Rise Above it With a Helicopter Flight Over London

Living in any city, it can be hard to get a sense of perspective or objectivity. Especially in London, which is pretty flat in the middle – unlike Paris, for example, where you can get up on a hill quite easily – you have to work hard to find the views here. So what’s it like to rise above it all and get the bird’s eye view?

Now, with the next series of The Apprentice getting underway, aerial shots of London will be almost impossible to avoid, and I was intrigued to see the city from above for myself. And? Well, escaping from the ceaseless throb of activity on the ground is, I can tell you, very refreshing. Everything looks so foolishly small, from toy yachts on little duck ponds to Hornby railways and matchstick model cathedrals.

With all the noise and the fuss faded away, it is possible to laugh at it, to feel free from the rat race, the ant farm below. Far from ringing the pound signs up behind my eyes at the prospect of city domination, flying above it actually made me feel reassuringly disinterested, pleasantly free, an individual again. I’ve often suspected that the reason Londoners are so bad at getting out of the city is that it, London, becomes everything, overwhelmingly so, making it impossible to process the information that a bad journey to work takes about the same time as it does to get to Europe.

On the day, we flew with Cabair in a gleaming electric blue Eurocopter. From the well-located Elstree Aerodrome, a short taxi from Edgware tube, we shot up and started out over the North West, flying above Westfield before heading on south to the Thames. Above this glittering arterial ribbon, we arched over the London Eye, Parliament and St Paul’s, and east, all the way down to Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs (like following the Eastenders shot, but much closer and more real), before turning back and taking in Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park on the other side.

I had never been in a helicopter before and it was good fun; a very immediate, encapsulated flying sensation. At £170 for half an hour it isn’t cheap, but no flying is – it’s special occasion stuff, and to even get a look at a helicopter for that is actually quite reasonable, relatively speaking. One of the five passengers on our flight was celebrating her 96th birthday and had a great time, and if, like me and her, you like collecting experiences, then this one rates as quite a privilege.

The Cabair Group of Aviation Companies
Elstree Aerodrome
Borehamwood
Hertfordshire
WD6 3AW

Tel: 020 8236 2400

www.cabair.com