If you are looking to spend the long weekend outdoors, all 63 national parks are free to enter on Memorial Day. While saving on entrance fees, it could be a good time to give back to local businesses that help parks run more efficiently.Earlier this year, the Washington Examiner got the chance to view Grand Canyon National Park from above with Papillon Helicopters. While helicopter tours are the company’s main source of income, it also has contracts with the National Park Service.“We’ll go out and fight fires,” Albert Kim, Papillon’s lead pilot on shift, told the Washington Examiner. “We’ll go out on game captures or surveys.”
Kim showed how the contract helicopters were specially outfitted for firefighting or equipped with baskets for utility work.
Papillon helicopters are outfitted for firefighting and equipped with baskets for utility work. (Amy DeLaura/Washington Examiner)
The tour flew over ground zero of the North Rim, where the Dragon Bravo Fire scorched the landscape. A lightning strike on July 4, 2025, burned 145,504 acres and destroyed 113 structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. Papillon was part of the team flying in water to help fight the wildfire.
Kim told the Washington Examiner that Papillon will also fly supplies to Native American tribes living in remote locations around the Grand Canyon.
