My Last Flight over the Grand Canyon

My Last Flight over the Grand Canyon

Living in the Southwest must bring an urgency to see the Grand Canyon from above. An eagle’s view no less and a flight filled with memories of the full grandeur of one of the largest holes in the earth, one cannot truly appreciate this scenic wonder until it has flown over the most scenic route possible in a helicopter or plane rented to discover this spectacular canyon scenery up close and personal with the enthusiasm of a tourist yet being a permanent southwest resident. 

The idea came by suggestion of a friend who had a friend fly over the Grand Canyon. He said it was truly enormous in size and flying over it put an idea just how big the canyon is and how far it stretches as the eye can see beyond the normal earthly horizons. 

Back then before the air restrictions of today, the canyon was seen in its free-for-all beauty as it really was taking the flight patterns of diving and climbing and twisting and turning to all sides so every square mile of the canyon could be seen. There were flight patterns and routes established back then but they were much lower than they are today. Neither the noise of flying over the tourist was a concern nor the altitude of flight as long as the pilots adhered to the protocol established for air traffic above the canyon. 

Flying gives you the opportunity to see the incredible landscape before your eyes. It gives you a feeling of the strength by nature’s forces to create such deep beauty with wind, rain and snow while cruising at altitudes of 50 feet to over 4,000 feet in the air to give you a marveling sight you will never forget.  

Flying low and following the Colorado River we could see the white water and the rafters struggling below to meet the rapids. We saw the trails with donkeys and jackasses up and down with people walking and taking photographs that reflected nature’s awesome beauty.

Crossing the canyon rims from one side to the other was spectacular in its own as the distance was shortened by the flight of the plane that seemed to own the sky with the Eagles, hawks and black ravens that flew all around us. The north rim, the south rim, the center and the edges were all exposed as we followed the river for miles while flying about a mile above it. 

The trees and the green pines were thickly populated and showed a healthy and bountiful growth. The colors of the canyon walls changed from white to grey to blue to red as the earth below us showed us its belly exposed by centuries of exposure to the elements of Mother Nature. 

We couldn’t hear the sounds of the rapids but the white washed swift running waters gave us a clue of how fast it was running and how violent their swells were as they splashed the rocks forming white caps of water as the river’s twisted bends and turns showed how the age old river was formed by the sheer power of the Colorado River. 

The flight inside the slow moving propeller driven small fixed wing plane was another element of the excitement and near delusional experience above the jagged cliffs and green valleys. The pilot was well experienced and took the time to tell us how the Grand Canyon has become one of the world’s wonders as he pushed the plane’s nose up and down the landscape showing us some views you could only see from where you were, a mile or so up in the sky. 

We wanted to take a helicopter ride but they were all taken and this plane operator was ready and available as we paid him the cash it took to take us up into the airspace above this spectacular tourist location inside Arizona. Although helicopter rides were frequent, the fixed wing version appealed to us a little bit better and seemed to be a little bit safer. 

We were lucky to have the airplane to ourselves and when we boarded, we weren’t so sure it was sturdy enough to carry us safely around those wicked and jagged canyon walls and rims we had seen from the ground.  Most important he was polite and patient with us as he sensed we had never done this before. 

Seatbelts on, we took off the short landing strip and made a steep turn to the south as we left the forest below and joined the birds in the sky for an hour ride just below the clouds and straight into the wind. When it was all said and done and when our stomachs settled down enough to get rid of the nausea that had accompanied us during the flight, it was worth every penny to see the Grand Canyon from above.