Person A booked a heli tour ride early in the morning at 7 A.M. Person B went a bit more casual at 4 P.M. Even though it was the exact same route, on the same day, the experiences were completely different. How come?
Person A got smooth air, and they had a great range of vision, enabling them to see every nook and cranny, trees, and even a couple of animals down at the surface. It was clear and crisp.
Person B’s heli ride went a bit differently; there was this hazy light blocking things in the distance, and the air was all but smooth; there was lots of turbulence, resulting in B bouncing all over the cabin for most of the flight.
The mistake most people make is picking a time according to the rest of their plans for the day.
They don’t know that the time you fly changes so much, from visibility to turbulence to shadows. It even changes how hot the inside of the cabin gets.
So, your dinner/morning coffee plans should revolve around the flight, not the other way around.
What Changes in the Air Throughout the Day
As the day goes on, the air changes, and it doesn’t do so randomly.
It’s the heat; the sun hits the ground, and the ground gets warm.
Then what happens is that that same warmth rises; those rising pockets of warm air are called thermals. If you take a helicopter ride in the morning, the ground will still be cool from the night before, which means – no thermals.
And no thermals means a smooth ride, so the helicopter just… Glides.
By around brunch time, the ground has warmed up, and the air pockets have started to go up.
Every single time the helicopter hits one, you’ll feel a bump, and by early afternoon, those bumps get bigger, and you feel them all the time. This is also the time when the wind starts to pick up. What that creates is gusts; the warm air has to go somewhere, and the cool air rushes to take its place, so at 2 P.M., the flight will make you feel like a coin in a dryer.
Well.. bouncy, to say the least.
The only problem is that there’s no sun, so the light/visibility isn’t THAT great. Operators know all this, and they regularly use tools to check forecasts through one endpoint for forecast and history. They’ll warn you all about the different conditions, but the thing is, people rarely listen.
How Season/Location Changes What the ‘Best Time’ Is
So, what did we learn – Morning flights are the ‘best time’?
It’s understandable why you’d think that, but it’s actually not necessarily true.
Generally, mornings are considered ‘less bumpy’, but that also depends on where you are and what time of year it is.
Take summer, for example.
The sun’s intense in the summer, so the ground gets really hot, really fast. Morning flights are still pretty smooth in the summer, but by noon, the thermals get very strong, so there’s a huge difference between 7 A.M. flight and 1 P.M. flight.
Mornings are calm and steady, while afternoons feel ‘a bit’ more bumpy.
Things are different in winter, though.
Since the sun is low and rather weak, the ground gets warmer, but it never gets so hot that it can cause big thermals. So whether you go for a flight early in the morning or after lunch, you’ll still get a smooth experience.
Fall and spring are the trickiest of all seasons because you never know what to expect.
One day, it’s summer, the next, you need a thick blanket and boots. So, before you book a flight, you have to check the weather forecast, and even then, there’s no guarantee you’ve picked a good time.
Location is just as important as season. If you’re close to the coast, you should know that this is the area that has its own thing going on.
The land gets warm, but the ocean stays cool, so you get breezes in the afternoon. If it’s a city, that’s different, as well. All that concrete soaks up heat and releases it well into the afternoon. That means you can still get thermals later on in the day, whereas a rural town has already calmed down at that point.
Mountains are the most dramatic of all because the weather there changes like nobody’s business.
Conclusion
So, you want to book a scenic helicopter flight. When’s the best time to do so? Unfortunately, the answer is, ‘It depends.’
Most of the time, it’s the mornings, especially if it’s your first time flying in a helicopter. (and for most people, that’s the case). If you want a smooth, relaxing ride, then summer mornings and basically anytime in the winter will work.
If your priority is good lighting, scenic, picturesque experiences for those amazing selfies, and possibly even golden hour, then late afternoon is your best bet… but that usually comes with a bumpy sticker attached. Otherwise, it’ll be anything but relaxing, and you’ll have vertigo by the time you’re back on the ground.
Still, even if you pick wrong, you’ve still gotten the chance to get up in the air and see the area as you’ve never seen it before.
And that’s something.