I was recently given a helicopter lesson as a birthday present. It was one of those gift cards and was pretty easy to organise. You just ring the number and choose your time and date. I have been mad busy and had kept putting the gift off for nearly 6 months, so it was about to expire in two weeks, I needed to book it fast. When I rang the number they had a cancellation the next day so I took that, great!
The gift certificate was from TreatMe.net and I originally had it booked for Blackpool but rang up and got it changed to Goodwood.
The flight school was Phoenix Helicopters and my instructor was very friendly and talkative.
The sat nav got us there with ease, on turning up at Goodwood there are two flight schools so I had to follow the signs for ‘phoenix’. The experience started with a 5 minute classroom lesson explaining the 3 controls in a helicopter, didn’t sound too complicated but at the same time completely alien to driving a car.
The instructor takes you up in the helicopter, explaining how he is using the radio and land speed etc. The views are amazing, helicopter ‘windows’ are so big you get a great 270deg view around you. Once you are up in the air, you go through the controls one by one, trying them for yourself to see how they feel and what they do. Then suddenly he has let go of all the controls and I am flying the helicopter! It takes so much concentration it is crazy, I kept nearly making it nose dive but the instructor would just jump back in, explain what you where doing and help correct it.
It was an amazing experience and anyone who has never done any type of flying (like me). I would definitely recommend it. It is also a great gift for someone, you can make a day out of it.