Flying over Sao Paulo in a Bell 430 July 15 2011

Bell 430 at HeliPark

Went flying in the Bell 430 over Sao Paulo. Flew with Captain Bradley, in the back were 5 friends including Andreia Zwetsch, shown here with me and the Captain.
Amazing place - the traffic is terrible and estimates for the number of cars in SP differ from 16 million to 17.5 million - what is a mill and a half here or there? Coz of that helicopter travel is far more common than in other countries of the world. There are currently around 170 helicopters at Helipark and when they build the new hangars there will be another 200 or so... fantastic.

Helicidade Heliport in Sao Paulo

Estimates vary over the number of helipads in SP but I have been given the figures of 420 or 300 - so it is hard to say. I hope that by the time the article in Helicopter Life comes out I will have a more exact idea. But suffice to say there are a LOT and often, because they are on top of high rises, only metres between one and another.
There are also three large heliports - of which Helipark is much the largest - from where all these helicopters fly into SP