Frequent helicopter noise

[kEiThZ]

Thanks to all of you supportive ones.

We think there is a shift change happening around 4:00 a.m.

Air crew generally don't take the aircraft for a spin when they change shifts. At a few thousand dollars an hour, that would be quite an expensive shift change.

 

[catcher_of_cats]

I personally detest the Global hele that buzzes the west end and the core. The medivac heles tend to be less noisy.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

This happens every summer. I sit and watch from them my balcony late at night. They circle the helicopters around an area that appears (from my vantage point) to be roughly over to Bathurst, somewhere north behind my building (Bloor Street roughly?), to the Don Valley, over the Islands and around again. I think these trips are pilot training.
We had a discussion about this issue last summer too.
The chopper that was making the nose last night was a different helicopter, it had a different "whirling" type sound as opposed to a normal loud helicopter type noise that I'm used to so this might be a new craft that they were testing or training on. Most often I see them landing or taking off from the roof of St. Michael's Hospital, sometimes heading over towards Toronto Western.

 

[SimonP]

The anti-Island Airport group Community Air has long expressed concerns about the noise from the Medevac helicopters. The group suggests they could be based outside the core with no lose of efficiency since most pickups are located north of the city.

That said, the service is very tightly regulated. There is no chance they are flying for routine shift changes. The helicopters are forbidden from running anything but emergency flights during overnight curfew hours. No maintenance flights are permitted. They are not even allowed to return to home base after arriving at a hospital until after the curfew hours have lifted. If a new emergency occurs they depart from where they ended the last one.

 

[egotrippin]

Thanks to all of you supportive ones.

I would not "get worked up over it" if this was not a frequent occurrence. It seems that we get disturbed more overnights than not, generally from the air ambulances. We think there is a shift change happening around 4:00 a.m. The noise is enough to wake any light sleeper, windows closed or open. Many of my associates at the office are commenting about the increase in 'copter noise over the last couple of years. I am not alone.

As for this morning's disburbance, it was just the icing on the cake. If it was out of the ordinary, then it was only slightly so. It was not an air ambulance, we know what they look like -- this was bigger, plus, the timing was off, it was 5 a.m. instead of around 4 a.m. And the thing was louder than others -- I think they ought to tie the cop's ass to the rotors in this instance.

By the way, this may be ironic -- I feel that the more common "air ambulances", while potentially saving lives, are a health hazard in themselves. They may be responsible for many poorly rested people getting behind the steering wheel of a car -- dangerous stuff. I do hope that the hospitals and residents in outlying also "feel the pain", not just we downtowners.

Please tell me this is mostly a joke. Primarily the last paragraph.

Also, I live in the general vicinity of this recent incident and wasn't woken, nor have I heard any helicopters during the night recently. I too am a very light sleeper, and haven't had my windows closed since the temperature went above 15 degrees in April.

Perhaps a home in the country would be a better place to live?

 

[Tuscani01]

I live right under the flight path of St. Mikes, not even a 5 minute walk from the hospital. I just got used to the sound of the air ambulance. Its downtown... you should expect to hear air ambulances and police helicopters here.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

The anti-Island Airport group Community Air has long expressed concerns about the noise from the Medevac helicopters. The group suggests they could be based outside the core with no lose of efficiency since most pickups are located north of the city.

That said, the service is very tightly regulated. There is no chance they are flying for routine shift changes. The helicopters are forbidden from running anything but emergency flights during overnight curfew hours. No maintenance flights are permitted. They are not even allowed to return to home base after arriving at a hospital until after the curfew hours have lifted. If a new emergency occurs they depart from where they ended the last one.

I sit and watch the helicopters circling around late at night, it's not uncommon at all and it's been happening for years. It's certainly not a nightly event, but I do notice it once every month or two. I'm not complaining, it doesn't bother me personally. Occasionally a helicopter flies close to my building and I swear it sounds like the 'copter is barely clearing the roof, it's almost alarming for 15 or 20 seconds.
Next time I notice these circling around late at night I'll videotape it and put it up on YouTube to verify that it happens.

 

[Asterix]

I do hope that the hospitals and residents in outlying also "feel the pain", not just we downtowners.

Does Sunnybrook Hospital qualify as 'downtown'? They happen to be the regional trauma centre where many (most?) of the major highway accident type victims needing air ambulance get taken.

 

[TheProfessor]

I hear the air ambulances take off and land at Sunnybrook at least every other day if not daily. It's really no big deal, and it's for a good cause. Once my doors and windows are shut though, I can't hear it, especially at night when I'm sleeping.

 

[kEiThZ]

The anti-Island Airport group Community Air has long expressed concerns about the noise from the Medevac helicopters. The group suggests they could be based outside the core with no lose of efficiency since most pickups are located north of the city.

Other than that though, Community AIR's primary tactic is simply to undermine any justification for the Island Airport's existence. Downtown business travelers and the deathly ill be damned. I am skeptical that a bunch of community activists know better than operators how to deliver effective medevac service.

That said, the service is very tightly regulated. There is no chance they are flying for routine shift changes. The helicopters are forbidden from running anything but emergency flights during overnight curfew hours. No maintenance flights are permitted. They are not even allowed to return to home base after arriving at a hospital until after the curfew hours have lifted. If a new emergency occurs they depart from where they ended the last one.

And this is something that opponents of the Island for example don't understand. Even if there was no airport in downtown Toronto, with the hospitals in the area catering a large region there would still be medevac flights in the middle of the night. And while they might not allow maintenance flights (which are generally not done at night anyway and certainly not from a rooftop helipad) or repositioning flights, they probably do allow the aircrew some training flights at night just to get the familiar with night operations in the area. After all the last thing you want is a medevac flight hitting a downtown building in the dark or landing at the wrong hospital....this kind of training is doubly important when conducting medevac flights in bad weather and that seems to be when they are often needed the most (car crashes, hypothermia, etc.).

 

[kEiThZ]

I do hope that the hospitals and residents in outlying also "feel the pain", not just we downtowners.

Ever witness air traffic over Rexdale and Malton? It pales in comparison to the odd helicopter here and there or the Porter birds out of the Island. And other jurisdiction have to deal with OPP or regional police helicopters flying over head...and often operating at lower altitudes than in the downtown core.

 

[OldManKensey]

I hear the air ambulances take off and land at Sunnybrook at least every other day if not daily. It's really no big deal, and it's for a good cause. Once my doors and windows are shut though, I can't hear it, especially at night when I'm sleeping.

Trauma emergencies are taken to Sunnybrook and St. Mike's on alternating days. Of course, Sick Kids also has a helipad, so the downtown core likley gets slightly more air ambulance traffic than Sunnybook.

Part of living downtown involves living near world-class hospitals. In order to allow other residents of Ontario to beneift from these hospitals, the Ontario government funds a large air ambulance program. As has been written earlier, anyone who is annoyed by the air ambulances should not be living downtown.

 

[jn_12]

This happens every summer. I sit and watch from them my balcony late at night. They circle the helicopters around an area that appears (from my vantage point) to be roughly over to Bathurst, somewhere north behind my building (Bloor Street roughly?), to the Don Valley, over the Islands and around again. I think these trips are pilot training.
We had a discussion about this issue last summer too.

There are Helicopter tours of the city available from the Island Airport. They're pretty popular in the summer months. So that might be more likely?

 

[Asterix]

There are Helicopter tours of the city available from the Island Airport. They're pretty popular in the summer months. So that might be more likely?

There is also the Global News chopper (and I believe CTV has one as well). Almost always a slew of live overhead shots during the Global news period from 5:30 - 7:00pm and the helicopter is often just hovering over one area for a while.

Plus, it is a Black Helicopter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_helicopter

 

[OldManKensey]

If the helicopters are a sign of an impending military coup (as suggested in the link above) I suggest that UT members form a passive resistance movement immediately.