The Mystery of the Hovering Helicopter

There is something strange going on in the skies today. For some reason a helicopter hovers and then moves on. The first one I noticed was at around 1pm this afternoon, and it appeared to be hovering over a river. Now, there is another one, just outside of Aquatom Mansion, and it appears to be hovering just over where the town centre would be. At the time of writing this, it is 9.30pm, and the helicopter has just this moment flown away, over the Mansion, and into the distance.

Earlier today, I drove over the bridge that spanned the river, and there were fire-fighters with a training vehicle pumping water into the river. This made me think that the helicopter was part of the fire brigade, and they were possibly filming the training process. This is what came to mind anyway, and I thought nothing further of it. If I can’t see what is going on, my mind fills in the blanks for me.

Tonight’s helicopter wasn’t over the river. It was just hovering, with lights flashing, and making the whirring noises that helicopter rotors make. The pilot was obviously not being discreet, with the amount of noise being made, but they were definitely up to something.

Sometimes, especially in the hours of darkness, the helicopters will shine a searchlight down to the ground, but this one wasn’t doing that. It was just hovering for about ten minutes, and then it moved on.

My mind is now working overtime.

The helicopter was hovering to make everyone look at it, and wonder what it was doing. A diversion tactic, to stop us all noticing the other thing… that I didn’t notice due to watching the helicopter. The annoying thing is, I wouldn’t have even looked out of the window if I hadn’t heard the helicopter hovering, and wondered what was going on. And now, I have been left wondering what is going on – but an even stronger wonder than before!

Very often, about two – possibly three – times a day, a small group of two or three Chinook helicopters (the type which have the rotors at the front and back) will fly over in one direction, and then about half an hour later they will fly back in the opposite direction. I quite like watching these go overhead, flying in formation, and making the ground (and even the air around me!) gently shake. Never once have I thought to wonder where these big mechanical birds were going to, or had been, but after this one today my curiosity has been piqued. More so by the fact that a Sea King helicopter landed on the road beyond the one where my parents live some time last year, and took off again about fifteen minutes later. Nothing was ever mentioned about this in the press or local radio, and helicopters landing on main roads would certainly cause a few questions to be asked. If I was a journalist, I’d be asking anyway! Especially since the last of the Sea King fleet was retired in 2003.

There are no air force bases around here, unless there is a top secret one, which wouldn’t surprise me if there was, and I don’t think there are any naval bases either.

I know I’ll never get to know what is going on, but if there are any secret operations taking place, they are kind of lacking in the secret department. And another thought has just come to mind… several years ago, I saw a Stealth Bomber fly past the window in work. The hovering helicopter, the Chinook fleets, the Sea King and the Stealth Bomber may not be linked together in reality, but they are in my mind. However, putting them together has just created more questions than providing answers.

All this from a hovering helicopter. My mind does like to wander…