Active duty is only the beginning of a helicopter's career, with many putting their blades to continued use as touring vehicles, stunt choppers, or sushi chefs. Cut through the scenery with today's Groupon: for $180, you get an ancient-ruins helicopter tour for two from Arizona Helicopter Adventures in Sedona (a $302.84 value).

Military- and law-enforcement-trained pilots lift spirits with racing vistas of the towering red-rock formations and Sinagua Indian ruins that surround Sedona. Propellers thump through the air, echoing like a giant heartbeat between Secret Canyon's 2,000-foot red-rock walls, to which vines and Top Gun posters firmly cling. Copter captains crest Secret Mountain and ride along the Mogollon Rim, where height flattens desert panoramas into arid quilts. The final stretch of the 25-minute tour runs through Boynton Canyon, where improbable rock arches rise to obscure the horizon once again. The Sinagua's brick ruins trace recognizable patterns across the canyon floor, revealing age-old domiciles and retired helicopter landing pads.