1. The Event: 2009-02-12

A white and blue helicopter circled overhead for at least 30 minutes this afternoon. Sometimes over our house directly, sometimes circling about a 4 block area with our house in the center or slightly to the east side of the circle.

[Consipracy theorists, please note: This was broad daylight. It was not midnight. The helicopter was not black. There were no green aliens or ninjas involved. Until I learn otherwise this is a case of noise pollution, invasion of privacy, and potentially damage to liberty.}

2. Fact-Finding

2.1. What was it?

My wife and I watched it for about ten minutes total, as it repeatedly came by the house. We used Leupold Cascade (8X30) binoculars. We didn't get a photo, so this is the best we have:

Single rotor. White body, white tail. Blue stripes on body (given the effect of a blue body at a glance). Possible registration number at top of body (blue lettering beginning "N"). It had landing skids. There was a pod roughly the size and shape of a small garbage can on the nose, pointed forward at a 45 degree angle. The tail had a significant-sized cross-piece. I don't know helicopters, so I may have missed something.

Looking at photos of helicopters for sale and charter in the Seattle area, I see it was about the size of a Robinson R-22, but definitely not that (no tall mast at top). SImple cyclindrical tail boom. Cabin had rounded windows.

None of these:

http://www.aircharter-international.com/helicopter/helicopter_types.asp
http://www.whitetracks.co.uk/Helicopters_Types_of_Colibri_Ecureuil_Bell_Agusta_Dauphin.htm
http://www.aaf26.dial.pipex.com/helicopters.htm
http://www.allstaraerial.com/aircraft_types.htm. Hughs 500 tail crossbar is in the right ballpark (but not the rest of the Hughs).

Reading Jane's (endres2005) suggests a Bell Jet Ranger body, with NOTAR boom and tail. But not quite. A lot of Google searching indicates many variants on these themes, some with just a few copies ever made.

2.2. Who was it?

2.2.1. FAA

While it was buzzing the neighborhood, I called 911. They said to call FAA. I called FAA: Seattle_FSDO. No one was available at the moment, but I did get a call back later. He explained:

Without a registration number, he could not track down the aircraft.
Given that it was daylight, there didn't need to be (and probably wasn't) a flight plan to find.
FAA regs allow helicopters to fly so low they could safely land if there was an engine failure. No specific regs on noise or neighborhood harassment. [We ground dwellers will have to fix that.]
The markings and the forward pod suggested either searchlight (TV crew) or FLIR (police or maybe border patrol).

I told him this had happened before, with a green and gold helicopter (again no markings detectable), and that I was now really ticked off. I told him I had the choice of shooting it down or finding what it was from the ground, and I'd concentrate on the latter. I told him I appreciated that he was a civil servant doing his duty per existing laws and regs, but as a citizen it was my responsibility to change the laws and regs through the political process. I also told him that the very notion of the border patrol operating over my neighborhood is totally unacceptable in terms of liberty.

2.2.2. Snohomish County

SnoCo Sheriff's Office (425-388-3393) forwarded me to Sgt Wickstrom in Search and Rescue. He said it wasn't theirs. He thought it was unlikely it was KingCo, though it was worth asking. He thought that the forward pod could be a searchlight, and that a FLIR would have been noticeable as a second forward protrusion.

2.2.3. King County

KingCo Sheriff's Office ((206) 296-4155) forwarded me to appropriate division. No one home, so I left a message. Got a call back, and they said it wasn't theirs. They do sometimes fly out to SnoCo, and it was probably theirs I saw last time (the green and gold one).

2.2.4. KING TV

King TV ((206) 448-3850) said their helicopters are blue and white but have a yellow stripe down the middle and a big King logo on the side. Also, they don't have anything mounted on the nose. They didn't have a record of any action in our area. They suggested checking with Metro Transit.

2.2.5. Metro

Metro (206-553-3060) gave me an endless loop of phone forwarding, leading to an off hook signal. Seems to me this is a good indication they should not be allowed to operate aircraft over populated areas.

2.2.6. KIRO TV

KIRO TV (206-728-7777) had an answering machine message that business hours were until 5:00PM, but apparently someone forgot to tell the staff, because at of 4:50PM it was in an endless loop from message to "forwarding to an attendant" and back to opening message.

2.2.7. KOMO TV

Komo TV TBD

2.2.8. Charter/Private

There are some commercial charter services in the Seattle area. Checking their websites didn't indicate they had any helicopters looking like what we saw. Mostly Robinson R22's.

It is possible a private individual with an expensive toy was up there. But that was an awfully long joy ride over pretty mundane suburbia.

FAA says it has no way to check further without a registration number.

2.2.9. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)

Border Patrol http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/customer_service.xml. Voice message said to call "10-15-15-8000". 1-866-880-6582 was teletype.

I have since visited the CBP website and found very little. I discovered that the "how to download" page is a sales pitch for Microsoft and Adobe. I then tried to submit my question about the helicopter, but couldn't do the "create new account". I used Firefox on Linux (two different Linux distros and 2 different Firefox releases).

More Googling indicates this may be because CBP websites are usable only by MS IE. It isn't so much that it uses odd HTML or javascript (javascript on a security website????), but that they simply check for IE and refuse to respond to anything else.

So now I have 3 tasks:

Determine if it was a CBP helicopter. Will use FOIA for that.
Determine if the "new account" problem was due to the website or to me. If due to website, get CBP to make the website be usable by more than MS IE.
Request that CBP make its website downloadables usable by all tax-payers, not just the ones who subsidize multi-billionaires. See email

2.3. What is the law?

3. Changing the law

3.1. Related Efforts

http://trb.metapress.com/content/70611717m4601g43/
Public perceptions
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/06/faa_privacy_iss.html
Drones as invasion of privacy.
http://sagharborexpress.sagharborpublishing.com/shexpress/community/helicopter-noise-bill-would-set-1500-ft-limit-566
"Under Romaine's bill, it would be 'unlawful to operate, or for the owner to permit the operation, of any type of helicopter over the legal limits of the County of Suffolk' which would be 'below an altitude of 1,500 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet from the helicopter except when necessary for a take-off or landing or as weather conditions may dictate.'
Penalties would be a fine of up to $1,000 'and/or one year in prison per offense.'"
http://www.stophelitours.com/mission.html
"This web page has been created on behalf of people in Helen, Georgia and elsewhere who have been the hapless victims of the noise pollution and invasion of privacy that is a standard byproduct of helicopter tour businesses"
"Why is this not illegal? Because Legislators and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have not yet made it illegal. Citizens all around the country are fighting this problem, and when enough people learn about this threat to everyone's quality of life, legislators and the FAA will do something about the problem."
http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1998/071698/news6.html

4. References

endres2005

Gunter Endres, Michael J. Gething. "Jane's Aircraft Recognition Guide", 4th ed. SMithsonian, 2005. ISBN 0-00-718332-1

rotorcraft2007

FAA. "Rotorcraft Flying Handbook". Skyhorse Publishing, 2007. ISBN-13 978-1-60239-060-7

Creator: Harry George
Updated/Created: 2009-02-22