Wow! Breathtaking image. Truly beautiful and well composed. Talk about being lucky to have the opportunity to shoot from a helicopter. Let’s start by talking about some of the highlights of this photograph.
For starters (to start with the most obvious), the perspective that the helicopter gave you allows you to play with the element of height. You’re looking down on a landscape that seems to continue until the horizon. While experimenting with height is always interesting (i.e. standing on a chair or ducking down), having the opportunity to shoot from a helicopter allows you to push this element to its limits. Great job.
Secondly, the use of lines is spectacular. You’ve used both an “S curve” and a “leading line” to help advance the composition of this image. The S curve is a very sexy and unusual line. The leading line allows you to guide your viewer’s eye very gently into the image from the bottom left corner of the image. The river acts as a path for the eye to follow to explore the rest of the image.
Lastly the color and object simplicity is spectacular. You’ve limited your colors to the hues in the trees and the water and sky. The green trees are gently contrasted with the blues in the sky and the clouds. You’ve also been blessed with some interesting lighting on the forest below. The light changes slightly over the top of the forest which helps add interesting texture and a nice color gradient to the image. It helps make the image less flat and lifeless.
Overall this is a very good image. Your composition is getting much better and your photographs are getting much braver!