How it feels to soar 2,000ft above London in a doorless helicopter

Hundreds of feet below, a bright turquoise rectangle between rooftops looks like a swimming pool. 

Could it be one of the city’s famous lidos? I shuffle along the bank of seats at the back of the helicopter, peering over the shoulder of artist Donn Delson as he leans out of the aircraft’s open door.

As wind rushes through the cabin, I squint at the city, both tiny and vast, a view I’ve only seen before in satellite maps or restricted by a plane’s porthole windows. 

This time there’s no reinforced glass to block the horizon, as I’m in a doorless helicopter, strapped in with only a lap belt as we hover almost 2,000ft above London. 

It’s not until we touch back down at London Heliport next to the Thames in Battersea and debrief that I realise the blue swimming pool was actually the roof of the British Museum, something I’ve seen many times, but only from below.

Donn Delson, an American artist specialising in aerial photography, asked the pilot to stop and hover above to show us how he took his photo ‘Crown Jewel’, of the blue-green dome gleaming in the sun.

He has spent over 100 hours harnessed into open helicopters so he can lean out with his camera when he sees a potential snap below.

He invited Metro.co.uk up to see how he works, pointing out landmarks through our headsets over the deafening roar of rotor blades.

A different perspective

Twenty minutes from Greenwich to Putney passed in a blur, as I snapped dozens of photos over his shoulder trying to spot anything resembling art, as well as my old apartment building near Waterloo and the park I walk around on lunch breaks.

We saw ribbons thread across streets which were the lanterns of Chinatown, luxury cars lined up on a red carpet, and an air ambulance from above, in its parking space on the roof of the Royal London Hospital.

The streets showed no particular logic, with curved streets and skyscrapers plonked next to low-rise flats, a glorious mismatch, unlike more newer, more regimented cities laid out in blocks.

Donn, 75, lives in Los Angeles but visited briefly for an exhibition of his photography in Cromwell Place.

He told how he enjoys shooting in London, and is still trying for the perfect twilight shot of Tower Bridge and the Shard, with leading lines of the river and rail tracks.

His ‘Points of Light’ collection includes an image of the streets around the West End, mostly dark except doors and windows, aside from Piccadilly Circus lit up like a beacon. 

Many works are more abstract, with his eye drawn by patterns and symmetry, sometimes finding whimsical resemblances in what he sees.

I loved looking again at ‘Space Invader’ after reading the title, unable to see anything but the retro game although I hadn’t thought of it beforehand.

Some of his London photographs are similarly abstract, such as ‘Feathered’ which shows shipping containers lined up in zigzags. This was no doubt done on the ground to save space with no thought to artistic pattern, but makes a compelling image with lines pointing in V-shapes like a bird’s plumage. 

‘Turntables’ was another scene he spotted above the capital, showing a series of circles at the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works above Newham which put him in mind of records – something personally relevant to him, as he worked in the music industry for many years.

‘My wife says I’m the busiest retired person she knows,’ Donn joked, after he sold his last business BandMerch in 2010 having worked with artists from Rihanna to Linkin Park. 

‘Some people say, “oh you’re an adrenaline junky”. But no, not at all. I’m cautious and I take precautions to make sure I don’t do anything risky.’

In safe hands

Nervous before we hop into the helicopter, I corner Steve Young, who is owner of Rushmere Helicopters and helped organise the trip, to ask about safety.

He says that the Aerospatiale AS355 Twin Squirrel we’re going up in has two engines, so is allowed to fly further over London than one with a single engine, which must track the river in case the engine fails.

I had visions of the whole thing simply falling out of the sky, but Steve says that pilots drill for power cuts ‘all the time’ where they glide the helicopter down to land.

He warns us to wrap up well, as it gets cold so high and open to the wind, but says that flying without a door is ‘an amazing experience and one that most people – even many pilots – don’t get the chance to to experience.’

High above the city, Donn seems incredibly relaxed with his legs crossed, camera in lap (though of course secured) and feet hanging out the door. He straps himself in too like a mountaineer, but that’s mainly to be able to lean out and get the best shot possible.

The father-of-three and grandfather-of-six has no plans to stop, and having sold almost $900,000 of art to date, his ‘retirement’ is proving very profitable. 

He tells how he notices a physical change in the way that he breathes when he finds a shot he knows has potential, though our trip was too fast for a proper shoot and was mainly to demonstrate his unusual method.

‘Everything I find is usually serendipitous,’ he said, with the helicopter slowing down to hover when he spots something. 

When we land back on the ground, it takes a while for my stomach to settle after the helicopter rolled sideways over the city.

I’m on a high too when I check my camera and realise I managed to capture Big Ben from above as we sped past, even if it’s not with the most perfect composition or resolution.

Once in a lifetime

Donn will be back up in doorless helicopters around the world, but that was probably the first and last time for me. 

It’s not something you can easily arrange. Flights from London Heliport are prohibitively expensive due to restricted landings, but you could book the same helicopter tour over London for up to five people for £1,800, taking off from White Waltham Airfield near Maidenhead and going to Canary Wharf and back in an hour.

Those hoping to recreate Donn’s shots could be disappointed, though, with helicopter owner Steve saying he ‘wouldn’t do the tour without doors,’ though he pointed out it would be more comfortable with less noise and ‘you still get a great view’. 

Even – or perhaps especially – if I’ll never do it again, I’m exhilarated to have seen London in such a wide lens. With close to nine million living here, we must have flown over a good chunk of them.

Although we reached such an altitude, we didn’t come close to leaving London itself, with the city stretching on for miles, showing the massive scale of the metropolis.

Donn says he makes all his limited-edition art big, from a minimum of 2.5ft by 4ft and going up to 12ft by 18ft, because he wants to show people the same viewpoint without having to go up in the helicopter themselves.

Printing on such a large scale allows people to see if their perspective changes, of if they made a wrong assumption about something, once they stand close-up.

I don’t have room for an 18ft artwork on my wall, but I’ll certainly be zooming in on the photos from our trip to see what else unexpected there might be.

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