sbsweetpeaBy an edhat reader
So what’s the deal with the Helicopters traveling over SB. every couple of minutes? They appear to be military? I am not sure if it is the same one back and forth or several. I did see on earlier this afternoon that had pontoons on it.
I’ve been noticing more of them recently too. Of course, I’m attuned to aircraft sounds and most people don’t even notice them, but understandably some of us are curious or even bothered by them. Anyway, there do seem to be more military ones the last week or so. Also during this time I’ve noticed more that seem to be MediVac going to/from Cottage. The most recent one I saw today looked like a BlackHawk. My guess is that the military stuff is related to military reserve and/or troop deployment training, perhaps coinciding with the Presidents Day holiday, probably involving Camp Roberts near Paso Robles. The medical stuff seems to coincide somewhat with recent traffic accidents in the news. Put together, it would make for more helicopters than usual. I haven’t looked into it, but those are my uninformed guesses. As for the noise, when it does (rarely) bother me, I often think of the people training for war and the people going for urgent hospital trauma care. Hope this helps. 🙂
I saw what looked like a Blackhawk at SBA doing short training flights… It might be SB County Fire/ Sheriff practicing with their new helicopter as they are phasing out 308, the old Huey…
I will miss 308…
I’ve seen a helicopter helping place electrical poles over the mountains recently.
Shhhhh…they are finding the course over your house for the jets to follow.
Told you to turn off location on your cell phone.
Yes, it was super annoying! I totally understand that there are legitimate reasons at times but it seems that the flight paths and altitudes lately haven’t always seemed to have a legitimate purpose…at least so far as is released to the public. It would be nice to have a website somewhere that just says what is planned or even the things that are unplanned, at least when it is reasonably safe to do so. I wonder about vets with PTSD, especially with the helicopters because they are so loud. The one today flew over our house what seemed like 6-7 times…wondering what is genuinely necessary to do that for. Anyone joining for a group to discuss this with the city? Flight stuff seems to be getting out of control the past couple of years and I don’t think the single random contacts make much of a difference. Seems like we need to join in a group.
I saw the BlackHawk looking Helo around 4pm today.
Flicka “can’t imagine” that someone else is actually telling the truth about the negative impact of these sorts of over neighborhood flights. So we all should just accept the intrusion on our lives until she can “imagine” it. Which might be when she actually has an experience relevant to the issue.
To my knowledge no one is complaining about noise from emergency helicopters or military helicopters or planes doing good works. The point that many are trying to make is that the “recreational” flying that goes on is often noisy and unpleasant to those on the ground. The joy that the pilot feels is offset by the mess she or he creates. I suspect also that many of these flyers already have hearing damage from their years of loud noise abuse and do not understand what people with normal or healthy hearing experience. Why can’t such flights simply stay away from the urban areas? Why do they like to criss cross the neighborhoods? Are they real estate sales people? Tourist trips? Please be considerate and stay at higher altitudes or off the coast.
RHS – how do you know, from the inside your house or even in your backyard looking up, that a flight thousands of feet above you is “recreational,” and therefore simply causing a “mess?”
FORREALNEWS, have you considered moving to a town with no airport or military bases nearby?
Wow 2:20pm. Hostile and presumptuous much?
We normally have some, but yesterday there was a constant stream of military aircraft cruising up and down the coast, lots of black hawks. What was odd was late last night, at about 11 I heard a LARGE aircraft go by.
military helicopters are louder than civilian ones, even at the same altitudes.
Relax folks – yesterday’s black hawk buzzing around was just a routine ROTC excercise – my son was part of joy riding with his squad
That’s right, you didn’t experience it. I live where the rotor pressure wave is amplified . After around 15 wall and window rattling fly-overs the sound of freedom started to get annoying . So much power. Awsome!
John Wiley, Please continue to fly around taking photos to share with us. I can’t imagine your little plane making enough noise to disturb anyone.
I don’t like a whole lot of air traffic. Santa Barbara is getting lousy with people. Can we just rewind, please? Back to the days when it was a sleepy beach town?
awesome, I knew it was just an exercise. Cool to hear they allowed the ROTC to ride along, that must have been an experience.
Because the plane is a private small one, it circles the area repeatedly or flies slowly like a Sunday driver back and forth. Because it does not fly offshore or off city. Because a few of the planes are repeat “offenders” and are recognizable from their noise and size. Because I am a sapient human being and can think. Not that hard.