We pre-booked this tour via Viator before we left home.
We were collected from our hotel in Las Vegas in a minibus. We were first in so we had a tour of several other hotels before the drive to Henderson Airport which is to the south of Vegas.
This was our very first trip in a helicopter so it was very exciting to see what was going to happen.
We were weighed at check in, had to wait in a holding area (lounge) and then had a pre flight briefing with our pilot, Jeremy. We all had to wear head sets on board so that we could communicate with each other and the pilot. We also had to set our mobile phones to flight mode and wear a belt with a safety pack attached to it.
We eventually took off and were surprised that the pilot hovered along a solid yellow line down a runway until he took off.
Wow! We climbed into the sky and were soon on our way. We were approaching a hill and everyone gasped as we passed over the top and there was a sheer drop on the other side!
We flew across vast plains and our first good view was of the Hoover Dam. It was so picturesque and we could see that it is actually located in quite a narrow gorge. Amazing!
Then we flew on to the West Grand Canyon. The ground became more and more mountainous and we were soon flying between the rocks. We got lower and lower until we were flying along the Colorado River and we landed on a rocky area. We spent a happy half an hour having a drink of champagne and a snack and explored the immediate area.
All too soon, it was time to fly back to base via a different route. We had to stop on the way back, in the middle of nowhere, to refuel and we had to get out of the helicopter. There were Joshua Trees nearby.
The Grand Canyon itself is massive and spectacular although I must say that the South and North Rims later on our holiday were more spectacular (awesome as the Americans say!).
We loved the helicopter flight. There was no sensation of speed. Jeremy said we were flying at 150 mph but it felt more like 30 mph. It was approx 40 minutes flying time each way.
We really enjoyed our adventure and would love to do it again.
