Helicopter noise for hours EVERY NIGHT -- know anything about it?

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by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 1:51am	Hey guys, I just came across this site and I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what is going on near where I live in south-central Tacoma. Every night for the past couple weeks (after 10pm or so), I have been hearing what sounds like a helicopter hovering in the distance for HOURS. It is nearly 2am right now, and the buzzing noise is driving me insane. I can't see it in the sky from where I am, but it sounds like it is hovering or moving in a small circle around an area of the city. Has anyone else been hearing it? Do you know what it might be? I've considered that it might be construction-related, police-related, traffic control, TV news, or who knows what else.. but I really have no idea. I've checked TNT for information on it, but I haven't seen a mention of it. So, if anyone has any ideas or explanations, please share them! Thanks a lot for your time.
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/17/2010 @ 2:26am	I live by TG and get medvac from time to time, but I doubt that's your issue. Last week I saw some Chinooks from Joint Base Lewis-McChord doing some sort of formations over east Tacoma and Fife. Perhaps that's what you have? Training, exercises and such from the Air Force seldom get mentioned. But when the Chinooks, the C-17s or F-18s* are out working, you hear it. *I'm pretty sure those are F-18s at McChord. I'm not an expert, though.
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/17/2010 @ 2:33am	Likely your culprit:
by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 2:41am	Thanks for the response.. now that you mention it, it does sound like it might be more than one machine in the sky. All I know is, it's 2:40 now, I have my windows shut, and I can't get to sleep with this incessant roaring/buzzing noise pollution. Maybe I'll try putting some music on..
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/17/2010 @ 2:49am	Ear plugs, amigo. Go down to Ace/Fred Meyer/Home Depot/Lowes/Whatever you like and buy a couple pairs of these foam kind. Check in the safety department at the hardware store. They're cheap, can be used a few times and they WORK. I keep some by the bed since I frequently work nights and that damn garbage truck ALWAYS comes by at 10 am sounding like a freight train. Oh, and the bus. I can hear that through my windows often. And medvac. Oh, the cats too. Seriously. They can be a life saver. Just make sure your alarm is LOUD or you may sleep through it. FYI, I hear no helicopters up here in the Stadium District. Did hear an ambulance 15 min ago, though. Anyway, you're looking for plugs similar to these. Most of them are created equal, get something with an NRR of at least 25 and you'll be good.
by Urban E on 6/17/2010 @ 7:26am	Dan, just last night the wife goes into a frenzy about the same noise. We live in the Wapato area and since I've been out of town for the last two weeks it hasn't quite reached the level of annoyance for me as it has for her but yes we hear it too. I've lived here (ST) for nearly 12 yrs and from my experience in the past it's been the military but from time to time I have noticed police aircraft doing some kind of zoned flyovers. I assumed that was them looking for hot spots to identify grow ops. This time its a little different, not directly over the neighborhood and off in the distance or a little further south. At first I thought she was just exagerating and it was just a noisy ceiling fan but I later had to appoligize. my guess is its the sherriff's dept or TPD doing what I mentioned earlier in the post.
by The Jinxmedic on 6/17/2010 @ 7:44am	If you want to see F-18's at McChord, you need to wait for the airshow....
by NineInchNachos on 6/17/2010 @ 7:58am	agents of the new world order (see black helicopters) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_helicopters
by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 9:55am	Urban E, that's exactly what I initially figured it was, and glad to know that I'm not just going crazy. I think it might be either helis situated with infrared camera systems to identify "hotspots", or they're just going around neighborhoods assisting police on the ground with identifying traffic crimes or something. Last night was one of the worst.. lasted late into the night/morning. When I eventually put on some music to drown out the sound and get to sleep (which actually does help a bit), it was past 3-4am and they were still at it. I think I'm hearing it emanating more towards the west, but it's hard to say for sure.
by jenyum on 6/17/2010 @ 10:03am	I woke up to the sound of fighter jets this morning, at least it was 8 am. (8 am! Didn't know my kids were capable of letting me sleep that late.) I'm assuming that was part of the NORAD exercises going on in the area this Tuesday-Thursday. Glad I'm out of noise range of the helicopters because that would drive me nuts.
by Marty on 6/17/2010 @ 10:31am	Nightime construction on highway 16? They start @ 10 pm and the jackhammers can be very loud.
by jenyum on 6/17/2010 @ 10:51am	Oh yeah, that's a possibility. Also they have been doing some nighttime resurfacing work on I-5 in South Tacoma this week.
by Altered Chords on 6/17/2010 @ 11:44am	I am a little further north in the Lincoln/Jenny Reed neighborhood and I have not heard a thing at night except 88.5 and an occasional annoying cat who meows in the middle of the night until I get up out of bed and bang on my window.
by NineInchNachos on 6/17/2010 @ 11:59am	no helicopters in central tacoma. just the unending flow of c-17s
by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 12:06pm	Hm, Marty, I did consider that it might be construction work that I was hearing. You might be right.. I could've sworn I hear it moving to and fro like a helicopter, often with whooshing sounds like might be expected from spinning rotors, but a distant jackhammer might be a better explanation. Maybe the sound waves reverberating off houses and hills was messing with my mind. The noise indeed comes from the direction of 16 or I-5. That seems like the best explanation right now, so I guess I'll just have to put up with the annoyance until they finish their work. I can't imagine how bad it is for people who live closer than me to the highway, though I'm only about a mile from I-5 and a couple miles from 16.
by Altered Chords on 6/17/2010 @ 12:40pm	I'll take a constant drone of jackhammers to the random loud meows that come from the wild cats near my house. NIN - can I borrow your pit bulls for a few nights?
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/17/2010 @ 12:52pm	That construction will be going on for quite some time still. Get those ear plugs.
by debivans on 6/17/2010 @ 1:17pm	Its the vuvulezas from the World Cup.
by Dave_L on 6/17/2010 @ 1:32pm	...airshow or of course transients. Can't mistake the sound of the occasional EA6 dropping in. I do have nostalgia for the 106's and 15's of the old 318th FIS and the 141's and occasional C-5. Freeway construction happening all over. But JBLM has a public affairs office for info on such... public affairs, when they occur. www.lewis.army.mil/pao/office.htm (Off-topic: a P-51, B-17 & B-24 visiting Tacoma Narrows Airport June 21-23 2010, so if you hear or see something unusual, it might be them.)
by JesseHillFan on 6/17/2010 @ 1:39pm	Just get a low powered 635nm wavelength diode LASER say with a 5 milliwatt output.Collimate the LASER beam with a telescope (It makes the beam more parallel with a much much smaller spot size at a distance depending on the magnification),coaxially mount another telescope with sighting reticule on a stable mount. The pesky helicopters will go away. The larger the telescope in aperature size and magnification the greater the distance at which objects can be lit up and the harder it is for the target to see you.Too high of LASER output high and lesser collimation the easier it is to see light scattering from the LASER at distance-to be avoided.
by JesseHillFan on 6/17/2010 @ 1:44pm	Yes Dave_L the Collings Foundation P-51,B-17 & B-24 will be there.Thanks for heads up.I'll be there too.
by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 2:04pm	I don't think shining lasers at aircraft is a good idea.. but debivans is probably right about the vuvuzelas. I'm hearing the collective blowing of horns from south Africa.. it's tunneling into my ears from 10,000 miles away!
by JesseHillFan on 6/17/2010 @ 2:11pm	@ Dan I was just kidding.Yes, don't ever do this.
by The Jinxmedic on 6/17/2010 @ 2:16pm	@Jesse: Heh. That's a good way to have some nice people knock on your door with a battering ram, and then make you feel all Elian Gonzalez-like after they invite themselves inside.
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/17/2010 @ 2:20pm	Or do it from Seattle and then book it back home, laughing all the way.
by JesseHillFan on 6/17/2010 @ 2:30pm	I don't really mess around with low power LASER's these days. My hobby is with the much higher power multi joule output Class 4 flashlamp pumped Rhodamine 6G (or other dye) Chemical Dye LASER's which emit their coherent light radiation in sub micro second huge pulses.
by NineInchNachos on 6/17/2010 @ 3:14pm	well. I think we all learned a valuable lesson today.
by KevinFreitas on 6/17/2010 @ 9:33pm	@jenyum: Here's one of the jets that flew straight over my head this morning as I left for work. Had just enough time to pull out my camera. Beautiful birds:
by Dan on 6/17/2010 @ 9:51pm	Wow, fantastic pictures kevin. Must've been quick on the trigger..
by KevinFreitas on 6/17/2010 @ 10:17pm	I'm always packin' for sure. Thx Dan! Hope you get a better nights rest soon.
by Thorax O'Tool on 6/18/2010 @ 12:33am	No one with 15 TB of photos gets that way by leaving the house without the camera
by KevinFreitas on 6/18/2010 @ 6:59am	Haha, seriously. A squadron of 5 of the same jets just now flew overhead again flying north from JBLM and hooking west over the North End.
by Makias on 4/15/2011 @ 10:14pm	I recently received a warning from Comcast about downloading copy-written content, mayhaps they are looking for more culprits. Be wary my friend.