Cheap Helicopter Ride and the Real Estate Experience

A few years ago, while I was taking a vacation on Maui I took a Helicopter trip to view the falls on the southern end of the island.  Trying to save some money I found this company from a coupon in one of the many tourist booklets left in our hotel room.  The coupon discounted the already low price making it seem like a real steal – hmm almost too good to be true?

I had never been in a Helicopter before, and that was mostly by design.  I have a fear of heights, and never really understood how those machines stayed aloft, or why anyone would want to ride in one.

Before I left for our trip, I noticed another major carrier in Maui with sleek, jet-engine assisted Helicopters advertising their safety record, and the many happy tourists that had taken the flight.

So the day of the trip, the weather was warm, but very windy.  We arrived at the operator tucked far away behind a chain link fence at the airport.  There was no office or welcoming party, just a tiny Helicopter which did not appear large enough to hold the 3 of us and the pilot (see picture above).  The pit of my stomach sank  as we walked towards the tiny “wind up” contraption.  I’m sure it was recently purchased at Radio Shack or perhaps some “do it yourself” kit.

The pilot seemed nice enough as we boarded and put on our headphones so we could hear him during the flight.  He stated that we would be making a brief stop for fuel before our flight.  He fired up the tiny engine and we lurched from the tarmac, immediately being buffeted by the wind.  Within minutes we were back down on the ground next the the airport fueling station.

A large Hawaiian man can up to us with a disgusted look on this face – I could overhear him telling the pilot that he told him he could not keep coming back for small loads of fuel, he would need to purchase a full tank.  ”Great,” I thought in my head as I realized our pilot was on a financial wing and prayer, not even able to afford a full tank of gas.  Several more minutes of angry discussion insured with the tank being filled with what seemed like very little fuel.  Thoughts of, “I wonder what else he was skimping on?” danced around in my head.

Finally, the pilot was back in our whirleybird and we were once again off.  For those that have not been in a small helicopter with a bubble cabin, you really get a front row seat of everything.  My stomach dropped as the small craft strained to gain altitude and started over the sugar cane fields towards the Volcano.  All I could pay attention to were my white knuckles holding on for dear life.

Overcoming the initial fear of falling from the sky and lost hopelessly in the  the sugar cane field, I noticed how the tiny machine was bucking the headwind.  I was even more alarmed as I noticed a man far below on a bike speeding ahead of us.  Moments later one of the beautiful blue jet assisted helicopters buzzed by us  at three times our speed – it was really beautiful.  The tiny cabin was buffeted back and forth as we moved slowly across the landscape towards our destination.

What seemed like forever, the small craft finally made the bumpy ride around the Volcano, and set a heading towards the very rugged southern part of Maui, where these immense crevices with high waterfalls fall into the Pacific Ocean.  By the way, several more beautiful blue jet equipped birds with happy smiling tourists sped by looking down on our clumsy little bird bucking the wind.  I am quite positive I saw a few of them laughing at our tiny ship. Very amusing!

I have to say that these falls are beautiful, but I did not enjoy them for one second.  It seems that our pilot thought it best to drop his small copter down into these deep valleys close to the falls.  Each dip into the abyss towards the falls I thought would be my last as the little craft struggled back upwards.  The beautiful blue jet engine assisted copters hovered high above us, as if to say “why is he going down there, that’s not safe?”

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, and certainly more time than the fuel pumped aboard, the pilot turned towards home.  Each of us looked at one another with relief as we made our way back to the airport.  The trip was much speedier as we now had a strong tailwind, and soon the tarmac was in sight, oh yes sweet sweet land!

The pilot took our complementary digital photograph and we jumped in our rented car and made our quick get away to the safety of our hotel.

Surviving the trip, I remembered what my Dad always told me, “Jeff, a cheap man often pays twice.  You get what you pay for.”