Reviews

We booked our flight with Great Life Tours and we flew with Jeremy at Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. It was amazing and worth every penny. The narative Jeremy gave was very informative and the music he played added to what we were seeing. Visually it was awsome!! Great job Jeremy!

My party of 4 went on the Ecostar Circle of fire plus waterfalls on Sept 20, 2012 at 2pm pilot Jeremey. He was able to answer all our questions and positioned the helicopter so we could get excellent views of the landscape. The best highlight was there was volcanic activity the day of our flight. We were able to see a little bit of lava come to the surface. We saw the hardened lava. The tour starts slow with looking at lots of green scenery and then the Macadamia farm. The excitement builds to hopefully see lava. My party was fortunate to see lava as previously. After seeing vegetation and lava; the helicopter flies briefly off the coast. Unfortunately, we did not see any lava flowing into the ocean. Then you fly over 3 waterfalls and return back to the airport. I recommend booking an early flight if you arenon a cruise. My party was a little rushed because our flight was about 1 hr (end at 3pm) we had board the ship by 3:30pm. We also had to wait for our car rental shuttle (wait time 10 min). The car rental shuttle driver warned us that after 2pm it gets busy at the port. We made it back on time, but felt rushed. Also bc we booked independently we saved $ but the helicopter shuttle was not offered for us.'

Ethan was our pilot and was very friendly and informative. He flew us close to the action on multiple occasions which allowed for many great pictures no matter what side you were seated at. Staff was very patient with my 76 yo mom!

We booked our first helicopter trip ever with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters over the Internet to take advantage of the discount. We did the one hour Circle of Fire trip on their Ecostar helicopter and it was worth every penny! The ground personnel we friendly and went over everything in advance....what to expect and a complete safety briefing. The is very limited room in the aircraft so bring just your cameras (no cases) and sunglasses. They will store everything else for you. They assign seats in advance based on weight and balance (you are descretely weighed)' then its kn with the life vest belt and out to the tarmac. Loading goes quickly...the seats are comfortable ( considering) and even the centrr back seats have a pretty good view. You wear very good noise cancelling headsets and share microphones to talk with the pilot. Our pilot, Roger, was outstanding--both as a pilot and as a guide. His knowledge and enthusiasm made the trip very memorable. Yes we saw orange hot lava with even a little splashing. Don't expect National Geographic Imax sights, but it is very cool. The old section of road on fire was my favorite. The whole trip is about 55 minutes. A couple of pointers....best seat for photos is Seat 1 (front right) ...if you are susceptible to motion sickness you may get it (but its a quick trip-- hang in there)....get the DVD after the trip ($25)....the whole flight is on there with complete cockpit recording...and hope you get Roger as a pilot.

We had Roger as our pilot. He was excellent. We felt safe, pilot was very professional, made you feel safe. He flew us around the volcano so that each side of passengers could see. We saw a good amount of lava. The trip was excelent, would recommend it to anyone, the best excursion for our 35th anniversary. Truely a must see tour.

Worth every penny. Went on the A-Star and sat in the front next to pilot and wife sat by the door. Plenty of glass, great views. The DVD is worth the $25.00. The flight over the volcano and the lava fields is a sight to see. Stress free, very calm flight. We took the Circle of Fire tour and Ethan was our pilot. He filled us in with a running commentary of what we were seeing.

This is not an economical tour.... however it is well worth it!! The views of the volcano, waterfalls, coastline, we saw whales and dolphins in the ocean, rolling hills.... just amazing! The pilot was great with being very descriptive of what we were seeing & accommodating us to take pictures. Million dollar views... that only cost hundreds! Thanks so much for the awesome tour!!! Cheers

Very interesting and exciting flight . We upgraded to echo star helicopter but were put on an A star at the last minute. We were told sorry everything else is full. Upon our return we expressed our disappointment to the owner. He was rude, arrogant and basically said mistakes happen. We walked away with a great experience that had a bad ending. When checking in confirm exactly what you are getting. This has happened to others.

This is a must-do when on the Big Island! Beautiful and comfortable helicopters; fantastic pilots (Toshi is phenominal); and the scenery is beyond description. You fly so close to the waterfalls and cliffs you feel as though you could reach out and touch them. And, a great way to whale watch! It is truly the only way to see parts of teh island you would never be able to otherwise.

Amazing... 'nuff said. What a great experience with a high quality professional team. The views were fantastic and the experience was above expectations. Volcano... lava, waterfalls, deep lush valleys... and whale sightings from 800'! Was one of our highpoints and Blue Hawaiian made it even more special. Our pilot was friendly and outgoing, knowledgable and his professionalism was second to none.

We had flown with BH on Maui and enjoyed the experience, so booked the Big Island Spectacular tour online (good discount this way) for a Christmas Day flight. This tour includes flying right over active lava flows, (which there were active that day) and flying into spectacular waterfall laden canyons on the Hilo side. There really is no other way to see these places as they are inaccessible otherwise. The aerial experience is unique and there is no other format that can even come close to the allowing you that perspective. The ecostar helicopters allow for good viewing from all seats and are quite comfortable. The staff are all very professional and the flights leave on time. Tip: if you are prone to motion sickness you may wish to take some anti-nausea relief before your flight. Even if the flight is smooth, which has always been our experience, there is enough motion with some of turns to get your stomach a little annoyed. Even still, well worth the cost to see Madam Pele's red hot lava bubbling just underneath you!

We have done quite a few helicopter rides and this is one of my favorites. You do need to plan a half day for this activity. By the time you get there, take the training, take the ride and drive back. And there is a risk it may be cancelled due to weather which happened to us once. We took both our 20's children and 80's mother in law on the ride. All enjoyed it. The pilot does a good job to take you on a scenic ride and see as up close as possible some lava flows. Well worth it when you're in Hawaii.

This was amazing, my wife and I took the long tour and absolutely loved it. Our pilot was great, great views. Worth it!

Three of us did the dawn tour around the big island on the A star, with pilot Shane, in Feb 2013. We were staying on the Kohala coast with a one year old and didnt really have the time to spend driving all over, plus we knew the views of the sights would be unobtainable or incomparable to the view from the air. We were most excited for the volcano and it did not disappoint, but the lush valley beside Waipio was surprisingly incredible, rivaled the valleys of Kauai. The lava, the waterfalls, unbelievable riveting scenery, truly. Shane was excellent, first class flying and narration, very friendly, professional, lots of commentary, answered questions, and picked great music. Did a fantastic job. I've been in the Ecostar and the Astar was still a terrific experience; not worth fussing over which chopper you take. Do this tour early in your trip and then decide what you really need to see more of. I know its pricy but you've come all this way. Skip a few meals or whatever you need to do to afford it. This is the premier helicopter tour in the world, and you see things you can't see anywhere else or any other way. You wont forget it. You wont regret it. Don't miss it.

We, from Australia, were in an A-star helicopter with our teenage kids plus one friendly fellow traveller from the USA. Ethan, our pilot, was super-informative and knowledgable about everything we flew over or wondered about and questioned, during the 50 min tour. The flight took us over the active Pu'u O'o caldera where we easily saw bubbling and spitting and rolling red-orange lava! What a site!! And we circled in both directions so that nobody missed out. And further down the slopes we could easily spot other active but smaller flows. The ride was smooth, the seats very comfortable and the views really great and easy from any seat. We absolutely recommend you do this experience. We only wished we could do it over the same day!! Blue Hawaiian were very professional and courteous all the way. We are glad we chose them. Thanks for reading.