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While this is generally a quiet neighborhood, we get quite a bit of helicopter noise here. Traffic choppers hover overhead during the morning news to monitor the "Belt-BQE split" a few blocks away. I always know when Bush or Cheney is in town because Marine One and its small convoy of support aircraft are uniquely audible, even in my basement.

Mainly, we're three blocks away from NYPD Aviation, where the police choppers refuel. So it's not uncommon to have the chirping birdies obliterated by the hellish thunder of a Bell 412 on approach, flying about 150 feet above my house. Fortunately, this only happens two or three times around mid-day. After the sun goes down they make their approaches over New York Harbor.

Lately though, people have been upset by non-NYPD helicopters using that heliport, one of them a silver 412 with no markings. Rumors were flying (pun unintended) that celebs we're being allowed to use the secure police heliport to avoid the paparazzi.

This morning, I saw it on approach over the dog run. It was so low that I could see the pilot's face and his NYPD jumpsuit. I also saw a lot of stuff hanging off it that didn't look like standard equipment for a corporate chopper.

A little Google sleuthing revealed the answer:

Police take crime fighting to new heights
$10 million, high-tech NYPD chopper quietly monitors post 9/11 city