Helicopter Noise!!!! (San Diego, Del Mar: move, single, community)

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Nojjy

July 5th, 2010

-- a day does not go by that my right to peaceful enjoyment is not infringed upon.

Actually, your "right" is to "the pursuit of happiness." That means you're free to move elsewhere!

[Route_66_traveler]

To me, the sounds of "Military Choppers", is the sound of freedom. But if the sound bothers you, you should think about moving.

[californio sur]

Helicopters, like all air craft have to fly at certain altitudes and can't just change because they are waking up people. If you live in a military city than expect that kind of noise. But it isn't just a bunch of pilots carelessly flying around!

[NYSD1995]

The police helicopters are overused. They go out for every single call. We had a domestic incident on our block once, no one left the property - and the chopper was hovering overhead for 20 minutes. My guess is they have a use-it-or-lose it fuel and maintenance budget. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge PD supporter, but I would rather they spend some money on more officers than burning gas on a chopper to respond to every single drunk who tripped over a curb.

[moved]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Actually, your "right" is to "the pursuit of happiness." That means you're free to move elsewhere!

That's right!

[xdrcx]

There are many factors that effect the PD helicopter (ABLE) specifically. Logistically, having the helicopter on the pad waiting for a call as a fire engine would is not practical. It takes five to ten minutes to ready the craft and go through mandatory checklists that any pilot will tell you must be done. Combined with response time, by the time they arrive, the moment has passed so to speak. Many very bad people have been caught solely because the helicopter was up and close enough to make a difference. I've seen many cases the helicopter called out suspects locations for minutes before the first ground unit arrived to make the arrest.

These things don't happen at a constant rate and the bad guys don't schedule a time convenient for the helicopter. That will result in times the helicopter is up with no "in progress" crimes to respond to. At these times they cover where they can and when they think a call may take a turn for the worse. They don't just watch from up there either, they also roll video.

The down time is unfortunate for those along the ECB corridor. I've seen the air traffic guide line maps and I couldn't make sense of them. I was told there is a clear lane along ECB from the landing patterns of Lindbergh, Montgomery, MCAS Miramar and Gillespie. The Mid-City area, being the busiest for police activity in the city, is also a factor.

[BacktoBlue]

Every week I hear military and Boder Patrol helicopters fly over my neighborhood. It's no big deal. it only lasts a few seconds

[sandiego15]

I live in Mission Valley and I too have a lot of helicopter noise!!

[NewCalifornian]

I don't know. Helicopters have been flying over my neighborhood, too, the last weeks. Mostly police helicopters. It's annoying and I noticed that for some reason, they distort my digital antenna signal.

[randall_marsh]

I live near the 5 in PB, and the only time it ever bothers me is at night. They often circle the neighborhood for upwards of an hour, as late (early) as 3AM. I remember over the winter this occurred nightly for about a week straight, and quite often after that. I guess this should be expected living so close to the highway and near downtown PB, but it's too bad considering the neighborhood is actually residential and not full of typical PB antics.

At any rate, it doesn't bother me when it happens during the day, or anytime of day/night when it's just a quick fly-by, but the incessant early morning hovering is pretty annoying. Definitely not an issue typical of other cities, either; it's a San Diego thing. Unfortunately I can understand the SDPD's reasoning and you just have to deal with it. For any of you that are complaining about short afternoon fly-bys, consider yourselves lucky