Should I fly helicopters?

You've probably heard that it's tedious to fly helicopters and it's not very profitable. Yes it is tedious, but it can be very profitable. I wouldn't recommend this for very newer players. The infrastructure requirement to fly helicopters is vast. If you are looking for ways as a very new player to gather coins, check out this post.

Thanks @Marve for the additional detail. At some point, I will put the full table of destinations, item combinations and cost/profitability on the forum

Why is it tedious?

They don't use regular passengers in your terminal. Tourists for helicopter flights only come from Guest House, Country Manor, Stone Cottage and Travel Bureau. They require separate infrastructure - Terminal H to hold tourists, Command Center to manage the number of Helicopter Pads you have, and Repair Base H to repair your helicopters. All of these also have to be upgraded. Also, each helicopter requires it's own Helicopter Pad that is specific to the type of helicopter you own. And if you are flying a lot of helicopters, they require separate fuel, produced in Fuel Station H. You have to produce items for each flight (after training flights) and depending on which type of helicopter, this can require 3 buildings - the Resource Base, the Mechanical Plant, and the Hi-Tech Plant. Unlike with things like flight catering which the building produces automatically, you have to specifically initiate contracts to make helicopter items. Items can take anywhere from 1m to 22m 40s to produce and could require production in up to 3 buildings. Only items in the Resource Base are produced simultaneously. In the Mechanical Plant and Hi-Tech Plant, items are queued for product so it takes a LONG TIME to produce things. There are seven different combinations of flight items for each destination and they show up randomly. So while you can easily prepare for lower level flights, it's much harder when flying goldfinches requiring 180 items produced in three different buildings - for just one flight. As you progress to longer flights, you need a lot more items.

For example, a flight to Mont Blanc "could" require the following:

• 7 radio sets, 9 wind cones, 3 swash plates produced in Hi Tech Plants which require
  • 18 emergency parachutes, 3 valves, 9 swivel bearings and 3 drives produced in the Mechanical Plant which will require
    • 42 microcircuits, 15 gears, 23 varnishes and 48 sensors produced in the resource base
• which will cost 2,401 for the items. Another combination may be 6 ground lights, 8 landing skids and 3 shield markers which would cost 2497
• and the flight earns 2,659
• and that will take 48:00 in the Mechanical Plant to produce the items and about 54 minutes in the Hi-Tech Plant but only if you have 6 of each type of building. Some combinations could take longer to produce.
• And while you can produce all the Resource Base items in your 6 resource bases in that time, it will take a LOT of tapping.

Is it Profitable?

Well, 2659-2401 = 258 coins for a nearly 4 hour flight. And that's for this combination of items. As I mentioned, the items required for this flight is unpredictable ... or better said, there are combinations of items that will come up for Mont Blanc and some combinations will cost you a bit more coins and for some combinations, you will barely break even. That's an awful lot of work for very little reward. And there are some combinations/destinations where you actually lose coins rather than earn them.

I used the example of the highest available helicopter flight. I will use a lower level example. Snowdonia could require (remember there are seven different combination of items)

• 1 microcircuit, 2 gear, 1 varnish
• which costs 60 coins
• and the flight earns 90 coins
• profit is 30 coins

Slightly better profitability for the time spent but still lots of constant tapping for 30 coins (in this example but it could be less or slightly more) for an 8 minute flight. Oh, that doesn't include the cost of fuel so the profitability is actually 20 coins. And then helicopters break down and require items to repair them ... and those items cost coins to produce.

Is it even worth it to fly helicopters?

Absolutely! There are several things that can improve profitability of helicopter flights - better helicopters, gold subscription, and some bonuses.

Flying red helicopters increases flight income by 100%. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 180 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 5318 coins. First Class bonus (from alliance reputation points) increases flight income by 50% for a week. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 135 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 3989 coins. Tourist Visa bonus increases flight income by 100%. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 180 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 5318 coins. Junior Pilot bonus increases flight income by 200% for 12 hours. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 270 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 7977 coins. Sky Captain bonus increases flight income by 400% for 24 hours. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 450 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 13295 coins. Popular Destination bonus increases flight income by 100% for 4 hours. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 180 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 5318 coins. Reliable Crew bonus increases flight income by 150% for 8 hours. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 225 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 6648 coins. Gold Subscription increases flight income by 200% for a month. So the 90 coin flight to Snowdonia becomes 270 coins. And the 2659 coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 7977 coins. An added benefit of the gold subscription is that your helicopters (like your planes) don't break down so you save on repair items as well.

But it's beautiful when you combine these things. For example, flying a red helicopter with Gold Subscription while First Class and Sky Captain and Tourist Visa bonuses are running combine to increase income by 850%. The maximum with all bonuses, subscriptions and red helicopters is 1300%.

• the 90 coin/30 profit flight to Snowdonia becomes 855 coins for an 8 minute flight. Even without the gold subscription, the bonus of 650% would yield 675 coins.
• the 2659/258 profit coin flight to Mont Blanc yields 25 261 coins for a 3ish hour flight. Even without the gold subscription, the bonus of 650% would yield 19 943 coins.

And while you are running all these bonuses to get this profit from helicopter flights, you're probably spending a lot of time tapping in the game. You may as well add Inconvertible coin and Business Class bonuses to increase income from commercial buildings and the plane flights.

Bonus Buildings
There is another good reason to fly helicopters ... bonus buildings. Every single helicopter destination (except the training flight) drops items for a collection that will produce bonus buildings that will increase coin or passenger production in your city.

Aircraft	Destination	Building	Bonus	Dimensions	Yield
Sparrow	Yellowstone	Sauna	+1% passenger bonus / radius 1	1x1	6 coins / 05m 00s
Sparrow	Lake Baikal	Fishing Store	+1% commercial bonus / radius 1	1x1	9 coins / 10m 00s
Sparrow	Snowdonia	Optical Store	+2% commercial bonus / radius 1	1x1	13 coins / 20m 00s
Sparrow	Fiordland	Tour Stall	+2% passenger bonus / radius 1	1x1	19 coins / 01h 00m
Sparrow	Banff	Golf Club	+3% passenger bonus / radius 1	1x1	30 coins / 04h 0m
Crossbill	Iguazu Falls	Museum of Gold	+5% commercial bonus / radius 1	1x1	26 coins / 02h 00m
Crossbill	Angel Falls	Radio-Controlled Toys	+3% commercial bonus / radius 1	1x1	15 coins / 25m 00s
Crossbill	Victoria Falls	Boat Store	+4% commercial bonus / radius 1	1x1	24 coins / 05h 00m
Crossbill	Niagara Falls	Base Jumping School	+4% passenger bonus / radius 1	1x1	15 coins / 20m 00s
Crossbill	Rideau Falls	Lounge Bar	+5% passenger bonus / radius 1	1x1	25 coins / 01h 00m
Goldfinch	Denali	Winter Hotel	+5% passenger bonus / radius 2	1x1	11 coins / 10m 00s
Goldfinch	Jaya	Detox Hotel	+5% commercial bonus / radius 2	1x1	35 coins / 04h 00m
Goldfinch	Aconcagua	Archaeological Camp	+5% passenger bonus / radius 2	1x1	10 passengers / 04h 00m
Goldfinch	Stanley	Rest Camp	+1% commercial bonus / radius 3	1x1	4 passengers / 15m 00s
Goldfinch	Mont Blanc	Skiing Facility	+1% passenger bonus / radius 3	1x1	22 coins / 01h 00m

The bonuses from these buildings compound to amplify profits or passengers from nearby buildings. If you put four 5% passenger bonus buildings near a residential building, you will collect 20% more passengers from that building each time. It works the same for commercial buildings - increasing the coins produced by the buildings.

Any other benefits?
There are a few other benefits to flying helicopters too:

• Helicopters can be cheaply sped up to help you accomplish your daily missions (e.g. speed up flights)
• Some destinations drop flight items and aircraft repair items (e.g. Yellowstone-landing lamp, Snowdonia-fuel supply, Banff-strobe light, Iguazu Falls-strobe light, Aconcagua-RDF)
• For the first two helicopter types, it's a very fast way to accumulate stars

Some suggestions

• Do NOT bother spending greens to add spaces to Mechanical Plant and Hi-Tech Plant. It won't speed up production of these items since they are produced in a queue. The only way additional spaces will help is if you have the buildings work overnight while you are sleeping.
• Don't ever waste tokens buying S1 or S2 helicopters. For sparrow and crossbill, the flights are very quick anyway. For goldfinch, you can't fly more than two goldfinches and keep up on production items even if you have 6 of every building.
• Don't bother buying more than 2 goldfinch unless you are okay with completely depleting your inventory of helicopter items and spending days to replenish it.
• If you get a chance to obtain a red helicopter, get it. Red helicopters boost profit from flights.
• Fly helicopters with bonuses running that improve profits - Tourist Visa, Sky Captain, Junior Pilot, Reliable Crew, Popular Destination. In fact, combine them all for a ton of profit. It's a good way to make a lot of coins fast.

Conclusion?

Is it worth it to fly helicopters? Most times, I would say no. The pain of producing items makes the meager (if any) profit not worth it. However, if you have some bonuses lying around and you use them effectively, flying helicopters can easily become one of the most profitable tasks in the game.

 

[Nayeon]

Thank you for posting this as I *love* helicopters #whirlygirls ftw! 🚁

One other thing people forget are the bonus buildings. 5% bonus in a 2 radius square? And I can get 6 of them? And put them around my best coin producing buildings? Why thank you Mr. Goldfinch.

Boat Store, Radio-Controlled Toys and Museum of Gold are almost as nice and also factor in as they make you $$ even when you don't fly.

And the animation on these cuties is fun to watch too, and there is something to be said for a little joy in your life.

Happy flying
👧⛽
N

 

[Chloe11111]

Thank you for posting this as I *love* helicopters #whirlygirls ftw! 🚁

One other thing people forget are the bonus buildings. 5% bonus in a 2 radius square? And I can get 6 of them? And put them around my best coin producing buildings? Why thank you Mr. Goldfinch.

Boat Store, Radio-Controlled Toys and Museum of Gold are almost as nice and also factor in as they make you $$ even when you don't fly.

And the animation on these cuties is fun to watch too, and there is something to be said for a little joy in your life.

Happy flying
👧⛽
N

Thanks - I was just out doing groceries and had the same thought to add them to the page.

 

[Nayeon]

Thanks - I was just out doing groceries and had the same thought to add them to the page.

Well you know, great minds, right?

 

[Chloe11111]

Well you know, great minds, right?

Great minds with a glass of wine in their hand

 

[TimP]

What it is also a nice thing to do with helicopters - you can use them for the daily missions as their flights also count for sending out flights, landing and accelerating. Just use a Sparrow with the training flight and all those three tasks can be supported easily when you do not waste fuel for example for your other planes.

 

[PLMerry]

What a great article!!!!

One thing you missed in the article are all of the repair parts and flight items that come from visiting the helicopter locations. On my main game I keep two Sparrow and a Crossbill rotating through each destination, and have never needed to wait for a repair, or watch an ad for repair parts. The flight items I receive from these flights keep me well stocked until an event comes along and requires huge numbers of flight and corresponding flight items.

 

[Jabus]

And then of course they are something to tap at when you feel like playing and all flights are out, your coin collected, your gifts collected and sent ..... you get the picture. They surely are better than tapping trees!

 

[Chloe11111]

Thanks for the input everyone. I keep rounding out the first post

 

[Barkmi4 (Mike)]

Nice work Chloe.
My 2 cents;
1) Particularly for new players, I don’t think anyone is suggesting running the bonuses just to fly heli flights (with the exception of heli specific bonuses). But more that if you are already running bonuses for other purposes, this is the time to operate your helis and then restock in slow time at another point.
2) Consider the land required to build and operate Heli’s - quite a bit is required and it’s not that practical in the first levels of the game.
3) It could be worth adding the attributes of the buildings in the table as well as the bonus? I.e. rest camp 1x1, 4 pax/15mins. You could even hyperlink to the wiki page.

For me, getting 6 of the winter hotel, rest camp, archeological camp and skiing facility were the main reasons for putting an earlier focus onto doing heli flights. But I love passenger buildings and passenger bonuses. For others like @Nayeon , its the coins that appeal more. Which ever you prefer, these are all decent rewards worth adding to your city - but without the info in the table a newer player might not see the full appeal.

 

[Nayeon]

Great minds with a glass of wine in their hand

🍷🥰

 

[Mac Craft]

I have a question that is somewhat related. I am level 65 and 211 stars. On helicopter flights I am on 41-50 level. What I need to do to open new levels and destinations for my helicopters? For planes it is noted for the next level is needed level "number" and stars "number", but for the helicopters that info. is not there...Thanks

 

[Chloe11111]

I have a question that is somewhat related. I am level 65 and 211 stars. On helicopter flights I am on 41-50 level. What I need to do to open new levels and destinations for my helicopters? Is it number of stars on existing destinations? Thanks

The information is in each helicopter destination in the wiki https://www.airportcitygame.com/wiki/helicopter_flights/

 

[flyhores]

If you don't want to spend real money or extra green, it is strongly recommended that the game level be lower than level 65 and do not complete any helicopter tasks

 

[Smashngrab77]

how do you get a red helicopter? Are they the S2? TIA

 

[Maverick68]

how do you get a red helicopter? Are they the S2? TIA

Wiki 'Aircraft' https://www.airportcitygame.com/wiki/aircraft/

Scroll to bottom.

 

[Chloe11111]

how do you get a red helicopter? Are they the S2? TIA

Red helicopters are quite rare. They have not been available often. Watch for sales and events

 

[Nayeon]

I think when the Game Studio first was offered as part of an event, wasn't the red Goldfinch one of the rewards for getting it to level 10? I seem to remember that is where mine came from, but I could be wrong (as it went away after the event, even when getting the Game Studio to level 10. Wow, that was a *lot* of ad watching to get 6 of them all the way.