NYC helicopter charter?

stuman

stuman

stuman

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27 Aug 2003
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Currently in NYC over the New Years, seen loads of helicopters around and 15/30 min seems the done thing.

Has anybody been on one? Who would you recommend to use?

also, any other hidden gem things to do for bucket list?
 
We go every year for Easter. Love the Place. Jump on the ferries... Don't be scared of the subways. if you have time get on the wrong train and end up at coney Island. Only 30 mins out.
People watch at Time Square. The Rock at Night. Empire state building just Because. (views are better from the rock as you get to see The ESB) Defo go up the WTC, Its breathtaking.

If you can take in the WTC memorial museum It's quite sombre but its a massive part of recent history. Take a ferry trip or two Some of them tell you stories of 911 that will make the hairs on your neck stand on end.
Walk the high line, Visit Chelsea meat district.

There's loads. We've been numerous times and still not covered everything. Especially if you add Brooklyn into the equation.

The big red busses probably ain't worth it.. We got on one first thing and thought it was ace.. Then struggled to get on another due to queues

Last time we took a trip to Washington, Lovely place and a totally different pace
 
mattyg said:
I looked into doors off but they wanted nearly $900... Think that was a special Photography flight with 4 passengers
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Yeah it's pricey but in my opinion well worth it. Certainly something i wasn't going to pass up when i was in New York anyway.

stuman said:
Booked on a 30 min doors off flight for me and mrs.

thanks for recommendation. Looks like a good company.

:) mega stuff
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Having looked online recently (they replied to my google review last month 3yrs after being there!) they appear to have moved to the south of Manhattan? When i was there i had to get a 45minute taxi to the west side to start the flight. When you're there you should get the option to discuss with your fellow passengers where you fly to. In our group we agreed pretty quickly that we wanted to go past the Statue of Liberty, round the south tip then up to Central Park. We did have to take a detour though as Trump was still in his hotel at this time and there was an exclusion zone round trump tower.

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Seeing New York from this angle is a bit special though :cool:

Depending on when your time slot is they may alter it? When i flew in November they put our group back half an hour to 3.30pm so that we could take advantage of the golden hour which provided some superb light for photographs. Don't worry though if you don't have a fancy camera, go-pros and iphones seemed to be the norm with most passengers.

One tip is when you decide where you sit on the chopper. Our group was advised that sitting at the front had least turbulence so better if you're taking video, while at the back of the chopper (where i was) had the most turbulence. It did get a little hairy for me as at times i was trying to breath and a gust caught the back of my throat so struggled breathing at a couple of points! :eek: Also they wont allow for hats when flying, not entirely sure why, but in my case the headset you have to wear flew off at one point and hit the lassie sat on the opposite side of the helicopter!!
 
Just book a blade or uber helicopter back to JFK that way you get to see NYC and also skip the traffic.

I've not done one yet but might treat myself sometime this year
 
Last time we were in Vegas we were messing about on the slots when we were approached by a chap who had booked a helicopter tour but couldn't make it due to some or other whatever story. He wanted nothing for the ticket apparently and was holding a piece of paper in his hand which admittedly did look like a ticket. His sell was that he just didn't want it to go to waste so was looking for someone to give it to, the only catch being that the tour bus to the helipad was leaving in 45 mins. He was well dressed, well presented and well spoken.

We still to this day don't know what his angle was. It could've been legit for all we know but if there's one thing we've come to learn about vegas is that everything comes at a price. Everything.
 
Just headed back to JFK. The helicopter was quite the experience for me... the wife not so much. The middle seat in the back should be 50% off as it’s a pretty poor view at best.

it was also incredibly windy, so the “feet out the door photo” nearly had me blown out of the chopper!! (Got a pretty good photo tho!) once I’ve edited a few more pics I’ll put a quick album up.

I would defo’ recommend the flight, but be weary not to spend too much as there is always a risk of the rubbish middle seat.
 
stuman said:
Just headed back to JFK. The helicopter was quite the experience for me... the wife not so much. The middle seat in the back should be 50% off as it’s a pretty poor view at best.

it was also incredibly windy, so the “feet out the door photo” nearly had me blown out of the chopper!! (Got a pretty good photo tho!) once I’ve edited a few more pics I’ll put a quick album up.

I would defo’ recommend the flight, but be weary not to spend too much as there is always a risk of the rubbish middle seat.
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Good to hear you enjoyed it. Shane your wife didn't enjoy it quite as much. As a matter of interest how many people were there on your flight? When I was there we had 5 plus the pilot. This meant that there were three at the back but once we were up the guy that was next to me slid down onto the footwell so everyone had a direct view out rather than having to remain in the middle of the chopper.

Will be interested to see what shots you got though :cool: when I was up I didn't do the feet out of the door photo, partly cos I was up the back it didn't lend to well to it but I just wanted uninterrupted cityscape photos!
 
We were 5 passengers, then at the last minute they added a weird skinny dude with bad Halitosis getting us to the 6. This meant one couple were split up with one up front, and 5 in the back, one at each corner and 1 in the middle. There are a couple of nice shots, but it was so windy, I wasn't really considering composition etc. Just gunning shots and hoping something would take. The light was nice which helped.
 
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We got a special in Hawaii .. chopper around the volcano + crater and bottom of the island from Kona to Hilo, then rented a Mustang for a drive around that side of the island. Commuted back in the evening via chopper around the massive waterfalls and the top of the island back to Kona. Absolutely gobsmacking experience.

We did NYC a few years back. The choppers were a good way to see the statue of liberty without waiting in the massive queue for the boat or booking to actually get on the island or up the statue itself.

Not sure a NYC chopper would live up to the Hawaiian experience so we walked/tubed it. Nothing like catching a tube down to the towera memorial, then walk south and back up through little china down and little Italy. That in-street you miss..
 
So finally filtered down the photos. Here is my general album, the helicopter photos are towards the bottom of the album.

First major use of the sony rx100va, used to use an XT-2 but always felt weighed down by the gear you had to carry.

It's a powerful little tool and goes into a coat pocket. Much better than having to carry around a "Man Bag" full of heavy glass and camera.

https://adobe.ly/2ScMdbO
 
stuman said:
So finally filtered down the photos. Here is my general album, the helicopter photos are towards the bottom of the album.

First major use of the sony rx100va, used to use an XT-2 but always felt weighed down by the gear you had to carry.

It's a powerful little tool and goes into a coat pocket. Much better than having to carry around a "Man Bag" full of heavy glass and camera.

https://adobe.ly/2ScMdbO
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What is this meant to be? :confused:

https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/...c84b0/assets/78fa55db2a134098965104400478cf46
 
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