Photo by: Bennett Sell-Kline
If you think it’s impressive to walk down the Strip and bathe in the neon lights, it’s nothing like getting a bird’s-eye view of this glittering oasis from a few thousand feet up.
Maverick Helicopters has been giving people an unparalleled view of Las Vegas and its surrounding natural wonders for three decades. One of its most popular tours is the Wind Dancer Sunset flight, which takes guests to the Grand Canyon with a sunset return over the neon lights of the Strip. You get the best of both worlds: the natural beauty of one of the seven natural wonders and the manmade spectacle of Las Vegas.
A Maverick tour starts at its Las Vegas terminal, just past the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign. On this particular ride, I’m one of seven passengers aboard an ECO-Star helicopter, its wraparound windows built for sightseeing. Our pilot, Seth, breaks the ice by asking if this is our first time on a helicopter. A few raise their hands, to which Seth replies, “Me, too.” We laugh nervously, but in truth, Seth has done this flight over a thousand times.
Then we take our seats and strap in. Below, the city becomes a tidy grid of lights and roads. The commercial planes at the airport look like colorful matchsticks. Seth puts on a playlist: Creed’s “Higher” seems apropos. My fellow passengers get their iPhones ready.
The helicopter passes over Lake Las Vegas, then glides over Hoover Dam, its smooth arc of concrete gleaming against Lake Mead. Seth points out the dam’s nearly century-old engineering, the Arizona-Nevada divide, the demarcation where Lake Mead meets the Colorado River. (They are different colors, due to the river’s sediment-heavy waters versus the lake’s clearer, bluer water.)
Photo by: Courtesy of Maverick Helicopters
About 45 minutes in, the ground begins to fracture into ridges and shadows, and then the Grand Canyon opens before us—what Seth calls “the big reveal”—a sweep of color and space so expansive that conversation comes to a complete halt. The helicopter traces a path through more than 10 miles of canyon walls, their reds and browns deepening in the late-day light.
Seth descends 3,500 feet to a private landing site on Hualapai Indian Territory. Here, 300 feet above the Colorado River, we step out into stillness. Champagne is poured, light snacks set out. We disperse to explore. There is something holy about this land. Its vastness is humbling.
When the flight resumes, the sun is lowering toward the horizon and we rise and turn westward. We see the Bowl of Fire glowing with red rock formations; Lake Mead catches the last of the light.
As twilight deepens, the Las Vegas Valley appears ahead, a faint shimmer at first, then a glittering sprawl. The Strip begins to glow as we descend. We see famous landmarks, and from above, Allegiant Stadium is so small that it could easily be mistaken for an office building. The Sphere looks like a child’s shiny toy. The entire trip has lasted just under four hours, but it feels longer, as if time has bent somewhere over the canyon.
Maverick offers several tours—night flights above the Strip, scenic loops over Red Rock Canyon, other trips to the Grand Canyon—but the Wind Dancer Sunset Tour is something special. It’s less about thrill-seeking than perspective, the quiet realization that some experiences are best measured not by distance, but by how small and lucky they make you feel.
6075 Las Vegas Blvd. S. 702.261.0007 or maverickhelicopter.com
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