What a wonderful experience with Safari! Cookie, Samantha and Sam were a great team providing pre trip info, pre trip training, and in flight info. We felt safe and enjoyed the ride from beginning to end.
Cookie greeted us as we approached the building. Informed us of how long before our pre flight meeting was happening. Greeted us using our surnames, it was quite impressive. She gathered us for the pre trip meeting, talked of the safety aspects to be aware of, which included the life vest, walking procedure out to the helicopter, all about the safety!!
She then proceeds to walk us out to the helicopter in a specific order for safety. We were first in line, not knowing how that meant where we were going to get to sit inside the helicopter. She directed my wife and I to follow her over to the copter from our staging point about 20 feet in front of the copter. She opens the door and has us sit in the front row next to the pilot! How Cool!!! Cookie helps us with our seat belts and Sam helps us with the headsets. There is a button, think Jeopardy button that we have to push in order to talk to Sam. She says hello to make sure we hear her and we reply back to her Hello!
It takes a minute to load all of the passengers, 6 of us and Sam our pilot. Sam goes through a few reminders of the safety concerns, how the emergency handles on the doors work, where the fire extinguishers were, and then we started up. What a smooth lift off and rise through the airport to clear the air space. It was my first ride in a helicopter and it will not be my last! I was impressed at how smooth our ride was, even the turns so that each side of the copter could see the sights. We made quite a few very tight turns for viewing and she always informed us prior to making the move so no one was surprised. Hats off to Sam for her amazing flying skill and knowledge that she shared with us about the Island and National Park. She even added some history in the mix that we appreciated.
Thanks Safari Helicopters!