Five U.S. aviation adventures

By John Purner

Collings Foundation

You’ve soaked up history at the museums. You’ve oohed and aahed at the air shows. Now’s the time to take to the skies yourself with five high-flying activities. These forays into the wild blue yonder are guaranteed to thrill – and maybe even give you some hands-on experience in the cockpit.

Hawaii by helicopter

Blue Hawaiian Helicopters

My favourite island in the chain is Maui. It has everything I like: great golf, terrific beaches, good restaurants and even a remote, unspoiled village, Hana, which happens to be the final resting place of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh. But its most beautiful spots are inaccessible by land. The solution? Helicopters! Starting at $125 USD ($150 CAD), Blue Hawaiian Helicopters offers 30-minute tours of the Maui most tourists never see. An EC-130B4 (the ultra-quiet ’copter also known as the ECO-Star) will gently lift you over (and around and next to) the knife-edged ridges and mist-shrouded peaks that earned Maui its nickname, the Valley Isle.

Blue Hawaiian Helicopters: 1 Kahului Airport Road, #105, Kahului, Hawaii, 1-800-745-2583

Grand tour

The magnificent Grand Canyon is 350 kilometres long (and over 1,600 metres deep in parts), so touring it by air is your best bet for taking in the whole thing – or at least a whole lot more than landlocked tourists can see. Grand Canyon Airlines began in 1927 with a Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT (Henry Ford’s popular Tin Goose), making it the area’s original air tour operator. GCA now flies Vistaliners, converted de Havilland Twin Otters whose high-wing design affords every passenger an unobstructed view.

GCA’s various tour packages cover the most famous and beautiful parts of the Grand Canyon, such as the electric turquoise waters at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. Inflight narration is provided digitally in several languages. Adult prices start at $99 USD ($118 CAD); child rates start at $69 ($82).

Grand Canyon Airlines: Grand Canyon National Park Airport, Ariz., 1-866-235-9422

California combat

Over 30,000 people have become a Fighter Pilot for a Day since Air Combat USA began operating in 1989. Learn aerial combat tactics and manoeuvres at the ground school; then strap on a parachute and climb into the cockpit of a SIAI Marchetti SF260 military trainer. With an instructor by your side, you’ll negotiate a series of dogfights at 2,400 metres; the battle may be simulated, but the flying is real. No pilot’s licence is required. The entire experience costs approximately $1,000 USD ($1,190 CAD) and is captured for posterity by three on-board digital video cameras.

Air Combat USA, Inc.: Fullerton Municipal Airport, Fullerton, Calif., 1-800-522-7590

The B-24 experience

My father was a B-24 flyer in WWII. Whenever I see one of those heavy bombers, I become nostalgic and wonder about his wartime experience. A few years ago, my brother found our Dad’s WWII diary. It helped fill in the blanks, but I still wondered what it must have been like to fly in a ship like the one that carried him to war and brought him safely home years later.

Enter the Collings Foundation. Founded in 1979, the non-profit organization supports “living history” events involving transportation. Their original focus was automobiles, sponsoring events like antique car rallies, but they soon expanded to include aircraft. The foundation displays its many airplanes at its museum in Stow, Mass.

CollinGs Foundation

Between July and October each year, three of these aircraft – a B-24, a B-17 and a newly added B-25 – fly across America on the 125-city Wings of Freedom Tour. A very special feature of the tour is the Flight Experience program: You can actually buy a flight on one of these fantastic airplanes. As this magnificent beast lumbers off the runway, you’ll soar into history. The wind whips wildly through the fuselage and the temperature begins to drop as you climb higher and higher ­– and the noise is deafening. Take this ride and you’ll never think of WWII fliers as anything but heroes. The B-24 flight last approximately 30 minutes and requires a $400 USD ($475 CAD) donation per person. It is worth every nickel.

The Collings Foundation: 1-800-568-8924

Discover flight

This is the greatest aviation attraction of them all – and you’re the star of the show. A mere $49 USD ($58 CAD) buys you a Discovery Flight Coupon at one of the 300-plus Cessna Pilot Centers throughout North America, Australia, England and Jamaica. You’ll learn how airplanes fly, conduct a pre-flight check and actually take the controls of a Cessna Skyhawk, all under the guidance of a top-quality flight instructor. Once aloft, you’ll leave the world of man behind and enjoy the freedom of a bird. Back on land, you’ll dream about this flight – and wonder when you’ll fly again.

Cessna Pilot Centers: 1-877-359-2373

(John Purner is an instrument-rated private pilot who has over 2,000 flight hours in his logbook. He is the author of four general aviation guidebooks, including The $100 Hamburger: A Guide to Pilots’ Favourite Fly-In Restaurants, and publisher of nine aviation-oriented websites.)

Getting There

We can get you all across the U.S. with our extensive schedule of flights — including the most non-stop service between Canada and Hawaii (with convenient connections all across Canada), and the most non-stop Los Angeles service from Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. You can also earn Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book your L.A. car rental and hotel room online!

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