A conspiracy theorist would argue that the terrorists in Iraq are receiving help from other hostile countries in the region, while there would be no such help forthcoming for American freedom fighters, thus making it much easier for the government to seize control.

I personally agree that it's all a bit far-fetched, to put it kindly.

The Nudist Camp comment reminded me of " Blue Thunder" But then Downtown Meadville doesn't have any Nudist Camps that I'm aware of, maybe closet ones.....LOL
Check flight I dunno, their aren't any bases around here that have Apache's. Probably never know.

We had a B2 fly over our house one day on its way to opening day in Foxboro. It did several passes around the area. My girlfriend, having never seen one, started flipping out. She thought we were being invaded by aliens. Took me a while to get her calmed down, I actually had to show her a picture of one to prove what it was.

I live a block and one-half (for over 30 years) from the front gate of Ft. Detrick, the helio-pad is another 50 yards from the gate, USAMRIID (think of the movie “Hot Zone”) is another 50 yards past the helio-pad, the Maryland State Police-Medivac uses the area for it’s flight path to the trauma center to our west and we are close to the flight path for Camp David, so we hear and feel helicopters all the time.

While not super common, we have military vehicles travel down our street heading to the front gate. If the windows are open, we hear Revelry, Retreat and Taps every day and night.

My family and I view these events and sounds with a sense of pride and the feeling of protection and comfort. We have know the risks of living so close to the potential source of a major Haz-Mat incident, a terrorist attack, aircraft accident, etc. and what bothers us the most is the increase in traffic, uncontrolled growth, increased taxes and local crime.

Pete

Here's the Story


Published October 25, 2007 11:06 pm - Anyone in Meadville who wanted to know what the U.S. Army’s primary attack helicopter looks like from an attackee’s perspective only had to look skyward early Thursday night, as an AH-64 Apache made an unexpected visit and alarmed enough people that about 100 concerned calls were placed to local law enforcement.

Apache helicopter causes concern throughout Meadville



By Mary Spicer

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

Anyone in Meadville who wanted to know what the U.S. Army’s primary attack helicopter looks like from an attackee’s perspective only had to look skyward early Thursday night, as an AH-64 Apache made an unexpected visit and alarmed enough people that about 100 concerned calls were placed to local law enforcement.

Beginning around 6 p.m., the AH-64 Apache helicopter hovered over downtown for approximately an hour, checking out the area in preparation for a formal visit scheduled for Nov. 8.

At the invitation of Fred Cunningham of the Crawford County Office of Veterans Services, the Johnstown-based 1st Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment of the Army National Guard will be sending at least one AH-64 to Meadville for a fly-over kicking off the three-day “Through a Veteran’s Eye” salute Nov. 8 to 10 at the Community Center of Crawford County.

The next time an Apache is expected over Meadville is Nov. 8 at 8:45 a.m., Cunningham said Thursday night. “It took a little finagling, but I finally got one lined up. I’ve been working on it for months.”

What Cunningham didn’t know was that a practice run was scheduled for Thursday.

Neither did Meadville Police Department, where the phone literally rang off the hook for as long as the helicopter stayed in the sky. Pennsylvania State Police’s Meadville barracks was also deluged with calls.

According to City Police Dispatcher Terry Coleman, approximately 100 calls were received, many from parents who said they weren’t going to let their children go trick-or-treating with the giant helicopter hovering in the air. Shortly before 7 p.m., Detective Sgt. Craig Gump advised the Tribune that the chopper was “apparently part of a National Guard training mission out of Johnstown — probably some type of homeland-security-type training.”

Multiple phone calls of our own later, the Tribune was able to reach Chief Warrant Officer Steven Price in Johnstown, who revealed the rest of the story.

There are good reasons people responded to the mysterious appearance with concern. According to the Federation of American Scientists, the twin-engine, four-bladed, multi-mission Apache attack helicopter was designed to serve as a highly-stable aerial weapons-delivery platform. Designed to fight during the day, at night and in whatever adverse weather conditions the world can throw at it, the Apache’s principal mission, according to the federation, is the destruction of high-value targets with the deadly Hellfire missile. Each Apache can carry up to 16 Hellfires, each with a range of more than 8,000 meters. The Hellfire is used primarily for the destruction of hard material targets such as tanks and armored vehicles.

I know what you mean. Same thing happened in Manchester, England in 1952. Apparently there was quite a panic by the residents.

I don't know Norad.

The French helped us out when we rebelled against the British.

They might be willing to forget that whole unpleasant Freedom Fries thing and jump into the fray just to tick us off (how's that for circular logic?).

Just in case anyone from the Justice Dept, Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, IRS, Future Homemakers of America, etc are snooping around here, NO I AM NOT ADVOCATING REBELLION. (at least not until after the current season of Heros is completed...)

Freedom Fries ?? ... no problemo ... allready forgotten...

But banning "foie gras" ? now, that's a completely different story

You had a B2 fly over Manchester in 1952! Wow!!!

Oh, I hope who ever wrote that last paragraph get's their fingers slammed in the drawer. That was tantamount to accusing the NG to reckless endangerment.

Personally, I've always liked the things- they look like big dragonflies.