Yeah, the continuous chopper business is weird. If it's a movie, it's a move with a large budget and surprising secrecy. Since it seems to be, mostly, a weekend thing and it's loosely happening within a stone's throw of the police building on C and 8th, and because no one seems to know what it is, my best guess is that it's a Homeland Security-related training exercise. There have been a lot of beefy SUVs with Army Reserve stickers and the occasional gun rack parked near the police building the last three or so weekends and that's usually a sure sign that there's some kinda police/DHS training going on.
In the past, however, the choppers that appeared to be related to the police building were large military/coast guard type rigs that tended to stay mostly over the East River and/or the helicopter pad on the river just north of Stuy Town. So, I guess this might be something different. The smaller choppers that have been buzzing the 'hood recently don't seem to have NYPD markings on them. Who knows? Maybe the Chinatown bus companies have branched out into cheap gray market chopper rides?
Thanks for the comment, anon. I got a good luck at the whirlybirds, and they didn't look like government/official type helicopters. I could see some kind of secret training...especially given the cops' reaction on 8th and C a few weeks back: they looked up, looked at each other and shrugged, like they had no idea what was happening either...the copters were zipping around today for a good six hours. Seems excessive even by Hollywood standards..
Yeah, strange. Chinatown bus company helicopter rides make as much sense as anything. Maybe the rides are so cheap that everyone wants a two hour ride.
...didn't look like government/official type helicopter...
Agreed. However, some of the police/DHS training parties seem to use rented and/or largely unmarked trucks/vans/etc. I can see them renting a bunch of helicopters to, I dunno, train for monitoring swine flu carriers, or elementary school bake sale riots, or a zombie incident, or whatever.
I'd guess they are not google map choppers because the flight patterns don't look systematic enough for mapping. The google car cameras drive very carefully and slowly, going from one end of the grid to another. These choppers seem to have some purpose in mind but, for the most part, they look like they are just milling around, like choppers watching a protest or a parade.
I guess if they crash all at once on Nov. 13, we'll know it's viral advertising for 2012.
although, I do like the military theory...one of the curbed comments mentioned that military helicopters are particularly noisy (you think they would be more stealth & quiet?) and the ones flying overheard our little EV heads are WAY loud.
4 comments:
Yeah, the continuous chopper business is weird. If it's a movie, it's a move with a large budget and surprising secrecy. Since it seems to be, mostly, a weekend thing and it's loosely happening within a stone's throw of the police building on C and 8th, and because no one seems to know what it is, my best guess is that it's a Homeland Security-related training exercise. There have been a lot of beefy SUVs with Army Reserve stickers and the occasional gun rack parked near the police building the last three or so weekends and that's usually a sure sign that there's some kinda police/DHS training going on.
In the past, however, the choppers that appeared to be related to the police building were large military/coast guard type rigs that tended to stay mostly over the East River and/or the helicopter pad on the river just north of Stuy Town. So, I guess this might be something different. The smaller choppers that have been buzzing the 'hood recently don't seem to have NYPD markings on them. Who knows? Maybe the Chinatown bus companies have branched out into cheap gray market chopper rides?
Thanks for the comment, anon. I got a good luck at the whirlybirds, and they didn't look like government/official type helicopters. I could see some kind of secret training...especially given the cops' reaction on 8th and C a few weeks back: they looked up, looked at each other and shrugged, like they had no idea what was happening either...the copters were zipping around today for a good six hours. Seems excessive even by Hollywood standards..
Yeah, strange. Chinatown bus company helicopter rides make as much sense as anything. Maybe the rides are so cheap that everyone wants a two hour ride.
...didn't look like government/official type helicopter...
Agreed. However, some of the police/DHS training parties seem to use rented and/or largely unmarked trucks/vans/etc. I can see them renting a bunch of helicopters to, I dunno, train for monitoring swine flu carriers, or elementary school bake sale riots, or a zombie incident, or whatever.
I'd guess they are not google map choppers because the flight patterns don't look systematic enough for mapping. The google car cameras drive very carefully and slowly, going from one end of the grid to another. These choppers seem to have some purpose in mind but, for the most part, they look like they are just milling around, like choppers watching a protest or a parade.
I guess if they crash all at once on Nov. 13, we'll know it's viral advertising for 2012.
Hey kids!
Curbed had a short piece and a link to a nypost article about tourist helicopters :
http://curbed.com/archives/2009/10/28/manhattan_tourists_annoy_people_all_the_way_in_brooklyn.php#reader_comments
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/choppers_heights_group_fights_helicopter_xkDqXiwgjPbVPYrnsUdVdM
although, I do like the military theory...one of the curbed comments mentioned that military helicopters are particularly noisy (you think they would be more stealth & quiet?) and the ones flying overheard our little EV heads are WAY loud.
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