Open door helicopter/ aeroplane photography flight ?

[ExPat2B]

I want to buy a gift for someone, of a photography flight over somewhere interesting.

I can't seem to find anything other than London Helicopter in London, which to honest is pretty much perfect, but it is 400 quid for 18mins....and I am not convinced its the best option.

Any thing like a Cessna flight or longer helicopter flight, maybe not open door but specifically for photography available ?

Anyone done any of the standard helicopter uk flights ( non open door door ) and got any good photos ?

[Simpo Two]

Years ago when I used to direct video, myself and a cameraman simply took a flight in a Cessna from a small airstrip. The pilot just flew where we wanted and we stuck the camera out of the window.

[steveatesh]

I’ve just been given a helicopter flight as a birthday present off a mate. He got it off buyagift (.co.uk) and it lasts 6 minutes and there are numerous locations around the country. I doubt he paid more than £20 for it as a comparison for what you are looking at.

Got to say I’m thrilled with it and it will be a photographic flight far as I’m concerned.

Hope you get sorted!

[Andy M]

Not sure where you're planning on booking but I'd been due to fly to New York with my wife to take an open door helicopter flight, but then this happened:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/nyregion/flynyo...

[Slushbox]

Your local grass landing strip/airfield/flying school might have 'trial flight' offers, though getting something with open windows or doors might be tricky.

The pro photogs tend to charter 'door-off' aircraft, but it's quite unpleasant in the cold weather. :-)

[bakerstreet]

steveatesh said:

I’ve just been given a helicopter flight as a birthday present off a mate. He got it off buyagift (.co.uk) and it lasts 6 minutes and there are numerous locations around the country. I doubt he paid more than £20 for it as a comparison for what you are looking at.

Got to say I’m thrilled with it and it will be a photographic flight far as I’m concerned.

Hope you get sorted!

My guess is it will be in a R22, which is lots of curved perspex and my gut feel is that will be a pain to photograph from.

[Wobbegong]

Have a look at gyrocopters. Far cheaper to run than a helicopter so the prices are a lot less.

[Nigel_O]

My son and I chartered a doors-off flight over London yesterday with HeliAir based in High Wycombe

The whole flight was just over an hour, with probably a third of it over stuff worth taking photos of.

The team at HeliAir we’re brilliant - we only booked at 5:00pm the previous day, but we were airborne by 11:00am the next day. It was a small chopper, so it was really easy to lean out for a shot (which isn’t a very clever idea, by the way - the buffeting is ridiculous)

If you can get three of you, the cost is very reasonable at just over £200 each

Still not a cheap day, but it was a brilliant experience

I’ll post some shots later when I’ve sorted them (I filled a 32GB card in an hour! )

[RizzoTheRat]

Wobbegong said:

Have a look at gyrocopters. Far cheaper to run than a helicopter so the prices are a lot less.

I believe ultralights and gyros, while lacking in doors and therefore being perfect for the OPs requirements, aren't allowed to fly over urban areas, so may depend on where he want's to do it.

Worth visiting your local airfield and seeing what they do. My wife bought me a hour long trial flight in a Piper Warrior a while back, we made it from Fairoaks (Woking area) to the south coast and back in an hour and she sat in the back and took some reasonable photos despite them being through the window.

A trial flight with a gliding club would be cheaper but less control over where you go and they usually have curved canopies.

[ashleyman]

London Helicopter Co won’t go doors off unless you take a whole aircraft and even then the actual helicopter is just awful to shoot from. Shooting through the windows is impossible as it’s all curved and I think plastic. I’ve been up with them twice to do photography. Once on a tour and the shots are bad because of reflections and once doors off but there are better options.

I’ll try and dig out the other company I use later.

[Nigel_O]

Here's a couple of shots from yesterday - posted with Thumbsnap until I can get them properly processed and on to Flickr





HeliAir were fairly relaxed about the open-door aspect. Clearly, all the camera kit was tethered, but they would have allowed lens changes if w'd wanted to (we didn't bother). We were VERY securely harnessed in (and after the NewYork doors-off tragedy, the harnesses came with knives to extract ourselves if we'd had to ditch in the Thames)

We were able to ask the pilot to slow down at certain points to allow better shots. He was very knowledgable - pointing out lots of landmarks along the route to help us get our bearings.

I was surprised just how challenging the environment was - the draught in the cabin was enough to lift my BlackRapid strap from over my shoulder to around my neck. The buffeting inside the cabin meant that 1/1000 sec was as slow as I wanted to go - I think I ended up at 1/1250 and 1/1600 at some points. Pointing the camera out of the cabin was a great idea until I tried it....

Also - slowly cooking on the ground in a lightweight jumper at 27 degrees suddenly transforms into rather chilly when you're in a 110 knot breeze - dress appropriately!

If you get the right weather, its an experience I'd recommend to anyone. £600+ is hefty if you go on your own, but with three of you, its perfectly reasonable. Just do it - we loved it

[anonymous-user]

You could also try HQ Aviation.

[ReverendCounter]

Does it have to be London, because another option might be getting taken up in a microlight elsewhere in the country?

[bakerstreet]

Nigel_O said:

Here's a couple of shots from yesterday - posted with Thumbsnap until I can get them properly processed and on to Flickr

I like that photo, but if you had just moved a few inches to the right, you would have got my office into the picture!

[Nigel_O]

bakerstreet said:

I like that photo, but if you had just moved a few inches to the right, you would have got my office into the picture!

I have a few more from this angle - I’ll see if I have anything a little to the right - what street is your office on? (clearly not your username...)

Edited by Nigel_O on Thursday 10th May 16:54

[sc0tt]

bakerstreet said:

Nigel_O said:

Here's a couple of shots from yesterday - posted with Thumbsnap until I can get them properly processed and on to Flickr

I like that photo, but if you had just moved a few inches to the right, you would have got my office into the picture!

You should have said, I'm near the top of the walkie talkie.

I would have waved.

[Nigel_O]

sc0tt said:

You should have said, I'm near the top of the walkie talkie.

I would have waved.

I looked out for you, but you weren't waving when I went past...

Sky Garden by Nigel Ogram, on Flickr

[Nigel_O]

Rest of the album now on FlickR

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjmPmh9

Back on topic - I heartily recommend ticking this one off your bucket list. I will be doing it again, but probably with an early-evening flight through London later this year.

Edited by Nigel_O on Thursday 10th May 19:12

[sc0tt]

Nigel_O said:

sc0tt said:

You should have said, I'm near the top of the walkie talkie.

I would have waved.

I looked out for you, but you weren't waving when I went past...

Sky Garden by Nigel Ogram, on Flickr

My desk is the bottom right of that pic. Looks great.