Colorado Heliops

Suspended within a glass and steel bubble, passengers soar over red-rock foothills and misty mountaintops. In the distance, they can glimpse the towering steel buildings of the Mile High City. The sun glints from a golden dome, and abstract façades of modern architecture reach toward clear, blue skies dotted with clouds. Though their ears are shielded by headsets, the passengers can hear the hum of the helicopter’s blades as they slice through the air. Customers also get a chance to try their hand at piloting a helicopter on one of the simulators.

Colorado Heli-Ops's team of extensively trained pilots ferries passengers on aerial tours such as these that fly over some of their state’s most historic sites and breathtaking scenery. The sleek metal hulls of Robinson R44 helicopters provide limousine-like luxury with plush leather seats, Bose headsets, and iPod docks that invite guests to enhance flights with a personal soundtrack of emotional rock ballads. On-staff photographers can professionally capture tour memories with high-powered lenses affixed to digital cameras.

Pilots also use their mechanical birds to train clients for private and commercial pilot’s licenses or help them brush up on more specialized skills through programs in high-altitude and mountain flight. To enable preflight preparation and let students observe the flight patterns of digital geese, staffers operate an FAA-certified Frasca Truflight H simulator and Merlin Turbine simulator.