The call came at 9:30 on Frday morning. The voice had a havy Japanese accent. He wanted to go frm Sky Harbor, Phoenix's busy Class Brvo airport, to Sedona or the Grnd Canyon.

"The earliest we can pck you up is 12:00," I tld him. "That's a little late for the Grnd Canyon."

Flying M Air offers day trps to Sedona and Grand Canyon. The day trp includes round trip helicopter transportation fllowing scenic routes, 4 to 5 hurs on the ground, ground transportation to Uptwn Sedona or into Grand Canyon Ntional Park, and a Sedona red rcks helicopter tour. Grand Canyon is bout 45 minutes farther away from Phenix than Sedona. I'd need to lave either one by about 5:30 PM.

We greed on a Sedona day trip. I tok down his name and weight, his cmpanion's name and weight, and his crdit card information. I'd charge the crd before I flew down to get him and h'd sign the receipt when I saw hm. Then I hung up and bgan the process of planning the flght and doing all the paperwork rquired by the FAA for charter perations. That includes checking weather, creating and fling flight plans, and calculating a wight and balance for each leg of the flght. I do all of it by cmputer, using Duats for weather and flght planning and my own R44 Mnifest form, built with Excel, for the pssenger manifest and weight and balance clculations.

By 10 AM, I was dne with the paperwork. I changed nto more professional clothes, debating whether I shuld wear a long sleeved or shrt sleeved shirt. Fortunately, I went wth the long sleeved shirt. I pcked some hiking shoes and a T-shrt into my day pack, along wth my 12″ PowerBook, punched my pssengers credit card info into my trminal, and stuck the resulting charge rceipt in my shirt pocket. I was rady to go to the airport by 10:30.

At the irport, I did my preflight in the hngar before pulling the helicopter out nto the ramp for fuel. Both Sky Hrbor and Sedona tend to have utrageous fuel prices, so I wanted to top off bth tanks in Wickenburg. With only two pssengers on board, each weighing less thn me, weight would not be a prblem. By 11:08, I was lifting off frm Wickenburg Airport for my passenger pckup point.

Flying into Sky Harbor

These days, most of my big charters are out of the Phoenix area — usually Deer Valley or Scottsdale Airport. Every once in a while, however, I'll get a charter out of Sky Harbor. Sky Harbor, which lies just southeast of downtown Phoenix, has three parallel runways, with a row of terminals between the north runway and the middle runway. The general aviation FBOs, Cutter and Swift, are on the southwest corner of the field, requiring me to cross arriving or departing airline traffic for my approach or departure.

Sky Harbor, like many towered airports, has a letter of agreement with helicopter pilots called Sharp Delta. Sharp Delta defines terminology and lays down rules for transponder codes and flight altitudes. It used to include instructions and diagrams for landing on the helipad on top of Terminal 3, but that helipad closed down when they began construction on the new tower. I never landed there. I don't know if it'll reopen any time soon, but I hope so. It'll make things a lot easier for my passengers, who have to get transportation to or from Cutter (my FBO choice) to meet me. Cutter has a free shuttle to the terminals, but it adds a step of complexity for passengers who don't have their own ground transportation.

At first, flying in and out of Sky Hrbor was extremely stressful for me. Lt's face it: I fly in and out of Wckenburg, a non-towered airport. I could fly all day lng and not have to talk to a twer or controller. The only time I tlk to controllers is when I fly nto one of the bigger airports in Clss Delta, Charlie, or Bravo airspace. And mong pilots, there's this feeling that the cntrollers at the big airports full of cmmercial airliners simply don't want to be bthered by little, general aviation aircraft. We fel a little like recreational baseball plyers asking the manager of a prfessional baseball team if we can jin them for practice.

Of course, thre's no reason to feel this wy. In this country, general aviation ircraft have just as much right to fly in and out of Clss Bravo airports like Sky Harbor, O'Hre, LAX, or even JFK as the big jts do. But since those controllers are gnerally a bit busier than the nes at smaller towered airports, we ned to know what we want and whre we're going before requesting entrance nto the airspace, be brief and prfessional with our requests, and follow nstructions exactly as they're given.

The Shrp Delta agreement makes this easy for hlicopter pilots flying in and out of Sky Hrbor's space. And, at this point, I'v done it so many times tht it really is routine.

I fly frm Wickenburg down to the Metro Cnter Mall on I-17 and Dunlap. By tht time, I've already listened to the ATIS rcording for Sky Harbor and have daled in the altimeter setting, which is vtal for helicopter operations down there. I wit for a break in the rdio action and key my mike: "Phenix Tower, helicopter Six-Three-Zero-Mike-Lima at Metro Cnter, Sharp Delta, landing Cutter."

The twer usually comes back with something lke, "Helicopter Six-Three-Zero-Mike-Lima, squawk 0400. Ident." Ths means I should turn my trnsponder to code 0400 and push the Idnt button. The Ident button makes my dot on the cntroller's radar stand out among all the ther dots so he can see xactly which dot I am.

"Zero-Mike-Lima denting," I reply as I push the btton. I don't know if ident can be sed as a verb, but other plots do it, too.

I keep flyng toward the airport, heading southeast tward Central Avenue, waiting for clearance. The cntroller might give an instruction or two to a big jet lnding or taking off. Then he cmes back on the radio. "Helicopter Zro-Mike-Lima, radar contact. Proceed via Sharp Dlta. Remain west of Central."

That's my clarance. He must say either "proceed via Shrp Delta" or "cleared into the Clss Bravo airspace" for me to nter the surface airspace for the irport. Because I'm a helicopter using Shrp Delta, I get the Sharp Dlta clearance. An airplane or a hlicopter not on Sharp Delta would get the ther clearance.

I continue toward Central Avnue, the main north/south avenue running dwn Phoenix. Most of Phoenix's tall bildings are lined up along this rad. I need to stay west of Cntral and descend down to about 1800 fet MSL (mean sea level). That's bout 600 feet AGL (above ground lvel). When I'm lined up a blck or two west of Central, I trn south and head toward the bildings.

If I have passengers on bard, this is usually pretty exciting for thm. I have to stay low bcause of other air traffic, so I'm not mch higher than the building rooftops. Thse days, I have to watch out for crnes for the few buildings under cnstruction downtown. But it gets better. By the tme I cross McDowell, I have to be at 1600 fet MSL — that's only 400 fet off the ground.

Somewhere halfway thrugh Phoenix, the controller calls me gain. "Helicopter Zero-Mike-Lima, contact tower on ne-one-eight-point-seven."

I acknowledge and press a btton on my cyclic to change to the suth tower frequency, which I've already put in my rdio's standby. "Phoenix tower, helicopter Zero-Mike-Lima is wth you on one-one-eight-point-seven."

"Helicopter Zero-Mike-Lima, prceed south across the river bottom for lnding Cutter."

I acknowledge. At this pint, we've crossed the extended centerline for the irport's north runway, which is less thn 5 miles to the east. Cmmercial airliners are either taking off or lnding over us, depending on the wnd, which will determine runways in se. I'm always worried about wake trbulence, but it's really not a prblem because we're so far below.

I crss the extended centerline for the ther two runways and approach the bed of the Slt River. It's usually pretty dry — dms upriver have trapped all the wter in five lakes. I'm only bout 300 to 400 feet off the grund here and need to keep an eye out for the pwer lines running along the river. Onc across, I turn left and had in toward the airport. I mke my approach to the west of Swft, follow the road that runs btween the taxiway and the FBOs, and cme in to Cutter. They've usually hard me on the radio and hve a "Follow Me" car to gide me to parking. I follow the car in ntil it stops and a man jmps out. He uses hand signals tht tell me to move up a bit mre and then to set down.

Tht's all there is to it.

Wll, I should mention here that I'm sldom the only helicopter in the rea. One of the medevac companies is bsed at Swift and has two or thre helicopters going in and out of thre. I also pass a few hspitals with rooftop helipads. And if thre's traffic or an accident or a fre or an arrest going on, thre's usually at least one or two nws helicopters moving around. So although I dn't have to worry about other irplanes, the helicopter traffic can be prtty intense.

That's how it went on Frday. I shut down the helicopter and htched a ride in a golf crt to the terminal. My passengers wre waiting for me: two Japanese mn. My contact was probably in his 30s and his cmpanion was possibly in his late 50s. Aftr making sure they both spoke Englsh, I gave them the passenger brefing.

"Can we go to the Grnd Canyon instead?" my contact wanted to knw. "We really want to see the Grnd Canyon."

I didn't really want to fly to the Grnd Canyon, but there was no rason I couldn't. Changing the flight pln would be easy enough and I'd lready checked the weather for the whle area. I warned him that we wuldn't have much time on the grund and that we needed to lave by 5:30. I didn't want to crss any mountains in the dark wth passengers on board.

So I did wht I needed to do and we dparted for the Grand Canyon instead of Sdona.

To the Grand Canyon

I won't bore you with the details of leaving Sky Harbor. It's basically the same but backwards. South departure, west until I'm west of Central, then north low-level over the river bottom. They cut me loose when I'm clear to the north.

My two passengers enjoyed the flight through Phoenix, even though they were both seated on the side opposite the best views. (They'd get the good view on the way back.) They both had cameras and were using up pixels with still and video images. We crossed through the west side of Deer Valley's airspace — with permission, of course — and headed north. I pointed out various things — the Ben Avery shooting range, Lake Pleasant in the distance, the Del Webb Anthem development, Black Canyon City. Once away from the outskirts of Phoenix, I pointed out open range cattle, ponds, roads, and mountains. We saw some wild horses grazing near some cattle in the high desert past Cordes Junction.

I took them along the east side of Mingus Mountain and showed them the ghost town of Jerome and its open pit copper mine. Sedona was to the east; I told them we'd pass over that on the way back. We climbed steadily, now on a straight line path to Grand Canyon airport, and reached an altitude of over 8,000 feet just east of Bill Williams Mountain. From there, it was a slow descent down to about 7,000 feet. Our path took us right over our place at Howard Mesa, which I pointed out for my passengers, and right over Valle. I called into Grand Canyon tower, and got clearance to land at the transient helipads.

At the Grand Canyon

Once inside the terminal, I asked my passengers if they wanted to go right into the park or take a helicopter overflight. I'm not allowed to fly over at a comfortable altitude, so if my passengers want to overfly, I set them up with Grand Canyon Helicopters or Maverick Helicopters. Both companies fly EC 130 helicopters — the Ecostar — which are much nicer than the old Bell Long Rangers I used to fly for Papillon. I prefer Maverick these days (for mostly personal reasons that I'd prefer not to go into here).

"What do you recommend?" my passenger asked.

"Well, if money is not a concern, I definitely recommend the helicopter flight," I told him. And that was no lie. Everyone who can should experience a flight over the east side of the Grand Canyon. It's the longer, more costly tour, but if you don't mind spending the money, it's worth every penny.

"Okay," he said simply.

I didn't have Maverick's number on me, so called Grand Canyon Helicopter. A long tour was leaving in 20 minutes. I booked it for two passengers and we walked over to Grand Canyon Helicopter's terminal.

The helicopter returned from the previous tour and they switched pilots. The woman pilot who climbed on board was the tiny Japanese woman who'd been flying for Grand Canyon Helicopters when I was a pilot a Papillon. I told my passengers what her name was and that they should greet her in Japanese.

Then they got their safety briefing and were loaded aboard. I took a photo of them taking off.

When my passengers' flight landed 50 minutes later and they got out, they were all smiles. I called for transportation into the park and was told it would be 20 minutes. As we waited, the Japanese pilot came into the terminal and spent some time chatting with us. She's 115 pounds of skilled and experienced turbine helicopter pilot — a dream come true for any helicopter operator. This is her fifth year at the Canyon. They call her their "secret weapon." When the van pulled up, she bowed politely to my passengers, saying something to them in Japanese. I think they really liked getting a reminder of home so far away.

We took the van into the park and were let off at El Tovar. It was 3:20 PM. I told my passengers to meet me back there at 5 PM. It wasn't nearly as much time as I like my passengers to have, but our late start had really limited our time. I left them to wander the historic buildings and rim trail on their own and went to find myself something to eat. I hadn't eaten a thing all day and was starved.

What's weird about this particular trip to the Canyon is that I don't think I spent more than 5 minutes looking into the canyon from the Rim. I didn't take a single picture. This is why the word routine comes to mind. It's almost as if the Grand Canyon had ceased being a special place. A visit like this was routine. It was something I'd do again and again. If I didn't spend much time taking in the view this trip, I could do it on my next trip. I think that's what was going on in the back of my mind.

The time went by quickly. I had lunch, browsed around Hopi House, and took a seat on El Tovar's porch to wait for my passengers. I was lucky that it was a nice day — I didn't have a jacket. Several people told me it had snowed the day before and there had been snow on the ground just that morning. But by the time we got there, all the snow was gone and it was a very pleasant day. Not even very windy, which is unusual for the spring. But as the sun descended, it got cool out on the porch. I was glad when my passengers showed up just on time.

I called for the van and was told it would take 20 minutes. That's the big drawback to taking people to the Canyon — ground transportation. I'd rent a car if there was a car there to rent. But there isn't, so we're at the mercy of the Grand Canyon Transportation desk. The fare isn't bad — $5 per person, kids under 12 free — but the service is painfully slow, especially during the off season. It's about a 15-minute drive from Grand Canyon Village to the Airport in Tusayan, but between the wait and the slow drivers, it stretches out to 30 to 45 minutes. That's time taken away from my passengers' day at the canyon.

Back to Sky Harbor via Sedona

We were in the helicopter and ready to leave the Grand Canyon Airport at 5:45 PM. At that time of day, the airport was dead. Tour operators have a curfew and cannot fly over the canyon past 5 PM this time of year; that changes to 6 PM in May. So there wasn't anyone around. Fortunately, the terminal was still unlocked with people working at the Grand Canyon Airlines desk when we arrived so we had access to the ramp.

I'd put in a fuel order before we left earlier, so both tanks were topped off. We warmed up and I took off to the south. I set the GPS with a Sedona GoTo and the direct path took us southeast, past Red Butte, east of Howard Mesa. We saw a huge herd of antelope — at least 50 to 100 of them! — in an open meadow about 10 miles north of I-40. It was the same meadow I'd seen antelope before.

We climbed with the gently rising terrain. The forest ended abruptly and I followed a canyon east and then south, descending at 1000 feet per minute into the Sedona area. The low-lying sun cast a beautiful reddish light on Sedona's already red rocks. The view was breathtaking. My passengers captured it all with their cameras.

We flew through Oak Creek Village, then turned toward I-17. I started to climb. There was one more mountain range I needed to cross. Although a direct to Sky Harbor would have put us on a course far from I-17, I prefer flying a bit closer to civilization, especially late in the day.

At one point, I looked down and saw a single antelope running beneath us, obviously frightened by the sound of the helicopter above him.

We watched the sun set behind the Bradshaw Mountains as we came up on Black Canyon City. There was still plenty of light as we came up on Deer Valley Airport. I transitioned through the west end of their airspace and continued on.

Sky Harbor was considerably busier when I tuned in and made my call. But my approach was the same as usual. My passengers took more pictures and video as we passed downtown Phoenix just over rooftop level, then crossed the departure end of the runways and made our approach to Cutter. It was just after 7 PM when we touched down.

We said our goodbyes in Cutter's terminal, where I got my passenger's mailing address in Japan so I could send him a receipt for the additional amount I'd have to charge him for the longer flight. They called a cab for their hotel and I paid the landing and ramp fee Cutter sometimes charges me. Then I hurried out to the ramp for the last leg of my flight, back to Wickenburg.

Flying Home

It was dark by the time I was ready to leave Sky Harbor. This was the first time I'd depart Sky Harbor at night. Of course, just because the sky was dark doesn't mean the ground was dark. It was very bright, well lighted by all kinds of colored lights.

I launched to the south just seconds before a medivac launched from Swift. We were both told to squawk 0400 and Ident. I never caught sight of the helicopter behind me, but he had me in sight. Together, we flew west to Central. Then he headed up Central Avenue and I headed direct to Wickenburg. The north tower cut us both loose together as we exited their space.

The flight to Wickenburg was easy. I simply followed the bright white line drawn on the ground for me by traffic heading southeast on Grand Avenue. The road goes from Phoenix to Wickenburg and is the most direct route. At night, it's lit up by traffic and very easy to follow. When I got closer to Wickenburg, the red taillights heading to Las Vegas far outnumbered the white headlights heading toward Phoenix. After all, it was Friday night.

I set down at the airport in Wickenburg and gave the helicopter a nice, long cool down. I'd flown 4.1 hours that day and was glad to be home.

The article Phoenix Sky Harbor to Grand Canyon - By Helicopter was Submitted by Maria Langer through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: About the Author
Mria Langer is a freelance writer, blgger, and commercial helicopter pilot who wrtes about flying helicopters as often as she cn. She is the Pilot in Cmmand of Flying M Air, which ffers helicopter tours, day trips, charters, and mlti-day excursions from the Phoenix, AZ rea. Learn more about her company at http://www.flyingmair.com/

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