me, my father (a professor at a technical college) once got a helicopter training flight from his pupils as a present. He could fly the helicopter as co-pilot and got a fair bit of stick-time Unfortunately, this is no longer legal (the co-pilot must now at least be in pilot training), so I will never get to do the same, thanks bureaucrats!

 

Make sure to take many pictures and have fun!

[Yurgon]

Thanks guys. :)

 

Above Hannover City?

 

Yup. Take-off is from a big parking lot some 500 meters from my place. I can go there by foot, that's practically perfect. :thumbup:

 

The only downside is that a friend celebrates his birthday the night before the flight. But well, I already know how to drink beer -- I guess for the sake of enjoying the flight that's going to be my most sober party since, dunno, a very long time. :D

[Yurgon]

Woohoo, that was amazing!

 

Pretty much everything was perfect. :)

 

After talking the guys to death about DCS and heli sims, they made sure to get me to sit in front, next to the pilot. Then, when the heli came in, the pilot shut it down fully so I had time to mount a GoPro inside the cockpit. Haven't checked the vid yet, it's still possible the recording sucks, but I'll see about that later on.

 

The flight was a quick tour across Hannover: Linden, Herrenhäuser Gärten, Stöcken, then along Autobahn 2 (parallel to the airport, great view seeing two airliners take off there), Pferdeturm, Central station and back to Linden, flight time ~15 minutes as promised.

 

We were cruising at 2,000 ft at 90 to 100 KIAS, very smooth flight, good visibility but a bit foggy in the distance.

 

(I've gotten 30 minutes worth of flight time, but there were not enough passengers for it, so I'll get to take the remaining 15 minutes when they do the next tour, probably in May 2015).

 

Enough with the chatting, a few pics from the ground. Sorry for low quality, I took them with my tablet before and after the flight.

 

Coming in above a do-it-yourself-store:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touchdown:

 

After my flight, they swapped the passengers with the blades still turning, taking off after just about two minutes on the ground:

 

 

Have a nice flight, guys. :)

 

Edited October 5, 2014 by Yurgon
Removed duplicate image

[Yurgon]

That reminds me, my father (a professor at a technical college) once got a helicopter training flight from his pupils as a present. He could fly the helicopter as co-pilot and got a fair bit of stick-time Unfortunately, this is no longer legal

 

For this helicopter, they removed stick and collective from the passenger seat (passenger on the left, pilot on the right) and disconnected the pedals.

 

After the flight, I had a quick chat with the mechanic. He said they'll put the stuff back in right after the passenger flights are over. The crew appears to be very experienced, they usually do offshore- and rescue-flights and just got hired for the sightseeing tour today.

 

The pilot tried to talk to me during the flight, but I couldn't hear him over the headphones, must have been something wrong with them. Apparently he didn't feel like screaming so I don't really know what he wanted to tell me. Well, maybe I get to have a chat on my next flight (and I hope there won't be another DCS fanatic eager to sit in front, because the view from the cockpit is simply fantastic. In the back, it's probably much more like in an airliner).

[Cibit]

Lucky bugger:)

[Viersbovsky]

For this helicopter, they removed stick and collective from the passenger seat (passenger on the left, pilot on the right) and disconnected the pedals.

 

After the flight, I had a quick chat with the mechanic. He said they'll put the stuff back in right after the passenger flights are over. The crew appears to be very experienced, they usually do offshore- and rescue-flights and just got hired for the sightseeing tour today.

 

The pilot tried to talk to me during the flight, but I couldn't hear him over the headphones, must have been something wrong with them. Apparently he didn't feel like screaming so I don't really know what he wanted to tell me. Well, maybe I get to have a chat on my next flight (and I hope there won't be another DCS fanatic eager to sit in front, because the view from the cockpit is simply fantastic. In the back, it's probably much more like in an airliner).

 

Sounds like you had fun!That seems like the next best thing to me (no stick time, but at least in the pit).

 

So you still have one flight ahead of you, lucky you!

[tarracta]

I'm surprised how cheap it is ... only 98€ for a 15 min flight... that is possibly just the fuel price...

 

If you need a helicoter service e.g. for rescue purposes this costs easily mulitple thousands Euros...

[Corrigan]

Awesome.

Looks like you had a similarly crisp, clear and beautiful (and warm!) autumn day as I did over here.

[Yurgon]

So you still have one flight ahead of you, lucky you!

 

Yeah. I think two flights, 15 minutes each, is actually a much better bargain than one flight of 30 minutes. This way, I get to see two take-offs and two landings, which I think is much more interesting than cruising at 2,000 ft.

 

I'm surprised how cheap it is ... only 98€ for a 15 min flight... that is possibly just the fuel price...

 

I was a bit surprised myself. I guess the numbers make sense if the helicopter is booked for an entire day with quick turn-around times. Today, they were flying 11am to 6pm, I could hear (and sometimes see) them flying around all day long (the parking lot they picked for the day is just a stone's throw from where I live).

 

Most people seem to book the cheaper 6 to 8 minute flights, but I think 15 minutes is just about perfect. Long enough to get acquainted, short enough not to get boring.

 

Looks like you had a similarly crisp, clear and beautiful (and warm!) autumn day as I did over here.

 

Absolutely, the weather was practically perfect. Less fog would have been nice, but it was warm, sunny and the view of the city was pretty clear.

 

Then again, I thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on experience in the Huey afterwards, the sunrise at Gori is nice and the vision distance was a lot better in DCS. :)

[Yurgon]

Sightseeing flight over Hanover

 

Today I took the final 15 minute flight of the birthday present, yet another awesome experience! :)

 

They chartered from another company and so I got to fly in an AS350. Unfortunately there's a bench for two passengers in the front of the helicopter, and since I'm not exactly slim I sat in the back, but the view was still good and sitting next to the window I could take a few pictures that weren't entirely bad. Enjoy. :)

 

 

Look at the rotor head, it's very simple compared to most other helicopters.

 

Construction number 2650.

 

Building with green round roof: Anzeigerhochhaus

 

Herrenhäuser Gärten:

 

My place is a little above the center:

 

Lower right: central station. Top and left: Eilenriede (city forest)

 

Back at the golf course where the flights start all day. Landing spot marked in yellow.

 

These flights were organized by Sky & Fun, and I'm pretty happy about everything. I can definitely recommend them. :thumbup:

[EagleEye]

Great pics!

How`s the GoPro footage and how and where you mounted the cam? I would think that there are to many vibrations if mounted on the panels or on the cockpit window, no?

[Yurgon]

How`s the GoPro footage and how and where you mounted the cam? I would think that there are to many vibrations if mounted on the panels or on the cockpit window, no?

 

The video from my first flight in September is feeling well on my hard disk. :music_whistling:

 

I haven't come around to editing it yet, I'm basically a noob with video editing software.

 

I'd mounted the GoPro on the inner side of the left door window and the video quality is surprisingly good, the stabilization of the GoPro is amazing. On the other hand, the 15+ minute video is rather event-less, captures several of the Jet Ranger's struts as well as my trousers and it's kinda boring for non-Hanovarians, I guess. I still plan to add some annotations to it and upload it sometime, just don't bet on it happening anytime soon.

[EagleEye]

...and the video quality is surprisingly good, the stabilization of the GoPro is amazing.

Thats the part I needed to know. My actioncam (an old DRIFT) doesn`t stabilise at all, so I have to mount it on my headset to compensate the vibrations.

[Yurgon]

Here's what happens when you show such photos to your colleagues... they show off their Photoshop skills.

The same colleague also noticed some details in a picture I'd taken at Loch Ness. Somehow I didn't realize it when I took the picture.

 

Edited March 27 by Yurgon