NYC Helicopter Tour: What to Expect on a Doors-Off Ride
Recently, I had the opportunity of going on a 30-minute doors-off Helicopter Tour in NYC, covering all of Manhattan at once for the ultimate NYC aerial photography experience. There’s nothing quite like conquering New York City from thousands of feet in the air. Our FlyNYON flight took us directly over Manhattan’s skyscrapers, giving us a New York City experience like no other.
From the moment that my coworker, Nadia, and I arrived at the NYON terminal, we could tell that this was going to be the experience of a lifetime. Check in went smoothly and then one of the FlyNYON customer experience representatives took us to a separate room where we watched a safety video on how our flight was going to go, the landmarks we were going to experience, and all of the different functions we needed to be aware of while in the aircraft.
We were then strapped up in our gear which included a harness, a life jacket, a tether, and a warm regular jacket. Our representative gave us warm jackets because we wore t-shirts, not realizing it can get cold and windy while thousands of feet in the air. The FlyNYON crew gave each passenger a secured case to put our phones in, which went around our necks to ensure that we could take all the pictures and videos we wanted without the fear of dropping our phones. After we had the gear on, we had another lesson about how to personally detach our tethers and blow up our life jackets in case of an emergency.
After getting in our gear and finishing our safety briefings, it was finally time to board our flight. We took a bus to the loading area and met our pilot. After discussing the flight route that we were going to be taking with our pilot, we got into the helicopter. We were given headsets, were strapped in, and our tethers were attached. Nadia and I had the best seats in the aircraft, right next to one of the open doors.
Our helicopter tour in NYC covered all of the major New York City landmarks. Over our headsets, our pilot narrated the different landmarks we were passing by as we flew. Just a few of the many places we flew over included the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Freedom Tower, Brooklyn Bridge, and the Oculus. After we were fully situated in the air, our pilot announced on our headsets when we were allowed to rearrange the way that we were sitting so that our feet were out in the open which gave us the perfect opportunity to get the to die for photos of the breathtaking views of New York City.
FlyNYON was an incredibly personable and safe helicopter experience. Sometimes heights scare me a little bit, but I felt very comfortable in the air, especially with all of the safety protocols we had to go through before boarding. Whether looking to fly over the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, or World Trade Center, FlyNYON is the Helicopter Tour in NYC to use. FlyNYON runs flights all day, seven days a week. Special flights they have include over the fireworks on the 4th of July, a New Year’s Eve Midnight flight, and flights during the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’d love to go back and experience one of their flights during a sunset.