As a west coast kid, I always dreamed of flying over the harbour and mountains, Danger Bay/Magnum…read morePI style. Not hanging onto the side of a chopper, but looking all cool with the headset on. Since I don't have the kind of rugged job where I get to fly around rescuing seals or people or whatever, the dream came true in the form of a helicopter tour I arranged for my husband's birthday from SKY Helicopters. Their service lets you choose from an array of tours out of either Vancouver Harbour or Pitt Meadows Airport, and since it's just you and your party (up to three passengers) and the pilot, you can customize a bit. For our tour, I chose the North Shore/Howe Sound tour, which normally takes you in behind the mountains and through the Lions. The day I booked ended up being cloudy over the peaks, so our pilot Bryce took us up along the North Shore and around Cypress, up Howe Sound, getting amazingly close to the steep, forested mountainsides. I was also amazed to see how all those big mansions of West Van looked like miniature dollhouses and the cars on the highway all looked like toys. Coming back, we were able to spend a bit more time flying over Stanley Park and circling over downtown - which was great because part of the point of the trip was to get some shots of the city from the air with my husband's new GoPro. (If you're really serious about photography, they can even take the doors off, though I wasn't quite ready for that thrill on my first ride!) It was a little sad to touch down again after spending half an hour floating above the world, but the experience was great from start to finish, from the prompt response from Bryce on my initial inquiry through the website to all the emails, phone calls and texts keeping in touch about the itinerary and weather changes etc. (you never know out here!) to just taking us on a fantastic flight. I think we can all agree that Vancouver is a good-looking city surrounded by spectacular scenery. And it looks even more amazing from the air! I have experienced my city from a new angle, plus had a great subject for my 800th YELP REVIEW!!! The SKY is the ultimate high!

We had an amazing helicopter ride today with Kyle, who was very knowledgeable about the greater…read moreVancouver area and helped us make some great memories. The ride was very smooth overall, and although it was just 20 minutes, it felt like much longer. It was pure serenity among the clouds.

Cap'n Mac and Roni were awesome! They are so knowledgeable and made us feel very comfortable. The…read moreplane ride was magical! You see so many islands up close and the scenery is unbelievable! Such an amazing experience! Highly recommend!

Fabulous experience! This is THE way to see the islands…read more The pilot, Mac (or Stu) is a gem. Very professional and accommodating. His plane is in beautiful shape. Do you want some adrenaline with gentle aerobatics ? He can deliver! Want a calmer, more sedate flight? He can do that, too. The views are breathtaking, you even go over the top of Mount Constitution. The landing was incredibly smooth. This is the best thing to do on Orcas!

Visited Vancouver and glad I viewed it from above!…read more Had a blast taking off and landing on the waterway. The views were Awesome. A bit pricey for 30+ min but worth doing it once :)

Well, we went on our first seaplane ride yesterday, and chose Harbour Air through the Viator app…read more What an absolute blast! We were lagging behind the group that booked this tour but we ended up with the best seats on the plane - the very back jump seats. We had our own private window and didn't have to squish together in one seat. They have two seats together, and one seat options but they place you as they see fit. I believe there are only 13 seats on this particular plane. I loved how the plane flew low enough to see details on the ground. We could see everything! I was on the lookout for whales because I know I could have seen them clearly from our elevation, but I wasn't lucky enough to spot any. It was a cool ride nonetheless. Next time I would book the longer tour. This one was only 1/2 hour long. The one thing I wish they would do is give some commentary about what we were actually seeing, describing the particular sights etc. but overall a fantastic experience.

Great customer service. They call us ahead to inform us about the weather conditions and upfront…read moreand honest about our possibilities getting up in the air. It's definitely out of their control if clouds come rolling in. They wanted their customers to have a great experience. Our pilot was very professional, informative and friendly.

Kyle (our pilot) and the whole experience was amazing. The team was very responsive to our…read moreinquiries and the booking experience was very easy. Kyle made our trip unforgettable, will definitely do again if we ever find ourselves in the area again.

Soulless and inconsiderate small business. Do not get tricked by the official website's ticket and…read morepackage options. They are all arbitrary depending on the mood and the weather of the people who work there, including James (the man in charge). If you are a couple please note that you may be put into a plane with other people regardless of what plane and option you picked. You will not know about it until you get to the meeting point and one couple will not get to sit together. Thus, it may be better to look into other companies and there are others! If you are planning to go as a group, there are better and more professional establishments which are cheaper and/or same priced. The only saving point of this establishment is Mark (seaplane pilot) who made all the efforts to not only ensure that our experience on the air was great but also to redeem the Company. Overall, in the state where aviation is one of the major industries, there are better, more professional, and cost efficient companies and small businesses. Try them. They will have more respect and consideration for your experience. If you insist on booking from this establishment, exaggerate your weight to make sure that they cannot fly anyone with you.

This was a bucket list item for my Son and Daughter in law. It's a 20 min tour over Lake…read moreWashington, Puget Sound, around the Space Needle, over the Seahawks Dome, Pike Place, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates house. They thoroughly enjoyed the tour and their pilot was very informative. Highly recommend this excursion. Our kids said next time they would do the 60 min tour. They have been talking about this all day. Not expensive either.

In a life filled with amazing things, this is one of the most amazing things I have ever done…read more I can't recommend this enough. The Mason family is awesome and I'm hoping they'll adopt me soon. lol Relaxed, but professional. Attentive and patient. I have loved flying all my life and the smaller the plane the better. Flying in an open cockpit plane is even more amazing. If you ever get the chance to do it, don't hesitate. I have also always wanted to do aerobatics, but have never had the opportunity. Imagine how thrilled I was to find out I could take off in an open cockpit plane and not only get to finally do a loop, but to be able to stand on the wing while we did it! #$@%^@#! Nothing cooler than climbing out of a flying airplane and standing on top of it while doing aerobatics. Jut stop reading this and call them.

Best experience of my life!! Marilyn and Mike were a pleasure to meet and train with! The barrel…read morerolls and and flips while On too were so much fun. Can't wait to go again. Marilyn: please let me know when we can make a skydive happen at Santa Paula! Sincerely, Brian Pitts

My friends and I booked our trip a year in advance after seeing the amazing video of people…read morekayaking the glacier/snow melt. Nick, the owner/pilot, was incredibly nice and easy to do business with. He made us feel like we were part of his family. He is an amazing helicopter pilot/guide. Day of he let us know that conditions were not perfect, but we decided to go anyways. We were NOT let down. It was spectacular! The ice melt was a little slushy, but so beautiful and still so fun to kayak! My friend even jumped in the water! (a must try!) Our lunch was super good and came from a local market. After lunch, Nick took us to a beautiful lake where we continued kayaking. Overall, one of the most amazing experiences of my life... and I've been a lot of places. Nick is fantastic. Worth every penny and I HIGHLY recommend you take one of his tours!

From the owner: kayaking and heli toursread more

My son and I took a flight with Lou this afternoon in the Piper. We are both novice pilots and…read moreoften take "discovery flights" when traveling. It gives us the chance to spend some time in the air and learn the area in a unique way. We took off from Friday Harbor, and flew to Orcas Island and back. Lou is a terrific pilot and instructor, and the Piper is a terrific aircraft. We had great visibility and the trip was smooth. It was a wonderful few hours. Next up, the biplane!

This morning while eating breakfast, my husband saw a flyer for AeroClassic. We called to see if…read morethey could fit us in and Lou was wonderful about setting up a 2pm flight for us. We arrived a little early, the building is extremely easy to find and it gave us time to gaze at the airfield and a couple little planes. When Lou arrived he was super friendly and went over the plan for our Introductory Flight for Two. As I have never flown before he gave me a short explanation of aerodynamics and how to use the rudders to turn the plane (very useful information once we got into the sky!). Lou was an amazing teacher in the air and let me guide the plane and decide where to go in that time period. When my time was up, we landed on Orcas Island to switch pilots and let my husband fly. Lou was a great teacher, he was very patient and kind. After this amazing experience with Lou; both my husband and I want to take private pilot lessons, we only wish that Lou was closer to be our teacher!

Great service & loved the twin-engine Islander airplane.read more