No glass between you and the city. Harness, briefing, a tether for your phone — and a shorter route than the same billed length with the doors on.
The doors come off the aircraft, so nothing sits between you and the city — not for a moment of it. That changes the preparation, not the flying. Be there at least an hour early: latecomers can be turned away, because the safety briefing and the harness take that time. You are strapped to the airframe and given a tether that holds your phone to the harness. Closed shoes, nothing loose — anything that can fall out will. Seats are assigned by weight and balance, so you do not pick your side.
Twenty minutes gives you the western beaches — Barra da Tijuca, Joatinga, São Conrado, Leblon — then the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, the Jockey Club, the botanical garden and Christ the Redeemer. Thirty minutes adds Arpoador, the rock between Ipanema and Copacabana. Forty adds the Maracanã stadium, and it is the only doors-off length that leaves the coast behind. Christ the Redeemer is on all three.
One operator builds the whole flight around the pictures: thirty-five minutes with two photo pauses — the seller calls them “stops” — where you may hang your feet outside. One is above Pedra do Arpoador between Ipanema and Copacabana, the other at Christ the Redeemer with Sugarloaf behind it. The legs listed on that product add up to seventeen minutes of flying; the rest of the advertised time is those two pauses. That is the flight to book if the photograph matters more to you than the kilometres. Everything else in this category is an ordinary circuit with the doors removed.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Twenty minutes with the doors off over Barra da Tijuca, Joatinga, São Conrado and Leblon, then the lagoon, the Jockey Club, the botanical garden and Christ the Redeemer. Shorter than the doors-on circuit of the same length — Ipanema is left out.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Thirty minutes with the doors off, the twenty-minute route plus Arpoador.
Photo: GetYourGuide
The only seller in Rio that departs with a single passenger, at the same price per seat. Thirty minutes with the doors off from the Clube de Aeronáutica; your weight is checked on a scale at check-in.
Photo: GetYourGuide
The Diamond Route: the thirty-minute flight with the doors off.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Thirty-five minutes with the doors off and two stops with your feet outside — over the Pedra do Arpoador between Ipanema and Copacabana, and at Christ the Redeemer with Sugarloaf behind. Arrive an hour early; you fly in a harness with your phone tethered to it.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Thirty-five minutes with the doors off from Vargem Grande. Shared helicopters with three or four seats; not suitable for children under 15.
Photo: Viator
Two doors-off flights side by side: thirty-five minutes with Rio2Fly from Vargem Grande, and twenty-five to thirty minutes from Avenida das Américas. Both list Barra, São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador and the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon on the way to Christ the Redeemer, and both cap a passenger at 265 lb. Rio2Fly takes three people and allows no open shoes, no skirts and no bags on board; the other flight departs only with a minimum load, and the three seats are drawn by lot.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Forty minutes with the doors off, adding the Maracanã stadium. Still a shorter circuit than forty minutes with the doors on.
Photo: GetYourGuide
Forty minutes with the doors off. The same listing also sells private flights, so read the price unit on the row you pick. Maximum weight per seat 118 kg; food and drinks are not included.
Prices come live from the sellers and change. The figure you see was current when this page was built.