I was in Las Vegas for AWS re:Invent. It was Sunday, a spare day for recovering from jet lag and picking up my badge. I was thinking if I felt up to it, I might rent a car and head to Red Rock Canyon. Then, a colleague messaged me, “Wanna go to the Grand Canyon by Cessna?!” I’d always wanted to visit, but I’d assumed it wasn’t a day trip from Vegas, so I gladly accepted the offer.
The tour they booked for me included:
- Bus transfer from a Las Vegas hotel to Boulder City Airport, just outside Vegas.
- Cessna flight from Boulder City Airport to Grand Canyon West Airport.
- A bus tour around Eagle Point (where the Grand Canyon Skywalk is) and Guano Point.
- Admission to the Skywalk.
- Return trip to the hotel via Cessna and bus, following the same route.
What was a bit interesting was the check-in process for the Cessna. As you can see in the third photo, there’s a rather peculiar footprint mark at the reception counter. Can you guess what it’s for? When I was told to stand on it during check-in, it clicked… they were weighing me! I guess with such a small Cessna, they need to keep track of the total weight and ensure proper weight distribution.
It felt so strange to be at an airport with only helicopters and Cessnas. I’ve ridden on the small propeller planes of New Central Air Service that connect Niijima and Mitaka before, but this Cessna was even smaller, and it was my first time on a Cessna itself, so I was really excited!
Soon after taking off from Boulder City Airport, I saw vast expanses of land lined with solar panels. The scale was so immense that at first, I thought it was a lake or something. The continuous stretches of mountains devoid of greenery were also unfamiliar to me; it was truly a strange sight.
Honestly, I thought that with such a small aircraft, it would be quite bumpy, but the turbulence was far less than I expected, and the flight was incredibly comfortable.
Since things were a bit hectic and I joined the tour without knowing much about its details, I was completely surprised that we’d be flying over the Hoover Dam!
The Hoover Dam itself was impressive in scale, but what really stuck with me was the strangeness of the surrounding landscape. There’s no greenery or trees, so the strong sunlight illuminated the topographical undulations, creating sharp shadows and an appearance I had never witnessed before.
When I was told, “Grand Canyon by Cessna!”, I’d assumed we’d be flying directly over the Grand Canyon for sightseeing. So, while we flew close, it was a little bit of a shame that we didn’t fly right over it. Still, I was looking forward to getting closer by bus after landing at the airport.
The first bus stop was Eagle Point, home to the famous Skywalk. What surprised me a bit was that you had to deposit your cameras and phones beforehand, and also wear non-woven shoe covers. There were photographers who would take your picture for a pretty penny. While walking on the glass floor was quite an interesting experience, the views from there weren’t all that great. Actually, the next stop, Guano Point, offered a far more overwhelming sense of scale and a better experience of the Grand Canyon.
While I think you can get a good sense of its grandeur from various photos, the sheer scale of this landscape and the peculiar sight of nothing but reddish-brown rocks were something you truly understood only when you saw it with your own eyes.
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