Flight over Perth

I had a day off from from work today and my dad and I decided to drive to Jandakot airport and take a helicopter flight over Perth to kill some time. Jandakot airport is where i take my flying lessons from and i train in a Cessna 152, my flying lessons have been put on hold however until i achieve my 5 big trips as each lesson costs me $220 AUD for an hour and at the moment traveling is more important to me than getting my licence.

The company we went flying with is called Jandakot Helicopters which by coincidence is the same company I had a chopper flight with way out in the bush a few years earlier. We got to the airport and then at Jandakot Helicopters we met the pilot and talked about the Robinson R44 and what we would be flying over. After getting strapped into the chopper the pilot made a few checks and then started the chopper up, he lifted off the ground about 1 meter and then did some checks to make sure the chopper was in good condition to fly.

The brilliant thing about the choppers is that once take off clearance is given the chopper can just go straight up and fly into the direction away from the airport that they want. I have obviously flown myself many times in a fixed wing aircraft and the process is a lot more involved as you need taxi clearance, permission to cross the runways and then you can only take off in a certain direction. Also with the aircraft you need to join a circuit around the airport before heading off in the direction that you want to go, so i was very happy about the way the chopper can go about its business.

We headed straight towards the Swan river and followed it all the way to Perth, we got to fly low over many houses and had an excellent view of the suburbs around the river and Perth. When we got close to Perth I got to see how big Kings Park really is, i mean i always knew it was big but from the air it just looks like a large forest. The best thing about the Robinson R44 is that with the ear muffs on it was quiet and because all i had in front of me was glass (no panels) it felt like i was just sitting on top of the world looking down. The first thing i noticed when we got closer to the CBD is that horrible new convention center that looks like a large shed, i think it is a hideous building and can't believe that ever got approved.

We went around to the right hand side of the CBD and flew over the bell tower on the foreshore and then flew right around the tall towers of Perth. After seeing the main sights from the city, we then headed out towards to ocean and followed the beaches all the way back to Fremantle. After reaching Fremantle the pilot contacted to ground controller and was told to fly over Adventure world (like i always do in my Cessna) and join the circuit down wind. The ground controller told us to watch out for another pilot in the area who wasn't listening to commands and flying right near us. Fortunately he was below us and not close enough to cause us any problems, we then flew over the runways at Jandakot and then landed on a grassy field near one of them.

I would recommend this flight for anyone wanting a different view of a very spread out city and its surroundings, the flight covered a 60km area and went for about 30 minutes.