For the past couple of weeks, people around the Wasatch Back say they’re surprised at how late helicopters have been hovering overhead.
Christie Dilloway heard them after 9 p.m. on a few occasions: twice near her home in Silver Springs and once in Heber City after the Market on Main concert last week. She said they appeared to be flying low.
“It just seemed like it wasn't that high,” she said of the helicopter last week. “It was dark out. My first impression was just, why? Why are they flying in the dark, and how do they fly in the dark? And not super loud — you know, not like when we had the Apache helicopters come over in the 2000s, early 2000s — but just recognizable, you know, there's a helicopter flying over.”
Heber Valley Airport Manager Travis Biggs said every so often, people call his office to ask about the noise. He’s received many calls in the past month.
He said the late-night flights in and out of the airport and around the area into Summit County are often for military training exercises.
Utah National Guard Deputy Director of Public Affairs Keith Garner said training happens at night because pilots are required to log hours in the dark to retain their skills.
“With the flight requirements,” Garner said, “they’re required to fly so many night hours, all of our pilots are, to maintain that training and proficiency, and when they do it, they're doing it with their equipment, which is night vision goggles and things.”
He said they’ll continue those flights for another week or so.
He also said they rotate training around the state, and it’s unclear when they’ll return after this round near Heber.
The helicopters are primarily Blackhawks, with some smaller Lakota choppers mixed in.
Garner said the pilots follow training guidelines and standards intended to minimize disturbances in local communities.
