Helicopter Buzz...

[Lord Jim]

So early yesterday afternoon, I was in the kitchen making a sandwich, when I hear a helicopter approaching...

And approaching...

And APPROACHING....

Approaching so close and so loud that the windows started to rattle, and it sounded like the damn thing was about to plow into the house....

I run out on to the terrace to see wtf is going on, just in time to see it clearing the tops of the trees on the hillside at Pine Lake Park by about fifty feet....

A couple of minutes later I hear it approaching again, and this time I run outside in time to get a good look at it...

I also get a really good look at the people sitting in it...it looks like it's passing over at maybe 200 feet...

It doesn't have any police or military markings; nor does it have television or radio station letters printed on it...

A couple of minutes later it makes a third pass...

At this point I was getting ready to call the cops; I'm figuring it can't possibly be legal for a private civilian helicopter to be buzzing residential neighborhoods at this height...

But I decided that before I did that, I would take a quick check online to see if there was anything about it; and there was:

Low-Flying Government Helicopter Testing For Radiation In 4 Bay Area Cities



(CBS SF) — If you see a low-flying helicopter buzzing above the Bay Area this week, don’t freak out. It’s just the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) testing for radiation.

The government helicopter may seen flying in a grid pattern at 300 feet or higher above Berkeley, San Francisco, Pacifica and Oakland between Tuesday, Sept. 1 and Sunday, Sept. 6.

According to a statement by the City of Berkeley, the federal government is partnering with the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab on a program “to improve the U.S. government’s ability to detect nuclear and radiological material.”

The city posted a notice about the flyover, along with the Bay Area flight schedule for this week.

A similar test measuring for naturally-occurring background radiation was done in August 2012.

NNSA was established by Congress in 2000 as a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy “responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science,” according to a press release.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/0 ... n-flyover/

[Gob]

That's what THEY say...

[Joe Guy]

Go immediately to your bomb shelter!

They're saturating the sky with invisible chem trails that affect your nervous system and turn you into a liberal.

[wesw]

they did that here this spring. a fellow was leaning out with some kind of device.

it appeared to me that they were taking heat signatures of peoples roofs in order to locate marijuana grows in peoples attics.

they were hovering low enough that I held eye contact with the fellow. the neighborhood behind me is full of OG drug guys. they are mature now and keep everything quiet and on the down low but they are the same guys that were running the crack business around here for years, all the way back to the open air street sales we had here in the 90 s. thank god those days are gone. it was very dangerous.

[Lord Jim]

If it happens again we've got our tinfoil hats ready...

[Gob]

[oldr_n_wsr]

That's tin foil HATS, not CATS.

[dales]

Jim, you need this.....it's so simple that even a child can operate it!

[Guinevere]

Coast Guard helos are over my neighborhood on a regular basis. It's part of the charm of ocean-front living.

Wait until they are doing an active SAR operation at 11 PM. You haven't heard or seen anything until you've been part of the series of square they fly -- low, slow, and with bright searchlights -- trying to find a lost kayaker/sailor/etc.

[oldr_n_wsr]

LJ, get yourself a drone with a camera and fly it right behind the copter.

[rubato]

Diabolically clever! They painted over the black paint so we wouldn't guess.

[Guinevere]

7 loud Blackhawks in formation over my house at 8:15ish this morning, apparently for this:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... a:facebook

Seven Blackhawk helicopters will be touching down Wednesday morning on the Boston Common, but there’s no reason to panic.

The military-grade helicopters will be landing in the nation’s oldest city park as part of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s 2015 Convention in Boston this week.

The Blackhawks will arrive in formation at the Black Falcon Pier area of the South Boston waterfront around 8:30 a.m., according to a press release by the group, which notes the best photography vantage point will be on Boston Harbor.

They will then take more than 40 of the 78 Medal of Honor recipients to visit various Boston-area schools.

After the school visits, the helicopters will land one-by-one on the Common around 11 a.m. near Charles Street to drop off the recipients at the State House for a visit with Gov. Charlie Baker and a wreath laying in the afternoon.

This year is the third time Boston has hosted the convention, which is more than any other city.

[Gob]

That's what they say....