FYI: Helicopter flyover for Mariners’ opening day (updated with practice-run video)

9:49 AM: As mentioned in our morning traffic watch, it’s opening day for the Seattle Mariners, with their first game of the season starting just after 7 pm at T-Mobile Park. We’ve also just learned that you might notice U.S. Army helicopters in the area this afternoon and evening because of a planned flyover. The 16th Combat Aviation Brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord (south of Tacoma) says that four of its AH-64E Apache helicopters (from Alpha Troop, 4-6 Air Cavalry Squadron), are set for the flyover around 7, preceded by up to three practice runs around 3:20 pm. The 16th CAB says their path will be north-south, so they might not be as noticeable over West Seattle this time.

ADDED 5:08 PM: Thanks to Carolyn Newman for practice-run video of the four helicopters:

36 Replies to "FYI: Helicopter flyover for Mariners' opening day (updated with practice-run video)"

  • Quiz March 30, 2023 (10:12 am)

    WoooHooo! Love the flyovers! Thank you for the heads-up.

  • Rick March 30, 2023 (10:54 am)

    Somebody’ll gripe for sure. 

    • Aaron March 30, 2023 (11:32 am)

      You bet I will. it’s going to scare my dog and wake up my baby this evening. ugh.

    • Derek March 30, 2023 (11:51 am)

      Well they are jingoistic and unnecessary. You don’t have to default like everything military. 

      • CarDriver March 30, 2023 (3:36 pm)

        Derek. Why do you want the military defunded and dismantled?  Why would that make things better and safer?

    • Aargh March 30, 2023 (4:34 pm)

      I can’t stand baseball and anything associated with it.   Therefore this flyover is a fruitless activity.

  • Scarlett March 30, 2023 (11:27 am)

    I’ll take my sports without the military industrial complex, thanks.  

    • CarDriver March 30, 2023 (12:30 pm)

      Guess you won’t be watching and enjoying with the rest of us.

      • Gay March 30, 2023 (4:01 pm)

        No, we will, but we’ll just have to endure the racket these things make.  Let’s hope they get it over with fast.

      • Also John March 30, 2023 (4:35 pm)

        Correct…..I won’t be watching it.   There’s always something better to do.

      • Scarlett March 31, 2023 (10:36 am)

        I guess that’s the way it is.  Not much to sacrifice for the principle of it.  I always rolled my eyes at those who indignantly protested kneeling at football games, but apparently their convictions didn’t run strong enough to boycott NFL games as stands were packed with fans.  Talk is cheap. 

    • Watertowerjim March 30, 2023 (2:36 pm)

      Except for the stuff we’re sending to Ukrain I presume?

  • WSREZZ March 30, 2023 (11:28 am)

    GO MARINERS!!!! 

  • Gabion March 30, 2023 (1:44 pm)

    I’m in favor of these patriots getting all the fly time they can. A little inconvenience isn’t much to ask for the job they do. Go M’s

  • Jeepney March 30, 2023 (1:44 pm)

    Go Mariners!!!  Can’t wait to spend many summer nights at our beautiful ballpark.

  • Scubafrog March 30, 2023 (2:35 pm)

    Thanks 16th Combat Aviation Brigade!

  • Rhonda March 30, 2023 (3:09 pm)

    The Marines have the coolest choppahs.

  • Olive March 30, 2023 (3:35 pm)

    Instead of flying over an arena and peoples homes, honor the 9 soldiers who lost their lives in HELICOPTERS! The city is noisy enough.

    • KES March 30, 2023 (5:07 pm)

      That way my first thought – a commemoration of the nine men who lost their lives. No – Baseball 🤨

      • Question 1 March 31, 2023 (5:26 pm)

        Can’t it be both?  The flyover was tied to the National Anthem.  Thought that was part of honoring service members (i.e. home of the brave)

  • Mike March 30, 2023 (5:12 pm)

    Why?

  • DRW March 30, 2023 (5:41 pm)

    Speaking of needless noise, when are the authorities going to start clamping down on loud Subarus, Toyotas, BMWs, Harleys, and the like?

  • GOMS March 30, 2023 (6:06 pm)

    Go Mariners!
    Go 16th Combat Aviation Brigade!
    Go baseball!

    • Scarlett March 31, 2023 (8:58 am)

      You think that this military force couldn’t be used domestically, against you if you stepped out of line?  Democracy is a very, very fragile thing and a democracy’s health is inversely related to the size of it’s military.  

      • Burgerman March 31, 2023 (1:34 pm)

        Scarlett, for all the paranoid muckraking you just did regarding our fine country’s defense forces, I find it unacceptable that you don’t know that the military CANNOT be used as law enforcement, ever. They do not have powers of arrest and there is a very specific line of duties they cannot cross into when performing domestic peacekeeping under state government orders during states of emergency or civil unrest. Your dystopian view of the military is both unwarranted, and unacceptable as a citizen of this country, being both represented by, and protected by the military, members of whom, to a man or woman, sacrifice more than you will probably ever sacrifice in your cushy life. 

        • Scarlett March 31, 2023 (4:23 pm)

          You know nothing about me.  I’ve led anything but a cushy life and I probably have a far greater idea of the illegal activities our government has committed against it’s own citizens than you’ll ever know.  The military is like any other institution, it’s concerned with justifying it’s own existence and survival, whatever it takes. This should not be a newsflash to anyone of a reasonable age. 

          • Burgerman March 31, 2023 (11:33 pm)

            This brand of paranoia is the same thing you’ll find on then fringes of the right; it’s just labeled differently. No matter who is delivering the propaganda, it’s always counterproductive and ultimately harmful.

            I am actually very educated and well aware of the nefarious things our military has done to the citizens over the years. It’s just not happening now, and if your eyes and ears are open, it’s not going to happen again to the level it has in sad chapters of our history.

        • Right on March 31, 2023 (5:28 pm)

          Burgerman, you’re my favorite.

        • Scarlett April 1, 2023 (9:25 am)

          With all due respect, I am skeptical that you’re aware the “nefarious” actitivites of the military and government as you claim to be.  You seem to believe that the power and control is constrained by laws on the books, as if this has ever stopped the military, the CIA or FBI in the past.  If  you need evidence when the military has stepped into domestic affairs, or the FBI has conducted massive surveillance on hits OWN citizens, I can provide you plenty of evidence – recent even – that is public knowledge available to anyone with the motivation to find it out.    

          Fine to laud servicemen and servicewomen, but every citizen of a democracy has a duty to examine their conscience and what they are doing, whether in uniform or out of uniform.   

  • anonyme March 31, 2023 (6:33 am)

    I’m with the “no’s”.   More noise and pollution are completely unnecessary.  How does this differ from the military propaganda parades of North Korea or Russia?  The fact that the impetus is a baseball game makes it even more insidious.

    • Burgerman March 31, 2023 (3:02 pm)

      Seriously? The difference is that we aren’t ruled by a Communist government with a true dictator at the head. Neither of those things will ever happen in the United States, and you know all of what I said is true. Insidious is not a word that even comes close to describing their very cool overflights. I’ll bet you didn’t even hear them. And their training, which is absolutely necessary, is not pollution. You can bet that those engines are tuned for maximum fuel efficiency at whatever throttle setting they’re using, because running out of fuel in combat doesn’t work – and they weren’t using high throttle settings; that was obvious as they cruised gently overhead.

    • Flivver March 31, 2023 (6:52 pm)

      Anonyme. You and Scarlett have a lot of work to do on defunding the military. It didn’t work for the police but you think you’ll have better luck with the military?

  • Burgerman March 31, 2023 (6:47 am)

    So much hate for our military and the sacrifices they make for us on this thread. It’s sad, and just another example of what is wrong with Seattle. Everyone cries about the military and police until we need them.  I for one, loved the display. Those Apache choppers are bad-ass, and for the whiners complaining about noise, they’re actually pretty quiet. They were designed to be nearly silent until they’re almost right on top of you.  Besides, they need training time, and this was a great show for everyone who got to see it. If you don’t like this country and it’s military, honestly, just leave.  Also, go Mariners!! What a great Opening Day celebration and game that was last night!

    • Kay March 31, 2023 (10:45 am)

      People just want a reason to complain. I thought they were pretty dope!

  • It is Saturday... April 1, 2023 (9:13 am)

    Normally, I would read the comments and move on, but it is Saturday, I have a mug of coffee and I’ll take the bait. I am misquoting here, but “I may not agree with what you are saying, but will fight to defend it” stands true to all US Citizens. Please by all means use your voice. Not having served myself my three childhood friends did and one lost his life at 24. So this is a topic we discussed frequently. The other two made it through. Perhaps most people also don’t understand just how much our military helps stabilize the world, yes it is destructive in the process, but this is not a black or white thing, it is very much grey.  Our military is so much more than a fighting unit. It is a means for millions of young people to find a purpose in life and get educated along the way. Not to mention the countless hours spent on humanitarian relief.  Few countries can move anything, anywhere, at anytime to help anyone. To those that think our military could turn on us. First, what Burgerman said, but I would also say that if an order were given to “take on” the us population, first a good amount of the enlisted would walk away. Second, historical and recent conflicts have shown that fighting a well armed civilian population in gorilla warfare is NOT easy. It should be clear that no other population in the world has the small arms mutations that the US population has. Enjoy your weekend everybody! 

    • Scarlett April 1, 2023 (10:08 am)

      I do appreciate the sentiments,  but I’ll have to respectfully disagree.  I don’t think young people don’t need a military to become educated.  We shouldn’t need to append humanitarian missions abroad to military operations, as we did in devastating tsunami that wiped out hundreds of thousands in SE Asia, except in the case of an ongoing conflict.     

      Pax Americana is not in the best liberal ideals, but neither is it in the best conservative ideals, either.   In the 1980’s the threat that the old Soviet Union posed was greatly exaggerated and I’m afraid we’re finding some of the jingoistic war propaganda now in the Russia – Ukraine conflict.  Even Western Europe, on the front lines, has expressed concern about war profiteering.  I believe this is global power (and energy) positioning that is costing a lot of innocent lives.   But that’s just my opinion. 

      All we know is what we hear and read through media sources. Russians get their news that is “spun” by their generals and we get our “massaged” news, as well.   I would have thought after blunders like Vietnam and the Iraq War   (and Afghanistan for Russia), wars that killed thousands, that we would have stopped accepting what any general tells us without further investigation.     {But I share your hope that the enlisted would walk away if they were told to turn their guns on fellow Americans.  Cheers.)

Sorry, comment time is over.