A couple of birthdays ago, I gave Derek a gift certificate for a helicopter flying lesson at St.Thomas Airport. He loves helicopters and has often said that if he had it to do all over again, he’d like to fly one. This was as close as I could get him. It included a 15 minute flight.
For a variety of reasons, the flight didn’t happen until this week. We actually went for our appointment last week but not only was the chopper being serviced, the instructor hadn’t remembered – or written down – that we were coming! I wasn’t upset about the helicopter out of commission. The lack of professionalism got to me, especially when his first words weren’t, “gee guys, I’m sorry…” I sort of stomped off – which was better than the alternative – so he was eager to make it up to me on our return visit. In fact, he invited me along for the flight.
There was some instruction inside a small ‘copter and then we got into the Robinson R44. Some safety instructions included a graphic story about what happens when you exit the machine without thinking, and we were ready to go.
We hovered, we swooped and we looked down on trees, fields, highways and in a few short minutes, the beautiful beach of Port Stanley.
Fifteen minutes later it was over, but not before a couple of crop-dusting moves that put our bellies into our throats – in a good way! Instructor Kevin was a crop-duster who joined forces with a competitor to open this school. He really knows his stuff.
It was a beautiful flight on a beautiful day! Derek loved it and so did I and we can both see why it’s so addictive. Fortunately, it’s also wickedly expensive. Kevin says a chopper flies for about $750 per hour. Once is quite enough! Happy Belated Birthday Flyboy!