Sight in the sky

Been away from the inbox for several hours; seems we missed something startling in the WS sky this evening — at least a dozen people have written to ask what was up with the chopper activity. We’ve seen military aircraft around here before — after all, we have beaucoup bases nearby — but this must have been truly out of the ordinary, given the mail barrage. We’ll see what we can find out; if anyone out there in WSB-land is a military insider or called authorities to ask and actually got an answer, please leave a comment. (UPDATE: One commenter says it was part of the Mariners’ military-salute promotion.)

Cy April 3, 2007 (11:42 pm)

I’m curious to know myself. I saw pairs of (Boeing made) CH-47 Chinook helicopters this afternoon moving north over Lincoln park about 6:30pm. Was that the only kind of military aircraft?

Pelicans April 3, 2007 (11:59 pm)

They looked like the old CH-46 Chinooks which are still in use by the Army, Navy and Marines as far as I know. They did quite a few counter-clockwise race track-type circles from Alki Point (so loud and low that they rattled the building and made the ceiling lights quiver) around to Blake Island then south to just about the SeaTac area then turned north along the shoreline from Three Tree Point to do it all again.

My guess is that it’s pilots/flight crews and aircraft from one of the services needing flight hours to keep their qualifications current and/or their aircrafts’ operational hours current.

Doug April 4, 2007 (12:12 am)

KING 5 mentioned that it was part of a salute to the military during the Mariners game at Safeco Field. The choppers were just hovering over West Seattle– waiting to fly over the stadium.

Robert April 4, 2007 (5:39 am)

I was at the game and if we are talking about the same thing, it was 2 CH-47 Chinooks from Fort Lewis. They were “late” since they didn’t do the flying over until about 30 seconds after the National Anthem was over. Someone didn’t time it well!

Cruiser April 4, 2007 (7:08 am)

I saw them last night too,but last week there was one on it’s own doing pretty much the same loop. I guess he was the time keeper:)

Bayou April 4, 2007 (10:13 am)

I’ve seen the Chinooks twice this week as well! They were especially cool last night with the background of the Olympics in view.

cami April 4, 2007 (3:07 pm)

Maybe John McCain was out for a stroll in WS.

Chris April 4, 2007 (11:43 pm)

I emailed Komo TV news tips to ask. They responded withing 15 minutes that the helicopters were in que waiting to do a fly over at Safeco for the tribute to the military pre-game.