---
title: "Kinds of helicopter flight in Nepal"
description: "The six kinds of flight a helicopter performs in Nepal, and which one a given trip needs."
source: "https://gohelinepal.com/service"
markdown: "https://gohelinepal.com/md/service"
site: "Go Heli Nepal"
---

# What a helicopter is used for in Nepal

## Scenic and tour flights

Everest, Annapurna and Langtang from the air, back the same morning.

This is the classic Nepal helicopter trip. You take off from Kathmandu or Pokhara at first light, fly up the valley while the air is still calm, land high up for a short photo stop, and get back in time for lunch.

Most tours take three to five hours from door to door. That includes a fuel stop and a short landing at the viewpoint. Everest tours include breakfast at Hotel Everest View. Annapurna tours land inside the sanctuary itself.

The air is very thin above 5,000 m. Landings are kept short on purpose, and the pilot often takes the group up in two trips so the helicopter is not carrying too much weight. This is done for safety, not to save money.

## Private charters

The whole helicopter, your timing, nobody else on board.

Book the whole helicopter for your group. You pick the date, the plan and the take off time. The only limits are the weather and the rest hours the crew has to follow.

This suits families, small groups, film crews and anyone carrying equipment. It is also the only choice on restricted routes like Upper Mustang, where each permit covers one helicopter.

You pay for the helicopter, not for each person. On the Everest tour that costs more than five shared seats would, so what a charter buys is the departure time, the itinerary and nobody else on board — not a lower price.

## Shared seat bookings

Buy one or two seats on a flight other travellers are already filling.

Most scenic helicopters carry five people. If there are two of you, there is no need to pay for five. You can buy two seats on a flight other travellers are already filling.

Sharing costs far less. An Everest tour is about $4,000 for the whole helicopter and about $500 a seat when you share it.

The catch is that you have less control. A shared flight needs a set number of seats sold before it can go, and the operator picks the exact time. If it does not fill, they will offer you another date or give all your money back.

## Medical rescue flights

Emergency flights out of the trekking areas. Call us to start one.

Altitude sickness, injury and illness in the high valleys need a helicopter, and they need it the same day. The rescue desk rings operators who keep crews ready, some of whom can lift people out on a rope where there is nowhere to land. A rescue flight is never guaranteed: darkness, cloud and wind can stop one.

Call instead of sending an email. Rescue flights in Nepal are arranged by phone, and email is far too slow when someone is getting worse at 5,000 m.

Operators usually fly on the medical need, but most ask for your insurer's assistance number or a guarantee of payment. Call your insurer's assistance line as soon as you can. The operator's liability insurance covers the operator; it is not the travel insurance that pays for your evacuation.

## Company and custom flights

Regular transport, survey work, filming and cargo flights.

For companies that move people or equipment to a schedule. This covers getting to a work site, survey and mapping flights, filming from the air, and staff transport between Kathmandu and airfields around the country.

Regular work is agreed straight with the operator at a rate you settle between you, rather than the standard tour price.

Tell us what you need and we will show you the operators who can actually do it.

## Proposal flights

Fly to Tilicho Lake, Annapurna Base Camp or Kala Patthar and propose there, just the two of you.

Choose one of three places and ask the question there: Tilicho Lake at 4,919 m, above the Annapurna circuit; Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 m, inside its ring of peaks; or Kala Patthar at 5,545 m, facing Everest. The helicopter lands, you step out, and nobody else is on board.

It is a private charter, so you pay for the whole helicopter rather than for two seats. It leaves from Kathmandu or Pokhara, your choice: Tilicho and Annapurna Base Camp usually fly from Pokhara, and Kala Patthar from Kathmandu with a fuel stop on the way. The spare seats can carry a photographer, but every extra person is weight the helicopter has to lift at altitude.

Choose a proposal flight on the enquiry form, pick the place, and tell the desk whether it is a surprise. The air is thin at all three, so time on the ground is kept short — shortest at Kala Patthar, longest at Annapurna Base Camp. Flights go early, before the cloud builds, and it is worth holding a second morning in case the weather stops the first.