 Best
Helicopter Tours and Rides in Maui |
 Air
Maui Helicopters - A-Star Helicopters |
| Alex
Air Helicopters - A-Star and Hughes 500 (Doors Off) Helicopters |
| Blue
Hawaiian Helicopters - A-Star and Eco Star |
| Sunshine
Helicopters - A-Star and Whisper Star |
| Best
Fixed-Wing Aircraft Tours and Rides in Maui |
| Fixed-Wing
Air Tours in Maui |
Maui Helicopter Tours
Seventy-five percent of Maui is visible only from the air via helicopter tours and rides!
When I first came to Maui over 20 years ago I hiked and traveled just about every place possible.
When I took my first of many Maui helicopter tours I was in the air no more than 10 minutes before realizing I had no clue what the island really looked like. Isolated valleys, hidden waterfalls, secluded ridges, triple-canopy rainforests, and mountain summits. Some areas are so dense and rugged they are impossible to traverse on foot. Some species of animal and plant life are so isolated in their Maui habitat they exist only in their own little valley and nowhere else in the world.
If you haven't seen Maui by helicopter, you haven't seen Maui.
Maui has a number of helicopter tours to choose from, each specializing in a particular type of aircraft:
The A-Star is one of the most luxurious, designed specifically for sightseeing. No matter where you sit you'll have 180-degree visibility. The rotator shaft does not come between the front and back seats and there are no visual impediments interrupting your view forward. The back seat is raised to give a better view above the seats in front and there is an abundance of windows.
The Hughes 500 is small, fast and maneuverable. It seats only 4 passengers so each person is guaranteed a window seat.
The Bell Jet Ranger is a little larger than the Hughes and smaller than the A-Star.
The McDonnell-Douglas Notar is designed without a tail rotor, giving a noticeably quieter flight. This helicopter is often hired by professional photographers on aerial shoots because it can be flown with the doors removed.
With regard to photography, many Maui helicopter companies equip their aircraft with special video recorders mounted in the nose and along the sides of the helicopter. Some even have camera lenses mounted in the cockpit. As the pilot flies along he directs the taping, selecting the camera offering the best view. The result: at the end of your helicopter tour you're presented with a video tape of your actual flight to take home and enjoy over and over.
- Helicopter Tour times range from 20 minutes to a few hours. Longer helicopter tours and rides often include touchdowns.
- Circle Island Tour/Ride - Includes Haleakala Crater, the Hana area and the West Maui Mountains.
- Hana and Crater Tour/Ride - which are the same as the Circle Island but exclude West Maui.
- West Maui and Molokai Tour/Ride.
- Wear dark-colored clothing if you're going to be taking your own photographs. White or light- colored clothing will reflect in the windows and show up in the image.
- Want to see incredible mountain terrain, spectacular sea cliffs and outrageous waterfalls? Try the Molokai tours.
- Morning tours generally have the least cloud cover. These are also the ones that book up first, especially during busy times.
- Book early. Better yet, book a morning tour before you get here.
Helicopter Tours and Helicopter Rides in Maui - Options Below:
Air Maui Helicopters - The dream of helicopter pilot Steve Egger. Steve was a part owner of a helicopter company on Kauai when hurricane Iniki hit in 1992. The island was demolished and he decided to move to Maui and start again. His dedication to customer service and a sense of"fun" has laid the groundwork for the company culture at Air Maui. At Air Maui the pilots are not just pilots, they are personal guides and the staff that greets you seem like old friends. Air Maui - uses ASTAR Helicopters equipped with air conditioning and Sony/Bose stereo system and five video cameras. |  Air Maui Helicopters Price Range: (From: $100.00 - To: $200.00) |
Alex Air Helicopters - Owner and founder, Steve Alexander, has a history in the business that goes back to the days in Long Beach when his father was a Hughes Helicopter pilot after World War II. Alex Air on Maui is the oldest helicopter operation on the island. The companies A-Star helicopters are the only ones on the island equipped with state of the art headsets that allow 2-way communication between pilot and passenger. |  Alex Air Helicopters Price Range: (From: $117.90 - To: $247.90) |
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters - Blue Hawaiian Helicopters is by far the largest helicopter company in the state of Hawaii, having fleets on Maui, the Big Island and on Kauai. Always the pioneers, owners Dave and Patti Chevalier were the first to bring the superior Eco-Star helicopters to Hawaii. They also have been the recipient of countless awards including the Certificate of Excellence "Diamond Award" issued by the Federal Aviation Administration which they have one every year since 1998. They were also the first Hawaiian tour company to be certified by the Helicopter Association International Platinum Program of Safety and they were the first company in the United States to be certified under the Tour Operators Program of Safety. |  Blue Hawaiian Helicopters Price Range: (From: $155.90 - To: $155.90) |
Mauiscape Helicopters - Mauiscape Helicopters is the newest of the companies that fly here on Maui. When they first came they flew the Robinson R44 aircraft which was an excellent tour for people who wanted private flights for just 2 in a helicopter. I think there may have been an issue with fuel availability for that aircraft which made it difficult to always provide flights so at least for the time being they will only be using the A-Stars. As with all our companies, we’ve had great reviews from clients taking their flights and the staff has always been very helpful and courteous. |  Mauiscape Helicopters Price Range: (From: $138.90 - To: $258.90) |
Sunshine Helicopters - Sunshine Helicopter is owned and operated by Ross and Anna Scott. Ross helicopter experience started with his first tour of duty as a gunship pilot in Vietnam. After the war, Ross managed a large aviation company in Alaska with 50 airplanes and 30 helicopters. Sunshine Helicopters now has the benefit of his vast aviation experience and the company operates helicopter tours on Maui, the Big Island and Kauai using both A-Stars and the advanced Whisper Star helicopters. |  Sunshine Helicopters Price Range: (From: $100.00 - To: $655.00) |
Air Tours - Fixed Wing on Maui - Fixed wing air tours on Maui can simply fly over the island of Maui but the most popular of them are those that either include the erupting volcanoes of the Big Island of Hawaii or those that include a tour to Father Damiens Leper Colony on the island of Molokai. The Father Damien trips actually land on the famous Kaulapapa Peninsula and tour the leper colony on land for four hours before your airplane comes back to pick you up on your return trip to Maui. |  Air Tours - Fixed Wing on Maui Price Range: (From: $330.90 - To: $502.50) |
ALL HELICOPTER TOUR AND RIDE PATTERNS AND SPECIFIC SIGHTS ARE SUBJECT TO WEATHER.
This page contains information about: maui helicopter tour, maui hawaii helicopter tours, maui helicopters, maui helicopter rides, helicopter tour in maui.
Hearing Impaired - Read the full transcript for this page's audio narrative.
Helicopter Tours and Rides in Maui - Without a
doubt the single most spectacular activity you can take on Maui would
be a helicopter flight. Maui is not a big island, it stretches only
48 miles from tip to tip but a full 75% of the island can only be seen
from the air. If you look at a map you will notice that the roads here
travel primarily around the periphery of the island. The interior in
most places is just too wild, jungly and remote to traverse, even by
foot, and so helicopters are the ideal vehicle for really seeing the
island. There are many different flights that can be taken but the
main two are the 45 minute Hana/Crater tour and the 60 minute full
Circle Island. 
The
very least amount of time I would recommend to take would be the 45
minute Hana/Crater flight because shorter tours are just not long enough
to enjoy what Maui has to offer. The Hana Crater tour departs, as do
all flights, from the heliport at the Kahului Airport. It winds its
way up to the top of the crater at 10,000 ft. Here you'll be looking
down at the crater which descends 3000 ft and is 21 miles in circumfrence.
It is so large in fact that the analogy is often used that you can
take the entire island of Manhattan and fit it within the boundaries
of Haleakala Crater. The landscape there is strikingly stark in its
beauty and looks almost like the surface of the moon. From there you'll
move onward to some of the most remote valleys on the island with huge
waterfalls and steep drop-offs and finally wind your way into the region
of the Oheo Gulch and Hana. From this vantage point you'll be looking
down upon triple-canopy rainforests with enormous brilliantly colored
African Tulip trees, waterfalls, pools, streams and rugged forest.
The Hana Coastline from the air is one of the most beautiful to be
found anywhere on the planet, in fact this was the backdrop for much
of the footage that was seen on the movie Jurasic Park. The second
major flight of the island is the Circle Island flight which encompasses
the exact same flight as the 45 min Crater/Hana tour but also includes
the spectacular West Maui Mountains as well. The West Maui Mountains
are a completely different animal then is Haleakala. While Haleakala
is considered a dormant volcano that is just at the apex of its growth
stage the West Maui's have been extinct for over a million years. They
are also the home of the second wettest spot on Earth. The peak of
Puu Kukui. The rainfall here is about 370 inches a year and the combination
of so much rainfall falling upon such an old lava surface has carved
huge valleys and cliffs in the interior. From the top at Puu Kukui
there are razor sharp ridges that sculpt there way to the coast. On
either side of the upper ridges the sheer walls that have been carved
descend literally thousands of feet down to the valleys below. And
there are waterfalls everywhere. One particular area we call the "wall
of tears" has perhaps 15 to 35 waterfalls all happening at once
depending on the rainfall from the previous hours. Though this area
is only about 4 miles as a crow flies to the towns of Lahaina, Kaanapali
or Wailuku it is so remote that you will not see a road, a town or
a person in sight. In fact it is so primordial that the only thing
you might expect to see would be a dinosaur. If this is one of your
first trips to Maui, this might be the best tour for you to go on since
you'll really have a good understanding of the lay of the land and
you'll be able to go back and visit the places you were most attracted
to. The very best time to take these flights is usually in the morning.
The earlier the better. The mornings are generally very clear. As the
day progresses the prevalent tradewinds often bring in clouds that
may make the visibility less desirable. Unfortunately since these are
the times we try to recommend they generally fill up first so it is
a good idea to make your bookings for the helicopter flights as soon
as you decide your going to go so that we can arrange the best times
for you. As far as the various types of aircraft, the A-star helicopters
are considered to be the "gold standard" in the industry.
They are one of the few helicopters in the world which are designed
specifically for the purpose of sightseeing. The back seats are raised
higher than the front seats so passengers can see over the heads of
those in front. The rotator shaft has been removed from the cockpit
and situated behind so that there is nothing that you have to look
around and there is more window space and visibility for clients to
see out. No matter where you sit you have a 180 degree view. Some of
the companies now even have a deluxe version of the A-Star which is
usually called an Eco-Star or a Whisper Star. These helicopters are
different from the A-stars in that they have bucket seats, even more
viewing glass area and a quieter engine so it is not heard so easily
from the ground. The cost of these is usually 15 or 20% higher but
is generally considered the top of the line in terms of comfort and
visibility. Keep in mind however that you won't be seeing anything
different than you would in the A-Star but perhaps in a bit more deluxe
manner. The A-Star is still considered the "gold standard" in
helicopter touring and either model will provide you with memories
of Maui you will never forget.