New tourism facility nearly finished

As the state plows forward with two Heritage Gateways and a pocket park adjacent to Old Falls Street, there is massive private investment going on just a 5-minute drive away.

Rainbow Helicopters is nearing completion on its new tourism center on Acheson Drive behind the old Carburundum office building adjacent to the Adams Power Plant transformer building.

The new facility is directly behind Niagara Business Center at 1625 Buffalo Ave.

The 30-year helicopter tourism business is a sister operation to Niagara Helicopters in Canada.

In Niagara Falls, USA, Rainbow Air, through its parent company, Helicopter Transport Services, has invested $15 million in the new building in addition to spending $9 million on two new helicopters and $2 million on 11 virtual reality simulators imported from Wales.

It will be hiring 24 workers for the tourism season according to Sales and Marketing Manager Patrick Keyes.

The 7-seat helicopters will be Airbus H-130s that will first be delivered to the Canadian side where pilots will train.

Rainbow Air is now openf from Friday through Sunday flying from Niagara Falls Airport at 9990 Porter Road. Rides at full retail are $180 or $140 if you show proof of being from the 716 area code.

The VR stations will enable visitors to control a simulated parachute ride over the Falls, flying on much the same path as the helicopter. An expert is in town from Wales this week to supervise the set up the rides in the under-construction facility where workers buzz everywhere on site, inside and out. The pace is frenetic.

Waterbourne Construction has coordinated the project from site clearing to finished attraction in just 15 months. Keyes said one reason the project moved as quickly as it did was a lack of government involvement.

While building permits and inspections were needed along the way, none of the bureaucratic processes that bog down public projects were in place.

That doesn’t mean corners were cut. For example, last week workers were recoating the hangar floors with epoxy. On the outside of the building, the lower portions of the walls are finished in stone from a Kentucky quarry specifically chosen to emulate the Adams Power Plant. The high ceilings inside the building show a fortress-like construction.

Keyes said the idea behind the entire project is to create a year-round destination where, even when visitors aren’t taking a chopper ride. There will be historical displays in the opening phase of the facility, while development continues on several more interactive stations that will be free and open to all who visit the building. The plan is to have those elements in place later this fall. celebrating  Bell Helicopters and other significant aviation items that will be featured when the building opens in late May.  As an example of the new interactives, one will use technology to interpret the historic accomplishment of Lincoln Beachey who in 1911, became the first person to fly an airplane over Niagara Falls, taking his biplane not only over the cataract but under the Honeymoon Bridge before a crowd estimated at 150,000.

The finished facility, in addition to the VR attraction, will have a retail store as well as flexible space for groups and enough to do inside and out to accommodate bus tours.

More information is available at https://www.rainbowairinc.com/