palmfish Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Im on vacation in Hawaii (Big Island) and thought a helicopter tour would be fun. I see Paradise Helicopters has a "doors off" tour with their MD500. Blue Hawaiian seems to be the biggest operation here, but i was thinking the 500 would be more fun than an AStar or EC130 and offer better visibility and more visceral feedback for the Mrs. Just wondering if anyone has knowledge/experience with the tour operators here and has any wisdom they'd be willing to share with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridethisbike Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 I've heard the 500 was a horrible machine for tours. This was from ground crew though, not a passenger. I guess people would always hop up on the steps and climb in the way they would a truck, rather than ducking in, they'd stand up on the step and THEN slide in, as in head over the top of the cabin with rotors turning (hot load operation). Also, apparently a lot of people bitched about having to sit in the middle up front because they had the instrument panel in front of them and couldn't see anything. The instrument panel thing I would think should be your only concern since you know the dangers of rotors and won't let your wife do anything crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azhigher Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 (edited) I'd go for the Blue Hawaiian 130 trip over any other helicopter company/airframe combo on the islands. I did a tour with them out of Maui and had a great experience. Hard to beat an EC 130 for tours in my opinion. (Although I'm probably a little biased) Edited February 3, 2013 by Azhigher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmfish Posted February 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 We ended up doing the 500 doors off. We sat in back (thank goodness) and had a great tour. Smelled the smells and had a very unobstructed view of the volcano and lava. The hot-loading thing was a bit of a turn off though - I like to meet the pilot face to face first to make the tour a little more personal. Other than that, it was very enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridethisbike Posted February 9, 2013 Report Share Posted February 9, 2013 Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Why thank goodness you sat in the back though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobie Posted February 9, 2013 Report Share Posted February 9, 2013 Mile High 500' club for helicopters 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmfish Posted February 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Why thank goodness you sat in the back though? They cram 4 PAX into the 500. We were doors off but the other couple wanted doors on. Im glad we were in back - the center front jump seat looked very uncomfortable and offerred a less than ideal view. Sitting in back allowed both of us a completely unobstructed view out the open sides of the helicopter. Five people and 3/4 fuel in a D Model... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotormandan Posted February 11, 2013 Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 Mile High 500' club for helicopters I always called it the 1000' club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmfish Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 I always called it the 1000' club. Very safety minded of you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.