Riding a helicopter over Charlotte with my husband

He had always talked about his dream of riding in a helicopter. Since we met and lived in Charlotte for years, Uptown seemed like the perfect spot.

For a couple months I looked into helicopter companies to supply this service. Thankfully, I found Helivision and the pilot, Stuart Jones.

Leisurely tours are not Helivision’s bread and butter – they cover sports and are also are in the film/movie business – but they really enjoy the tours and want to do more of them. The tour costs $300 for 30 minutes of airtime for the two of us.

We arrived just before sunset, got acquainted with our evening “ride” and then took off.

Stuart made us feel very comfortable even as we were towering more than 1,000 feet above the ground.

Need a helicopter guy? 5 questions with our pilot, Stuart Jones

Axios Charlotte: How long have you been flying helicopters? (In terms of flights or hours)

Stuart Jones: I’ve been flying professionally for four years, all with Helivision. I have 1,300 flight hours.

CA: How did you get into piloting helicopters?

SJ: My mom was an airline pilot so I grew up interested in aviation. When I decided to fly helicopters I did all my training here in the Charlotte area with Heliventures which is the flight training portion of Helivision.

CA: What’s the one most common reaction of helicopter guests?

SJ: Everyone (well, almost everyone) is always really excited when they find out we can take the doors off the helicopter for our flight.

CA: What did you have for breakfast this morning? (Note: Ted made me ask this)

SJ: Like a lot of pilots, two cups of coffee.

CA: Anything else I didn’t ask that Charlotte should know about you or helicopters in Charlotte?

SJ: Helivision offers aerial video and still photography as well tours and professional pilot training. Also the cool thing about helicopters is that we have less altitude restrictions than airplanes so we can safely and legally get an up close and personal view of the Charlotte skyline, which makes for a great tour experience. We operate out of the Concord airport just northeast of Charlotte. Come fly with us!

If you want to fly with Stuart, hit him up: Stuart(at)helivision.com or 704-792-1807.