I was invited for a helicopter ride by the great (crate?) people at Heineken on Saturday. The scheduled takeoff was at 11 am at Eurocopter in Subang Airport with a briefing at 10:30 am. The helicopter experience is a prize for the people who participated in the Crate Expectations (sorry for the lame pun above) online game by Heineken.
I left early to pick up Rin coz she has misgivings about my navigation skillz. The two contest winners arrived soon after us. Cheesie and I didn't win the game but we were invited to experience the helicopter ride anyway. Cheers Heineken! OMG! There are so many bad puns in here. ;)
Anyway, after driving into the Eurocopter car park, we were recognized by the liaison there for the 11 am takeoff and brought into the secure hangar. I was half afraid they're going to ask for my MyKad or driver's license coz I neglected to bring both.
The Eurocopter hangar houses an impressive fleet of helicopters - there's even one used by the Ferrari team during the F1 season. We were given a tour of the hangar and introduced to the different helicopters there.
The helicopters can be rented - the liaison told us a heartwarming story about a guy who proposed to his girlfriend by hanging a huge "Will You Marry Me?" banner on some building and getting down on bended knee on the helicopter when they panned over the building.
We had to wait for the engineer to come (his car broke down) so our flight was delayed for about an hour or so. The pilot cannot take off without the safety engineer's green light - a very good safety precaution.
Thus, after a short wait...we got on the helicopter, buckled up and put on the on board communications device (the technical term for this is "headphones").
The pilot got the helicopter started up...
...and we're airborne! =D
Cue Ride of the Valkyries.
I just couldn't resist. Heh!
It's a great feeling to be on a vertical takeoff aircraft. The flexibility of the HH-65 Dolphin is impressive. We flew over Subang...
...PJ (I can see you taking a shower in your house with my l33t zoom lens :p)
...and onwards to KL city.
The pilot circled the KL Twin Towers and other landmarks in the city, giving us a lot of photo ops.
I could see mini people playing in the splash pool outside KLCC. I think we were hovering at about 1,000 feet.
Check out the KLCC Flyover video!
We headed off to Batu Caves after that and did a flyby of the limestone hill. It's the most famous Hindu shrine in Malaysia, with temples inside the caves. I've been there once during Thaipusam and it's great to have a bird's eye view of the place.
I also managed to snap a photo of the huge Lord Murugan statue standing guard outside the cave network.
On to more secular sightings, we flew over Sunway Pyramid. Hmm...religious imagery on a shopping mall - right after the real thing. How ironic.
Sunway Lagoon from above looks smaller than the actual water theme park.
I also managed to capture a photo of a rather large cemetery. I like cemeteries. I have a morbid fascination with death.
Cheesie got all excited when she spotted her condo and I managed to spot mine too. No, that's not a picture of either of our humble abodes. Security reasons, ya know. ;) However, this is where I work. You can probably see me slaving in a cubicle if you squint hard enough. Seriously. It's Kelana Jaya.
I can see that the inbound traffic to KL was pretty congested last Saturday. I saw you (yes, you) stuck in traffic while I'm soaring above. ;)
I suspect that there was an intentional flyover of the GAB factory where we had dinner and drinks at The Tavern last month. I'm kidding, the place is on the way back to Subang Airport as the crow flies.
It was an awesome experience. Flying over KL and the outskirts of the city on a helicopter is certainly an episode that I won't forget. The roar of the rotors, the chatter of air traffic, the feeling of being suspended in the air - it's amazing!
Cheers to Heineken and Nuffnang for the invite!
that was a fun experience!! =D wow.. wonder if i ever have a chance like that.. hehe
Do they allow Mile High Club experiences?
Tooo awesome man. Let's make sure they do it again :D
andrew: Of course you can buddy. It's Heineken and GAB, we've both been to The Tavern. :)
dan: Hmm...I don't know mate, I didn't try. :)
ShaolinTiger: Naturally, mate! :)
no wonder that day i saw a helicopter wandering around klcc..i thought it's going to bomb it or something :P
I'll be going back on 3rd of May which falls on a Sunday! Krispy kreeeeme for me to bring back to KCH? Lol =D
OH yeah, the last photo of you and Ringo - NICE!
Apocolypse Now right? Good taste
:'( i alwiz wanted to do this but dunno how and never had the chance to do so,.... *cries*
Yatz: Haha! We didn't have explosives and a helicopter doesn't have enough fuel to do as much damage as a jetliner. Probably just kill ourselves. ;)
chefmel: Sunday, definately. I can make it weekends. Email me what donuts you want.
Thanks! Yeah, I like that photo too - the next group was slated to go in and the rotor was blowing at our hair. :)
Trey: Yup, I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like...victory. ;)
panda: You can try Eurocopter - they rent helicopter rides for RM 3,500 per hou.
a real awesome experience! too bad KL is hazy if not the picture would be better
WOW! You know what, I just dreamt of riding in a helicopter the night before yesterday!
And I can still vividly recall the details.. was riding above an island, with sea breeze, lush forest and all :D
Back to reality - Can we pay for such a tour?
Hahaha, are you still not carrying your license and MyKad around because you STILL don't have a wallet? :P
KL has more tall building than Perth CBD, I think. T_T!!!
getting a bird eye's view is so nice! Now you can brag about your photos and experience! Hmmph
Holy shizznuts =( I wanna ride on a heeeellll--iiii----kopp----teeaaarrrrrrrr!
Very nice :) I love seeing things from the air! Though I've never been in a helicopter...
It's weird, in the video above KLCC - the rotors look like they are moving very slowly? Or maybe it's something else??
soooo coooolll
Darren: Yeah, but at least it wasn't raining! :)
It's been raining a lot lately.
Cheryl: Sounds like a great dream. :)
Yeah, you can actually. It's RM 3,500 per hour. The heli seats four people so it's less than 1k each for an hour to whereever you want. :)
Mellissa: Haha! Yeah, and I'm getting used to it too. My birthday is coming up, on the 5th of April. *cough*HINT*cough* ;)
cynthia: Yeah, Perth has quite strict zoning regulations. I read about this building that was slated to go up in Perth CDB but it was not allowed due to concerns it would ruin the skyline with it's stature.
eiling: Haha! Eh, Eiling, lost my cell phone, need your number. I MSN you dy.
YingYang: With Eurocopter, now everyone can fly!
If you have 3.5k lying around that is. ;)
julian: It's actually moving too fast - for some reason the frame rate in the video could only catch it at intervals. It's like that in real life too - you can see the spinning rotor, but there's this slide effect once in a while that really shows the fins. :)
mknace: Yeah, it was a lot of fun! :)
it sure was a good one ;)
anywhere? Can they bring us to Genting? :D:D:D
Cheryl: Yeah, I'm sure they can. Genting has a helicopter landing platform (several, if I recall correctly). We'll need to win big just to get back the trip costs though. :)
Yo! fly over batu caves too LOL
so Cool!! if only i have the chance
hitomi: You can, if you have RM 3,500 lying around your house waiting to be disposed of. ;)
My man, flying high eh? Definitely the safer kind of "high" huh? I remembered my first ride when I was still a cadet reporter way back in 1990. The thrill, the fun, the experience. Glad you get to do it. Looking forward to seeing you Bro! Take care.
eddy: Yeah, been keeping clean nowadays except for the occasional drink.
I'm looking forward to the trip too bro! It would be fun. Cheers! :)
I will better save it for my laptop and UK trip!!
hitomi: Haha! You can go to UK AND get a laptop for 3.5k? I want too!
Thank you for a great post
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