THE LITTLE HILL HOME

Helicopter Ride over Sedona

For my parent's 50th wedding anniversary my father purchased
a helicopter ride over Sedona for my mother and one of her daughters.
My dad was in the military so flying a helicopter is old news to him. My oldest sister, Kim quickly declined the offer and Kris had a prior engagement. So guess who got
to go? Yep the one that is afraid of heights.

My mom was sick on Saturday when the flight was scheduled
so my dad ended up going after all. The helicopter was much smaller
than I had envisioned and there were no doors on either side.
I was chosen by the staff somehow ( I think based on weight ) to sit
in the front with the pilot and my dad was crammed in the back
with a nice couple from Chandler.

In the first minute or so of the flight I was panic stricken and had to
talk myself into not having a full on attack. I am pretty good
about convincing myself that obviously people do this everyday and I couldn't
imagine the pilot wanted to die either. Beside the lady that checked
us in said they had a 20+ year perfect safety record.

I started to really enjoy the ride and the absolutely beautiful scenery.
The pilot was able to bring us very close to several Indian ruins and gorgeous
red rocks. All was good until he banked the helicopter and I thought I was
going to fall out with nothing to hold on to. I prayed a silent prayer and
was good again.
I did not find out until the flight was over that the two in the back were
just as nervous as I was and had tightened their seat belts a few times
during the trip. I thought I handled myself pretty well considering everything
and I never once screamed out in horror.

Now I can honestly say that I am so thankful to of had that experience
and I did enjoy it immensely. I can also say that there is no way
my mother or either of my sisters would of survived. They would
of had to land the helicopter and let the screaming lunatics off.

I am positive that is something the helicopter company has done before.