Practical
What to wear on a helicopter ride: the Cape Town version
The honest answer is that you can wear almost anything and nobody will stop you. But a helicopter cabin is a small glass box with a windy apron at either end, and four or five choices made before you leave the hotel decide whether your photographs work and whether you spend the flight comfortable. Here is the list, with the Cape Town-specific parts marked.
Quick answer
Wear dark, plain clothes, closed shoes and no hat. Dark colours do not reflect in the cabin windows, which is the single biggest cause of ruined helicopter photographs. Closed shoes are for the walk across the apron. Hats blow away in rotor wash and are not allowed near the aircraft anyway. Bring a light layer even in summer, sunglasses always, and leave loose bags in the locker at the heliport.
What to wear and bring, at a glance
- Colours
- Dark and plainwhite and bright patterns reflect in the glass
- Shoes
- Closed, flatyou walk across a working apron
- Hats
- Norotor wash takes them, and crews ask you to remove them
- Layers
- One light onecabins are glazed and air-conditioned
- Sunglasses
- Yessun over water is fierce, even in winter
- Bags
- In a lockernothing loose goes into the cabin
- Camera
- Phone is fineno polarising filter
- Jewellery
- Nothing danglingheadsets and long earrings do not mix
- Skirts and dresses
- Fine, mid-lengththe apron is windy
- Weigh-in
- Everyonewear what you like; you will be weighed in it
The clothes
Four choices that actually change the flight
Dark clothes for the photographs, closed shoes for the apron, one layer for the cabin.
Dark, plain colours. This is the one that matters and almost nobody is told it. A helicopter cabin is glazed on every side, and anything bright that you are wearing reflects off the window and lands in the middle of your photographs. A white shirt is the worst offender; a bold pattern is second. Dark navy, grey, black or olive effectively disappear.
Closed, flat shoes. You walk from a door to an aircraft across an apron with a helicopter running on it. The ground is clean, the wind is not gentle, and sandals that can flip off are the wrong choice. Nothing heavy is needed — trainers are ideal.
One light layer. Cape Town in February is hot on the apron and comfortable in an air-conditioned cabin; in July it is genuinely cold at the pad first thing. A thin jacket or a jumper covers both, and it fits under the harness without fuss.
Nothing dangling. Long earrings, loose scarves and lanyards catch on the headset and the harness. Take them off before you get to the desk rather than at the aircraft.
What Cape Town adds
Three local details that are not on the generic list
Strong sun, a windy apron and a ten-degree swing between eight and noon.
The sun here is stronger than visitors expect. Cape Town sits at 33 degrees south with clean maritime air, and a glazed cabin over bright water concentrates it. Sunglasses are not a comfort item on this flight, they are equipment. Sunscreen on the face and hands is worth it too, particularly on the longer flights.
The wind on the apron is not the wind in the city. The heliport sits on open ground beside the water at the Waterfront, and the south-easter funnels through it. Whatever you wear, assume it will be blown about between the door and the aircraft. This is the real reason for the no-hat rule.
The temperature difference between morning and midday is large. A winter morning slot at eight can be ten degrees; by noon the same day it can be twenty. Since the morning slot is the one you should be booking, dress for the early version and carry the layer you will take off afterwards.
One more thing, occasionally useful: several of the listings on this page are marked wheelchair accessible on the operator’s own listing. If that matters to your party, check the specific flight before booking rather than assuming either way.
What to bring, and what to leave
Six items, and what happens to each one at the heliport
The rule is simple: what goes in the cabin is what you can hold.
- Phone or camera — take it
Both are fine in the cabin. Keep the strap around your wrist, and put the lens against the glass rather than near it.
- Polarising filter — leave it
Aircraft windows are curved acrylic and a polariser produces rainbow banding across the frame. It is the one accessory that reliably makes these photographs worse.
- Handbag or daypack — locker
Nothing loose in the cabin. There are lockers at the heliport and you will not need anything from the bag during a twelve-minute flight.
- Water — drink it before, not during
Cabins are compact and there is nowhere sensible to put a bottle once you are harnessed.
- Motion sickness tablets — if you know you need them
Take them forty-five minutes before the slot, not at the desk. Morning flights are calmer, and the shorter flights are easier on anybody who is unsure.
- ID and voucher — essential
Names are checked against the manifest at check-in. A photo of the voucher on your phone is accepted on every listing here.
If you are flying to mark something, two of the flights include champagne on the pad afterwards — and that changes what you might want to be wearing.
Champagne and proposals→Photographing through the glass
The four minutes of preparation that decide the pictures
Lens on the glass, fast shutter, and straighten the horizon at home.
Every scenic flight in Cape Town is flown with the doors closed, so every photograph you take goes through a curved acrylic window. Four things follow from that.
Contact beats proximity. Rest the lens or the phone against the glass. Any gap lets the cabin reflect, and the cabin includes you, the seat backs and whoever is sitting opposite.
Clean the window if you can. Crews often do it between flights; if yours is smeared, a quiet word before boarding is normal and usually acted on.
Shoot at a high shutter speed. The airframe vibrates constantly, and vibration ruins more helicopter photographs than movement of the aircraft does. On a phone, that means not using night mode or long exposure; on a camera, 1/1000 is not excessive.
Expect the horizon to be tilted. The aircraft banks in every turn, and a photograph taken level with the cabin looks wrong afterwards. Straighten later rather than fighting it at the time.
For nervous passengers
Six things that make a first flight easier
None of this is unusual and all of it is worth knowing before the day.
- Book a morning slot
Calm air is the single biggest factor in how the flight feels, and mornings are calmest.
- Take a short flight first
Twelve minutes is plenty for a first time. If you love it, the longer flights will still be there tomorrow.
- Sit forward if you can
Front seats feel more stable and give the best view. Say so when you book; the weights decide, but asking costs nothing.
- Eat something light beforehand
An empty stomach and a full one are both worse than a small breakfast an hour before.
- Tell the pilot
Say it at the briefing rather than in the air. Pilots fly nervous passengers constantly and they will fly the turns more gently.
- Look at the horizon, not at the ground
The standard advice for motion sickness, and it works in a helicopter as well as on a boat.
Common questions
What to wear on a helicopter flight, answered
What should I wear on a helicopter ride in Cape Town?
Dark, plain clothes so you do not reflect in the windows, closed flat shoes for the apron, one light layer for the cabin, sunglasses, and no hat.
Why does clothing colour matter?
The cabin is glazed on all sides. Light or patterned clothing reflects off the windows and appears in the middle of your photographs.
Can I wear a hat?
Not near the aircraft. Rotor wash takes hats and crews will ask you to remove them before you walk to the pad.
Can I take a bag on board?
No. Loose bags go into a locker at the heliport; you take a phone or camera and nothing else.
Do I need warm clothes?
One light layer is enough. Cabins are air-conditioned and Cape Town mornings, especially in winter, are colder on the apron than the same day feels at midday.
Will I be weighed?
Yes, every passenger, in whatever you are wearing. It is how the pilot balances the aircraft and decides the seating.
Go deeper
More on flying over Cape Town
Which flight is best
One recommendation for each kind of visitor, and why.
CostWhat it costs
From $170 to $698, and what a minute in the air is worth.
The mountainTable Mountain from the air
What the flat top looks like from above, and which flight circles it.
The ApostlesThe Twelve Apostles
The buttresses along the Atlantic, and which flights reach them.
The heliportFlights from the Waterfront
Where the pad is, how check-in works, and what the hour looks like.
The seaboardCamps Bay and Hout Bay
Eighteen to twenty-seven minutes down the Atlantic coast.
