Rio de Janeiro by helicopter: Jesus caught on tape

Ever been to Rio de Janeiro, that mix of beach, brawn and beauty on the coast of Brazil? I hadn’t either. I popped down to the Carnival Capital of Brazil a couple of months ago on American Airlines’ new nonstop flight from DFW to Rio. Ten hours goes pretty fast when the flight leaves in the evening and plops down at breakfast.

Anyway, like you, I’ve seen that famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in plenty of photos. But from the air? Nope. So I hopped a seat on a helicopter that tours the city, departing from iconic Sugarloaf Mountain.

“You want to shoot some video?” the tour operator asked me. “Sure, that would be great,” I replied. A few minutes later, I was strapped into the left passenger seat of a four-seat whirlybird whose left passenger door (that would be mine) was briskly removed.

“Feel free to hang out the side to get better pictures,” I was told.

Umm … ok.

Never been so scared in my life.

Here’s what I filmed.