Wish we knew

Several people e-mailed us to ask if anyone knew why a chopper buzzed part of this side of WS (M-Junction, H-Point, etc.) for a good long while last night. We can’t find any info (though this is jumpstarting us to find a way to get more police scoop); King County is the only local police agency with a chopper, and it does assist others including Seattle PD, Port of Seattle PD, etc., when necessary. (Live Seattle police scanner here, if you have WMV.) Toward the water, if you hear chopper action, it could be the Coast Guard.

n January 25, 2007 (4:51 pm)

I heard this chopper too. It drove me nuts. This isn’t the first time this has happened either. Last year sometime, a chopper buzzed in a circle just south of the Alaska Junction for the better part of an hour with its search light on. I have a hard time believing this was related to a police operation on the ground. The other night the chopper didn’t have his spotlight on. If this is a training exercise, the Seattle PD really needs to think of a better time and place to do it.

joe January 25, 2007 (5:48 pm)

I don’t think it was a training exercise – I’m on Gatewood Hill, 39th between Frontenac and Willow, and in addition to the copter buzzing overhead for nearly an hour (much longer than previous times I’ve seen this), there were patrol cars with blue lights but no sirens on in the area, some parked and a couple of others buzzing around at pretty high speeds. I thought maybe Osama Bin Laden had been spotted in the neighborhood or something.

Re spotlight, I believe that the sherrif’s helicopters have infrared camera systems, which can “see” in the dark.

Was kinda spooky.

Forest January 25, 2007 (8:06 pm)

The same thing happened over Fairmount Ravine one afternoon last summer. After 35 minutes of overhead engine noise from the direction of the ravine, I called the WS Herald offices, which are on California Avenue SW near SW Admiral Way, three blocks west of the ravine, and asked if they knew what was going one. The Herald reporter said something about the copter rescuing a man who’d fallen in the ravine, yet there was no mention of it in the next week’s issue.

It’s reassuring, I guess, to know that I didn’t just imagine the whole business. Copters really do waste fuel by hovering over parts of West Seattle for no particular reason.

mark January 25, 2007 (9:24 pm)

It was a crash on Fauntleroy that took out a utility pole and closed the road in the early morning. Helicopters were most likely traffic reporters (?)

westwood January 25, 2007 (10:32 pm)

We get choppers circling for a long time several times a year in our neighborhood. The cops have admitted that they are searching the area, but never anything more.

It always feels invasive and creepy, but seems to be part of life in the big city.

Jason January 28, 2007 (6:01 am)

Actually that Seattle Police scanner link you posted has been down for about 2 months now. The server that was relaying it just up and disappeared so the link is no good anymore. However you can visit my website below under the Washington page for a few scanner feed links in and around Seattle.

http://www.scannerfeeds.us/

Jason

Administrator January 28, 2007 (10:01 am)

sorry about that … we usually post from a mac and took a chance that it just wasn’t coming up because it was on WMV. There’s of course always the analog way of accessing a scanner; we have one here at home and do turn it on when we hear things we can’t explain with a check of the fire/medic calls on the city website!

Sorry, comment time is over.