Fly the trails

Jared Valentine loves to fly.

He hopes to share that passion with anyone who wants a bird’s eye view of the Moab area during the Jeep Safari. Valcon Aviation, based in Ogden, will be providing custom helicopter tours between now and sundown on Sunday, March 31. They will be at Sky Ranch Airport, accessed by Old Airport Road near Ken’s Lake south of town.

“You can see in 10 minutes what would take you a half a day if you were driving,” Valentine said.

Valentine loves Moab.

“We vacation down here so we thought it would be a great place to bring helicopter tours,” Valentine said.

The custom tours begin at $50 per person. Three seats are available per flight.

“Each seat is a window seat,” Valentine said. “You can see as well from the back as from the front.”

Scott Saunders, Valcon’s business manager, said that anyone who loves the Moab-area beauty should take a tour.

“They fall in love with what they see on the ground, but it is even better up in the air,” Saunders said.

Tours are available from sunrise to sundown.

“As long as there is light, we will be flying,” Saunders said.

Custom tours are available.

“If someone wants to rent it for two hours, we’re not going to say no,” Saunders said.

Valentine has been a pilot for the last five years and owns and operates a flight school in Ogden. He has piloted several flights for newsgathering missions, environmental films and gathering information for agencies such as the Division of Wildlife Resources.

They were contracted to do some aerial photography in the area and decided to provide tours as well.

Zax Pizza will be giving away one free tour during a giveaway contest on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Valcon Aviation provided flights from Aarchway Inn over the Valentine weekend in February. They received such a good reception that they wanted to return for Jeep Safari. They plan to return to provide tours in the future.

“We’ll come back for big events in the future.” Valentine said.

Author: Kristin Millis

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