I took a 40 minute helicopter ride, the most expensive and longest that was offered. The ride was smooth and the views of the glaciers and mountains was great. The pilot was unintelligible due to his thick accent and quick speech and the static from the helicopter's electronic system. When I asked him to speak more slowly, he said that he was a pilot, not a guide. MY RECOMMENDATION: find another company and do the same type of tour.

We looked at all the companies offering helicopter flights in Fox and Franz Josef and decided on Mountain Helicopters because they are a locally owned company and they fly small helicopters that have an excellent safety record and good visibility for all passengers. We planned to be in glacier country for only two days and were not sure exactly when we would arrive, but Jessica had assured us in emails that we could just call on the day we wanted to fly. On the day we did arrive at the Mountain Helicopter office in Fox, rain threatened and visibility was variable, but Mike and his team managed to fit us into a short weather window and Mike himself took us on an exhilarating flight over both Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and also managed to land us on Middleton glacier for photos. We didn’t see Mount Cook because of the cloud cover, but that was a small price to pay for being able to take the flight at all. I’ve flown many times in larger helicopters, but flying in the small machine used by Mountain Helicopters was a much more exciting experience and the visibility so much better.

Thanks to Mike and his team for their friendly and personal service and, contrary to what the last reviewer intimated (how was that and the personal abuse allowed by TripAdvisor?), we think they are great at ‘transporting folk in helicopters’!