Chinooks at 3000 feet

For the second time in two weeks we have had a fly-by of a CH-47 here at the Aerie. Last week it was a solitary Chinook flying east to west at about 3000 feet. This morning it was a formation of four, also at approximately 3000 feet flying east to west. Since the deck of the Aerie is at approximately 2100 feet, these babies were pretty low and the drumming from their twin-rotors vibrated the house. They were moving fairly slowly as they passed overhead, but dummy me didn’t think to grab the camera. Here’s a link to a photo of what I’m talking about. Chinook Helicopter. (UPDATE: This link doesn't seem to work in all browsers. I can get it in Firefox but not AOL or Safari or IE. Aaarrrrgh!)

So I'll have to do it this way:


(There are lots more pretty pictures and history at this site. )

I did manage to get the field glasses on the last two but could not see any markings.

Last week I thought the flight might have been related to the wind farm construction scheduled to begin any day now. After today’s flight I’m not so sure.

I’ve experienced these sorts of flights up at the Bolt Hole prior to their shutting Griffis Air Force Base in Rome, NY. Occasional flights from/to Fort Drum in the northwest corner of NYS still pass over. (My area of the Adirondack Park has little Wilderness designation so it’s a good place for them to fly.) The thwump-thwump-thwump of the helicopters’ engines always makes me think of the opening to MASH.