Life is better with a little adventure, and we offer the San Antonio and Austin community an incredible, one-of-a-kind experience.
Currently, we have been serving San Antonio since 2007 offering amazing tours of the city, private charters, and flight training for our future pilots as well as serving Austin since 2012 with tours and charters. We hold a Part 135 certificate providing the ability for customers to charter flights all over Texas and the surrounding areas.
With Alamo Helicopters, you can take in an exciting and breathtaking view of the Alamo City and the surrounding Hill Country like you never before. We are located just south of downtown San Antonio and have a variety of flights to delight every passenger and fit any budget. Reserve your flight today for an experience you will remember for a lifetime.
Austin Helicopters opened in 2012 and is located 5 minutes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at Bud Dryden Airport offering exhilarating views of Downtown Austin, UT Austin, the Circuit of the Americas, Lady Bird Lake, Lake Travis and the Hill Country. Multiple restaurant and winery charters are available.
Alamo Helicopters has trained helicopter pilots since opening doing business as Alamo Flight Academy. At Alamo, your Flight Instructors have been or are employed by numerous commercial helicopter companies including Air Evac Helicopters, PHI and Air Life, and Helicopters, Inc. This means that you are being trained by pilots who have been through intensive training and have flown with some of the industry’s best pilots. They then bring that experience and knowledge back to you. Our training section has now restructured to its own branch, Alamo Flight Academy. We continue to provide highly skilled education fostering safety and the love of rotor wing flying under our FAA Part 141 certificates as well Part 61.
Alamo Flight Academy is located at Stinson Airport which is in Class D Airspace (operating control tower). Five miles to the south is another training area with an uncontrolled airport for training at non towered airspace and the San Antonio International Airport is within 10 miles to the north for more intense training in radio procedures. The benefits of training in multiple different airspace in close proximity, give Alamo graduates an advantage in gaining future employment. Choose Alamo Flight Academy when you are ready to start or further your aviation career!
Meet the Team
Wade Amen
Chief Pilot; Certified Flight Instructor; Designated Pilot Examiner for FAA; Chief of Operations
I started my flight training in the winter of 2005 and completed my training a year later. My first job in aviation was working as a ground instructor as I finished my Certified Flight Instructor Certificate. Once I completed my CFI, I began to work as a professional pilot in the city of Houston and then moved back to his hometown, San Antonio, to teach future pilots and fly tours. Wade has been with Alamo Helicopters since and now is Chief Pilot, however, now works as an air medical pilot in Uvalde as well.
One of the awesome experiences that I was fortunate to complete during my years as a commercial pilot was that I was hired to ferry a Robinson R-44 from Houston to Brazil. I flew down the Caribbean chain, Island hopping my way to South America. I flew through the Bermuda Triangle, landed in the Amazon jungle, and flew over the Amazon River. I will never forget the beautiful waters and vacation atmosphere that I incurred while “working”.
My most favorite question while working as a pilot has been, “Your job must be fun”. My normal response is that “ Yes it is, my office has a wonderful view”. I don’t need to put up pictures because I have an awesome panoramic right in front of me.
Jose Corona
Assistant Chief Pilot; Commercial, Tour and Charter Pilot; Certified Flight Instructor; Chief Operations Officer
When Jose was 4 years old he saw a UH-1(Huey) military helicopter land near his house and decided then that he was going to be a helicopter pilot. Jose began his aviation career in 2006 doing agriculture work and flight instruction. In 2013 he joined the Alamo team instructing and giving tours.
He is a commercial pilot, certified flight instructor, Part 135 charter pilot and Assistant Chief for Alamo Flight Academy. Known for his smile and wit, he is sure to make your experience with Alamo Helicopters very memorable.
DREW DOUGHERTY
Commerical, Tour and Charter Pilot; Certified Flight Instructor
Drew is from Las Cruces, New Mexico and developed a passion for aviation at the age of 15 after flying in a Blackhawk. Drew graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice in 2015, but knew he hadn’t quite fulfilled his dreams. At this point, he knew he wanted to be a pilot. Drew moved to San Antonio and started flight training in 2017 with Alamo Helicopters and never left after completing flight school.
One of Drew’s best experiences as a pilot has been flying over the Mississippi River on a ferry flight to Tennessee. He also enjoys meeting different people from all over the U. S. and other countries while giving tours.
Drew is a certified flight instructor and tour pilot for Alamo Helicopters.
JUAN PEREZ
Commerical and Tour Pilot
Juan comes from Amarillo, Texas. At the age of 19, he joined the Marine Corps and worked as an Avionics Technician. While in the Marine Corps, he had the opportunity to work on Hueys, Cobras, CH-53s and CH-46s while in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After leaving the Marine Corps, Juan returned to Amarillo and worked for Bell Helicopters as a Final Assembly Mechanic working on the OH-58. In 2015, Juan got the opportunity to start flight training at Alamo Helicopter Tours San Antonio, so he moved to San Antonio. After completing his private, commercial and instrument certificates at Alamo Helicopters, we were lucky to have Juan start his career as a tour and commercial pilot at Alamo Helicopters. He offers tours in the San Antonio area personally narrated in Spanish.
Juan is happily married with two wonderful sons and love spending time with them while not at work.
CHRISTOPHER BRYANT
Commercial and Tour Pilot
From building balsa wood aircraft models as a child to becoming a dual-rated fixed and rotor wing aviator, Chris has always been passionate about aviation. After serving in the U.S. Air Force Chris completed a B.S. of Psychology degree and worked for years in the high-tech software industry selling to all kinds of customers like tech startups to some of the worlds biggest companies.
Though he enjoyed sales, he always regretted not pursuing his dream of becoming a pilot. He left his career in sales to attend flight school at Southern Utah University. He finished his flight training while also completing a graduate degree in a M.I.S. of Business Administration and Leadership. Since then Chris has enjoyed opportunities to apply his business experience to fuel his aeronautical dream of flying professionally and has been flying for over three years.
Chris is happily married and has two fur babies as well. He enjoys spending quality time with them when not at work and while at work nothing compares to sharing the once in a lifetime experience of rotor wing flight with our customers!