Lite Flight Helicopters

What Lite Flight is and where it flies

Lite Flight Helicopters is a Los Angeles helicopter company that flies its own scenic tours, landing tours, charters and flight lessons. The About page says it is "proudly based at the private terminals of Hollywood Burbank Airport", at Atlantic Aviation, 10750 Sherman Way, Burbank, CA 91505, and notes that "while our Burbank location is new", the company has flown for "over 29 years". Its tours cover Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, the Santa Monica Pier, Venice, Malibu and the coastline. Charters reach further: the About page lists Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Catalina Island among the destinations, and says it can arrange helicopter transfers for guests flying into LAX, Hollywood Burbank Airport or another local airport.

The homepage shows the company's own figures: "29+" years of experience, a "4.9+" average rating, 40,000 flight hours, and a link to "500+ reviews". Its fleet section describes a Robinson R44 Raven II with "3 Passenger Seats + 1 Pilot Seat" for tours and photography, and a two-seat Robinson R22 Beta II for training.

Scenic tours

The catalog, which says "we fly daily and availability is limited", lists each tour with a duration and price. The Hollywood Sign & Universal Studios tour is a 10-minute introductory flight over the Hollywood Sign, Universal Studios, Griffith Park, Griffith Observatory and Warner Bros. Studios, on sale at $138 against a regular $159. The Hollywood & Beverly Hills Celebrity tour runs about 20 minutes over the Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and celebrity homes, at $199; its pitch is "Skip the tour bus and see over the fences!"

The LA Live Downtown tour is about 30 minutes over Dodger Stadium, the downtown skyline and Crypto.com Arena, listed at a special $250 per person, "normally $299". The California Coastline tour flies from Marina del Rey to Pacific Palisades past Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier, and the site suggests booking it before sunset. The LA Live at Night tour runs only after sunset, and flights at 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM must be booked by phone.

The longer flights are the Ultimate Helicopter Tour of Los Angeles, called "our most popular helicopter adventure", at about 45 minutes and $389, and the Deluxe tour at about 60 minutes and $449 in the catalog. The Deluxe adds the Hollywood Bowl, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the beach towns and Malibu.

Landing tours, dining and special events

The landing tours are where Lite Flight differs from a straight sightseeing flight. "LA's Only Downtown Rooftop Landing Helicopter Tour", at $649, lands on a building for a 30-minute stop with a champagne toast. The page warns that for proposals, decorations "cannot be set up in advance due to rotor blade backwash", and that outside groups cannot meet at the landing site. The Malibu Mountain Top Landing sets down on a promontory above the Pacific for 30 minutes, also with a toast.

For weddings, the Malibu Mountain Top Elopement package page lists $999.00 and includes a 45-minute scenic tour with a mountaintop landing, a "Full hour on site" for the ceremony, the ceremony officiated by the captain, a wedding cake and a rose bouquet. The homepage shows the same elopement at $1998 for "2 (Couple)". The couple "must obtain your marriage certificate in advance and bring it with you on the day of your flight".

Dining products include a dinner at Eureka Tasting Kitchen at Hawthorne Airport ($699) and a lunch at the Waypoint Cafe at Camarillo Airport, each with about 1.5 hours at the restaurant and the meal cost not included. The winery flights go to Fess Parker Winery via Santa Ynez Airport ($1,949, with a 90-minute tasting and a private driver) and to Grimm's Bluff Winery, "from $3,464 per couple", with a direct landing at the estate.

The Private Hideaway is a 40-acre glamping retreat in the Santa Monica Mountains that the site says has "Helicopter-only access". A 2-hour day trip is $950 and the overnight stay starts at $1,750 per person, both with a 1-hour round-trip Coastline tour. Meals are not included, and the overnight is booked by phone only. The site also offers a Helicopter Gender Reveal, starting at $699 within a 2.5-mile radius of Burbank Airport and $999+ beyond it, where the customer is responsible for permission to use the location.

Lessons, booking and extras

The "You Get to Fly" Discovery Flight, at $374, includes ground instruction and lets one guest fly the helicopter; it runs in daytime only. Formal training lessons are priced by aircraft: the homepage lists an R22 30-minute flight at $250, R22 60 minutes at $455, R44 30 minutes at $400 and R44 60 minutes at $760, with the note "Aircraft availability subject to passenger weight".

Tours are booked online by choosing a date and a desired departure time, and custom flights need a call: "Custom flight requests are available, but they require direct coordination with our office." Flights within 2 hours of sunset carry an extra sunset fee. The LA Live page says a weekday 10% discount is not valid with promotional pricing. A 360° video and framed 8x10 photo package is offered as an add-on. Digital gift cards are emailed to the recipient, can be applied to another tour, and are "non-refundable except where required by applicable law". Phone lines are 1-877-335-7038 and 818-561-4838, open Mon - Sun 10:00 - 6:00 PM PST.

What the site leaves open, and who it suits

The footer links to an FAQ and Terms & Conditions, but the site does not state a cancellation window, a refund rule for tours, or what happens when weather stops a flight. The site gives no minimum age and no per-seat weight limit for tours, beyond the training note about passenger weight and a reminder that items brought aboard must fit "due to space and weight limitations". Guest counts vary by page (the scenic tour card shows "2-6" guests, the Ultimate tour "2-8", while the R44 has 3 passenger seats), and prices differ between the homepage cards and the catalog, so the checkout figure is the one to trust.

Lite Flight suits visitors and locals who want more than a loop over the Hollywood Sign: a rooftop or Malibu landing, an elopement, a winery lunch or a first lesson at the controls. The long, priced catalog makes it easy to compare. Travelers who need firm rules on cancellation, children or weight before paying should call first.