Sport Helicopters

One of the (many) things I love about Cape Town is that even though I have been here over ten years, there is always something I haven’t done or seen. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to enjoy a helicopter flip over Cape Town. We all know Cape Town is a beautiful city, but it is really something special to see it from the air. As opposed to an aeroplane, from a helicopter you get great views in all directions and you move slower so you can take it all in properly.

We flew with Sport Helicopters which is based in the Waterfront. Their standard flights are 20, 30 or 60 minutes. We opted for the 20min option which took us from the Waterfront, over the stadium, along the Atlantic Seaboard to Hout Bay. Then around the mountains and over Constantia, the city and back to the Waterfront. The first thing I noticed is that the stadium is huge, really huge! All the houses look like little monopoly houses when you’re up that high but the stadium still looked massive.

The pilot pointed out various things throughout the trip which made it quite interesting. What was also quite interesting was hearing stories about the various celebrities he has flown and worked with because they do a lot of movie shoots. For the movie shoots they use their authentic Huey helicopter (like the ones you see in the Vietnam movies). It’s the only legally registered (and insured!) Huey in South Africa. They do 60 minute sightseeing tours with the Huey, or you can go for a 30min ‘combat mission’ where you do some low flying and get a feel for what it was like for the guys in Vietnam (think Apocalypse Now!).

I must admit, I was a little nervous because I have never been in a helicopter before. But it was really smooth and quiet and there was no turbulence, I relaxed within a minute or two of lift off. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I reckon a helicopter flip over Cape Town is something everyone should do once and it’s awesome for tourists. It’s not as expensive as you think, especially if you can get a group together. They have various helicopters which can seat 4 or 6, and the Huey seats 9.