Private Helicopter Tours: Experience Orange County from the Sky
If you want to feel like you’ve seen everything a place has to offer, some vacation destinations can be covered at ground level in a single road trip. Other places may necessitate you to get off the beaten path, be it on a mountain hike, a bike ride or even a skyline cruise. Some places - like the dynamic, wide-ranging rural geography and urban landscape of Anaheim and Orange County - can only fully be appreciated if you’ve taken it in from the air.
Helicopter tourism is often considered a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, and while flights like these were once a very pricey ticket, today’s airborne sightseeing trips have gotten much more accessible. Here are a few helicopter tour providers to consider on your next trip for an unforgettable perspective of the OC and beyond:
Maverick Helicopter Tours
With a fleet of nearly 50 helicopters, Maverick offers semi-private or private tours by air over destinations along the Pacific Ocean coastline, over Hollywood and even out to Catalina Island.
If you’re looking to see Coastal California from the air, their 30-minute tour departs from Long Beach to soar over Orange County with views of legendary stretches of sand like Newport and Seal Beach, the cliffs of Dana Point, the Huntington Beach Pier and Balboa Island. Your trip will wrap up with a return to the Port of Long Beach for a quick pass over the Queen Mary cruise liner. Depending on the time of year, you may even get to see some whales making the trek south for winter.
For those looking to splurge on a truly luxurious private experience, Maverick has options including a Catalina Island adventure that includes a zipline tour, heli-hiking along the Trans-Catalina trail, or even a heli-yacht experience that flies you and your date to a private yacht for a luxury meal on the high seas, including lobster and champagne.
If you loved any of these trips and have plans to visit other Southwestern destinations, Maverick also operates tours in Maui, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
Hangar 21 Heli
With over 65 years of flying experience, you’ll be sure of a safe and beautiful trek over Orange County with 280-degree views from the windows of their Robinson R-44 choppers. Flyers can choose from four tours over the OC, ranging from a quick 15-minute buzz of the coast to a 60-minute exploration.
The full hour-long tour starts with snacks and drinks in Hangar 21 Heli’s private lounge, where you’ll strap on some noise-cancelling headphones so you can hear your pilot pointing out all the sights along the way. Your trip will cruise you over the waves of Surf City at Huntington Beach and The Wedge, as well as Laguna Beach, Corona Del Mar, Crystal Cove, Monarch Beach and all of the iconic beachfront real estate along the way.
For a unique view of Knott’s Berry Farm and downtown Fullerton, book their Wonder Tour where you get a great view of all the rides and attractions at the park, or for a spectacular experience, schedule a sunset tour that takes you all the way from Seal Beach to Santa Monica Pier as the sun dips beneath the ocean’s horizon. You can also hang onto those memories forever with a Go-Pro recording of your tour - either of the route you fly, or with the camera watching your faces light up from inside the helicopter itself!
Rogue Aviation
When they’re not teaching students how to fly, Rogue Aviation has a variety of fun helicopter tours that give you some unique views of famous Orange County landmarks … and some that are a bit more infamous. Flights depart from John Wayne Airport and range from a quick “triangle tour” with coastal views of Newport Harbor and Huntington Beach to a wide-ranging “highlights tour” soaring over San Clemente, the OC Great Park, the Irvine Spectrum, the Coto de Caza and more.
If you happen to be as into RHOC cast members as sightseeing, you can combine those two interests with Rogue’s Real Housewives tour, taking you over the houses, marinas and resorts where your favorite episodes took place, while fans of nautical history will want to book the US Battleship Tour for overhead views of the Long Beach Harbor, the USS Iowa and the Queen Mary ocean liner.
To add an extra layer of exclusivity, any tour can be upgraded to a Deluxe version with a trip in their biggest helicopter, in-flight snacks, plus branded t-shirts, stickers and your own Rogue Aviation set of pilot’s wings to take with you. Looking to get the best possible photos to take home with you? Rogue also offers photo flights where they’ll strap you in and open up the helicopter’s doors to give you direct visual access to the sights.
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