Overview of This San Diego Helicopter Flight with Five-Helicopter Formation
This video documents a helicopter tour around San Diego flown by a family who owns their own Robinson R44 aircraft. Instead of flying solo, they coordinate with four other helicopters to navigate San Diego's notoriously complex airspace—which sits between San Diego International Airport, North Island Naval Air Station, and Miramar—as a managed flight of five. The route covers downtown San Diego, the bay, Coronado, Point Loma, Mission Beach, and La Jolla, with descents as low as 500 feet to showcase the shoreline and landmarks like Petco Park and an aircraft carrier.
This experience suits helicopter enthusiasts, adventure travelers, and anyone curious about how private aerial tours operate in busy, restricted airspace. It's especially valuable for people considering booking their own San Diego helicopter tour, since it shows the real logistics, radio coordination, and visual rewards of a professional group flight. The video emphasizes both the stunning coastal views and the meticulous planning required to fly safely in this region.
Key Moments
Highlights from This San Diego Aerial Tour
Five-helicopter formation takeoff and coordinated flight from Lions, Tigers and Bears animal sanctuary, demonstrating tight aerial teamwork
Downtown San Diego circling at 500 feet, including Petco Park and waterfront buildings with full city views
Coronado Bay Bridge, aircraft carrier, and San Diego International Airport approaches seen from directly overhead
Mission Beach Roller Coaster visible from close range as the flight group passes nearby
La Jolla shoreline descent with jagged, majestic coastal formations and clear visibility of offshore islands
Real-time radio coordination showing how helicopters communicate with ATC while navigating restricted zones
Essential Details Before Booking Your San Diego Helicopter Tour
Airspace complexity: San Diego's airspace is heavily restricted due to military installations and a major airport, so professional guides who know the area are essential
Flight altitude: Tours can operate as low as 500 feet over water, offering dramatic close-up views of landmarks and shoreline
Group flights: Flying as part of a coordinated group of helicopters requires a lead pilot experienced in San Diego airspace and radio procedures
Visibility conditions: The video emphasizes that clear visibility is critical; perfect flying days offer unobstructed views of islands and the full shoreline
Duration: This particular flight covered downtown, the bay, and the northern coast, appearing to span roughly 40 minutes to an hour of airtime
Starting point options: Tours can depart from various locations (in this case, a private animal sanctuary), not just commercial airports
Frequently Asked Questions About San Diego Helicopter Tours
Is it safe to fly in San Diego's restricted airspace?
Yes, as long as you fly with experienced pilots who know San Diego's specific rules. In the video, the family deliberately hired a lead pilot named Stevie who owns a flight company and handles all radio calls for the group, allowing less-familiar pilots to follow safely while remaining clear of military zones and commercial traffic.
How low can you actually fly over San Diego?
The video shows the flight descending to 500 feet over water and the shoreline, which is low enough to see details like the Mission Beach Roller Coaster and individual boats. However, altitudes are approved by air traffic control based on the area and current traffic, so your actual flight may vary.
What landmarks will I see on a San Diego helicopter tour?
Typical sights include downtown San Diego with Petco Park, Coronado Bay Bridge, the aircraft carrier at North Island Naval Air Station, Mission Beach Roller Coaster, Point Loma, and the La Jolla coastline. The exact route depends on weather, airspace availability, and which operator you book with.
What should I wear for a San Diego helicopter flight?
The video mentions special sunglasses (specifically aviation-grade eyewear with thin frames that don't interfere with headsets), suggesting you'll want UV protection and comfortable glasses or sunglasses that won't shift during the flight. Dress in layers since temperatures can vary at altitude.
Can you hear each other during the flight?
Yes. The video shows passengers wearing noise-canceling headsets that connect to the aircraft's intercom system, allowing conversation and commentary throughout the tour. The headsets also let you hear radio traffic between your pilot and air traffic control.
Frequently Asked Questions About San Diego Helicopter Tours
This video is genuinely helpful if you're on the fence about booking a helicopter tour in San Diego. It doesn't oversell the experience—instead, it shows the real coordination, radio discipline, and honest logistics that go into a professional flight, which builds confidence that tour operators know what they're doing.
What impressed me most was seeing the five-helicopter formation come together and the matter-of-fact way the lead pilot navigates ATC calls while keeping the group tight. You get to see the entire route, the actual visibility on a perfect day, and how low and close you truly get to landmarks. If you're considering booking a San Diego aerial tour, this is essential viewing that will help you understand what to expect and confirm it's worth the investment.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
Our family owns a 2007 Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter and, after many requests from viewers, we finally flew it around San Diego. Even better, we did our San Diego aerial tour in a group of 5 helicopters. "Epic" is an understatement for how cool our flight was. We're excited to share it with you! #MicahFlies
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▶MUSIC◀
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00:00 Intro & Information Explosion
0:37 The Plan
2:47 Takeoff & Formation Flight (MD 500, Bell 206, Bell 505)
6:14 Downtown San Diego Helicopter Tour
9:59 San Diego Bay & Shoreline
13:00 La Jolla
15:31 Remarks
Video transcript for “San Diego by Air (With 5 Helicopters!!)” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
We're going to fly our helicopter around San Diego. Coming up, we're going to navigate some tricky airspace, but first, information explosion.
We've been meaning to fly around San Diego as a family for a very, very long time. Let's get to it with the plan. Okay, so the plan today is a weird one. Normally, I would plan this out, but we're starting from Lions and Tigers and Bears, which is an animal sanctuary. We're going to follow a guy named
Stevie, and he's going to I got a Jet Ranger, and I don't know anything about flying in San Diego's airspace. All I know is it's very complicated. If you look on the map here, you've got San Diego International, you've got North Island Naval Air Station, and this isn't too far from Miramar. There's so much
crazy stuff, and my thought was the first time I fly in this very complicated airspace, it would be wise to do it with somebody who knows what they're doing. So, Stevie's going to be doing all the radio calls as a flight of five. It's him and four other helicopters, including ours. So, I'm
just going to shut up and listen and follow the line. Stevie's calling. What is it? Stevie. Yummy. All right, that's the plan. If you are curious what we're doing between YouTube videos, you can always follow us on Instagram. Now, it's flight time. Kind of cool that we got an expert in
the area to guide us through. Also, he owns a flight company. This is what's fun about helicopters is you meet the most interesting people. And us. Yeah, yeah, and us. While we're warming up here, let me quickly thank the sponsor for today's video, Flying Eyes Sunglasses. Normally,
I would do this while I'm flying, but since we're on the ground, I'm going to point out that I can do this and then do this. That's possible because these Flying Eyes sunglasses are made out of a material called Resilamide that's very, very bendable and that lets them make these temples super, super thin so they
don't mess with the noise-canceling abilities of my headset. But, sweetie, do you wear them outside the helicopter? Why, yes, I do. I wear the ophthalmic line of Flying Eyes which have these removable magnetic tinted lenses. These are the most comfortable pair of eyewear I've ever owned. I'm really happy to
have them in and out of the helicopter. If you would appreciate aviation-grade eyewear, whether you're a pilot looking to treat yourself or a human being who wears glasses all the time and want them to be very lightweight and comfortable, Flying Eyes has you covered. Click the link in the description below to save
10% using the promo code Micah on Flying Eyes. And now, let's go fly. Helicopter 823, we're lifting here at Lion Seger's and Bear's, westbound. Now, the black one's taking off. There they go. And then, the white one's taking off right in front of us. Up. And number three, give us call out when
you pick up. Black one's going behind us. Number three's up and on the move. Helicopter four's up. Five is up. On move. All right, we've got all five airborne
and then we'll get into a uh bit of a tighter uh line so that we can get through the airspace together. So, each person can up uh as close as you're comfortable, but with uh but plenty of space. Let's see if we can uh keep up with all these turbine chips. Go, little Robinson, go!
Let's all just slow up until we get close uh close to the airspace, though. Five is catching up. Uh we're to be on the left side of number four. All right. So, we're flying in a formation. We're going to go fly through Gillespie's airspace. Before we do that, though, did you guys have a good time at Lions,
Tigers, and Bears? That place was incredible. There was so much to learn and so much fun. There were some really interesting animals there, but of course the big point is that they take in animals, exotic animals that have been abused, cubs that have been, you know, like bred for petting and that kind of stuff. And
so, they do some really great work there. It was an awesome uh thing to get to go and see what they do in person. Tell is it a good idea or a bad idea to have a tiger as a pet? Uh moving on to San Diego. San Diego is just one of those towns where there's so much diversity. It's such a fun place. I
don't know. What do you guys think? What's your favorite memory of San Diego? Tell us in the comments. One more thing that I'll add is that it's super cool flying in a group of five helicopters. I feel like the little kid who's like, "Hey guys, wait up. Can we go, too?" Seeing the 500 off the nose
there is super cool. That's the dream chopper and it's really neat to to get to to fly in the squad. Yeah, you're literally chasing your dream right now.
It's amazing how close that helicopter feels and how far it looks on the video. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that funny? By the way, we've got HeliPilot Lee. She's a wonderful Instagrammer, but a very adventurous pilot. And she's providing really good information giving us uh what the frequency is that we're
going to be going through next, which is super cool. So, thank you HeliPilot Lee. And if you don't follow her on Instagram, for shame. Here's her handle. You don't need to shame them. Just tell them they're missing out. Shame. Hey, would you like to see more videos like this where we have
helicopter adventures as a family plus our car reviews? If you would, you're always welcome to subscribe. Okay, we've been flying in a flight of five and it's been awesome. But now it's time to follow the McGuffin. Helicopter 823 is at 1,000 ft across the Delta. All right, 23 roger.
Jet taking off on San Diego International there. over the Coronado Bay Bridge. Helicopter 700 ft will be remaining over the water westbound. So, uh here's your uh San Diego International. We're just flying over the top of it, which is really cool. It seems really casual for an international airport.
I know, I know. And then right off the other side there, that's the uh North Island Naval Air Station. So, there's all sorts of military action that happens down there. take off under airspace and a crystal 43002. Wow, this is really cool. 3 Lima echo runway 27 crystal for take off.
7 crystal for take off. 3 Lima echo. See the uh Coronado Bay Bridge out there. Number 620 go ahead. All good, Leah. All good. This is epic. So beautiful. Aircraft carrier down there. There's like a pirate ship down there. ship. See the pirate ship? Pirate ship. 1 1/2 mile up the direction of 4000 ft.
Helicopters passing below you over the bay. I got them in sight and uh maintain visual separation. Wow. going to make one orbit around Petco Park and then light a transition to downtown. up to the point if you can. And the aircraft carrier down there with all the uh cool stuff. and uh westbound is approved as well for
the uh bay transition. 823, we're uh approved for the bay transition uh any altitude? Altitude your discretion, 1,000 ft or below. 1,000 ft or below, that seems good. 1,000 ft or below, perfect. My kind of altitude. Uh let's go up and use the 1,000 ft or below. You want to do 500?
Yep. Cool. Contact SoCal Approach at 3,000. Disregard all other shots of downtown I have taken. These are the ones. Wow. John played last night. What a view. Nice. I feel like I'm on our trail of helicopters looks awesome. I feel like I'm at a lack of words here. I mean I remember, what a cool spot.
Oh, there's that Petco Park. 557 Frontier 552 What a ballpark. Petco Park, it's named after a business called Petco. So yeah, we're circling around downtown now. I had a dream my dream was this building I'm flying over, you can land the heli on it and then walk down to your condo.
You got to keep that dream alive, make it happen. Altitude? This is pretty cool like all of the helicopters circling around. We'd like to go down to 500. And we'll start our westbound transition. Cessna 2311 ft approved westbound through the bay is approved and advise when you're on northbound along Point
Loma. This is where we'd like to know when we make our southbound turn. Okay, we're going to go out over the water there and then come back. Pass North Island. Start dropping down a little bit. Man, I I feel like everything I'm going to say is just like wow, look how pretty that is.
I was going to say you've already gone full Owen Wilson. Wow. Wow. That's pretty good, kiddo. Porter over Kilo is actually getting a 180 south of the uh Bridge. The Porter over Kilo, roger, Looking for the uh Delta northbound. Are you wanting us to go left or right? Uh we'd actually like to round North
Island and then round uh Point Loma and then continue uh north. Affirmative, 4-November Kilo. 4-November Kilo, roger. Outside San Clemente airspace. Radar services terminated. Squawk VFR. Call me northbound along Point Loma for the offshore. Uh we'll squawk VFR and uh just to be sure, uh North Island is closed, right?
Affirmative, North Island is closed. 4-November Kilo Uh squawking VFR. Thanks. Pirate Ship Kilo off to the left. Pirate Ship 4-November visual 27 Frontier 552, contact SoCal Departure 119.6. Great. Have a great day, Frontier 552. So, when I was in the middle of the pandemic and flying around LA, I got so
many requests like, "Hey, can you fly over San Diego? Fly to San Diego. Fly to San Diego." Is this doing the job? Is this sharing San Diego with you in the way you'd hope we would share it? Also, what a great idea. I mean, yeah. That's one of the most next frequency we're going to need. You
guys weren't wrong. San Diego Frontier will be getting around the corner. I've always known that everything looks a little bit better from 500 ft um and that is actually a little higher than that, but uh I think San Diego's got a real leg up. Uh it's such a beautiful area. And also, as you look out there,
it's such a perfect day to fly cuz uh the visibility is incredible. So, we've got the islands off the shore there and on-screen text will tell us which islands they are. Okay, helicopter 823, we got our northbound turn and flight and we'll contact you at Crystal Pier.
Look at these uh look this beautiful shoreline. So jagged and majestic. And also, there's a bunch of oil refineries, but the shoreline sure is great. Tell us we're dropping down to 500. Woo. And I am really impressed we've been able to keep up with these guys. Uh we're doing all right. I'm very very
happy with the little Robinson uh family wagon. And you know what? This is weird cuz I normally do so much planning anytime I do a helicopter video, knowing exactly where I'm going to be. And for me, just like you guys, this has all been a big surprise. Like I'm like, I don't know
where we're going. I'm not sure how we're doing it, but it seems to be working out okay. Hey, there we go. We're tightening up the group. Awesome. Coming up on the famous Mission Beach Roller Coaster. So tight. Yeah, I'm slowing up and picking up and slowing up and uh I heard that.
Helicopter 544 Sierra Whiskey Lindbergh Tower, report 2 mi north of Crystal Pier. Traffic up direction northbound. Report 2 north of Crystal Pier. Cool, look at the uh roller coaster, kiddo. I don't It's coming up on the white one on the right side? Oh, yeah. Look at that. Can we wave at the people?
We're coming up on the hospital. Can I work a call just west of the tower at 1,000 ft? Helicopter 823 leaving San Diego's airspace at North Island change approved. Radar service terminated. Squawk VFR. Have a good flight. Helicopter 823 frequency change here at Crystal Pier and thank you very much for
all your help today. That was awesome. I feel like with these videos, normally there'd be more commentary, but there's a lot of uh for all on 123.45 and then are we going to see switching to 123.2? Is that right? Yeah, I'm just out of Bravo now. Now we can talk however we want. We're in no
airspace. Just kind of common. But I want to show you around here and then we're going to switch back over to Montgomery and I'll tell you when. That would be 19.2. Coming up on La Jolla, which is kind of the nicest of the San Diego shoreline. As he said, we're coming up on La Jolla,
which will be the nicest of the San Diego shoreline. How's my speed? Yeah, speed's perfect now. One one interesting challenge is kind of matching speed and altitude and staying in kind of a a reasonable reasonably tight but not too tight formation with the other helicopters. Yeah, good job, sweetie.
One of the parts of my job uh working at Kelley Blue Book and uh making uh car videos with my family is doing car-to-car, which means there's a camera on one car and then you're driving the other car and maintaining the correct orientation between you and the other vehicle. You wouldn't think it, but it
really comes into play when flying with other helicopters. This is working great. Also, man, this is the best. Look at the shoreline. It's just awesome. I know. I know. I know.
Continue for 210 2140. Take off. That guy's voice sounds like the automated weather guy. Totally. I thought it was. Robo pilots engaged. All right, I think we have experienced all of the San Diego we're going to experience. Real quick, thank you for your support. However you support us, if
you watch this video, if you give us a thumbs up, you leave a comment, if you support us on Patreon. Whatever you do to support us, if you do choose to support us, thank you guys. Thank you. Moving onward to remarks. All right, family. What was your favorite part of today's helicopter
adventure? That is a really tough question to answer because there were so many cool sites. I think San Diego is a really special city cuz there's man-made beauty with all the buildings and the ships. And then there's also like staggeringly beautiful nature with the cliffs. Like,
it's hard to decide. Hey Kida, what was your favorite part of today's helicopter adventure? That's really really really really really really really really really really really really hard. Name one thing you liked. Probably the cinnamon roll. Okay. We had a we had a cinnamon roll earlier.
We did also fly around San Diego with the guys at Flight of Five Helicopters, which is also kind of cool. But man, you can get a pretty good cinnamon roll over near the Julian Pie Company. Uh the name of the restaurant is here below. Family, I think this was a really good adventure and it makes me think we
should sync up with other helicopter pilots more. Um you know, maybe glom onto their adventures, expand our horizons. What do you think? Is that a good idea? That sounds like a great idea. What do you think? Is that a good idea? Should we do more of these kinds of helicopter adventure videos?
Yeah. Family, I think we've done a good job helicopter adventuring today. May I have a five? And give her a five. And will you guys accept a five from my lady? See you guys next time.
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