The Bell 412 helicopter hovering over Clement Street this afternoon
It’s the second day in a row that we’ve had a helicopter hovering over the Richmond District. Yesterday it was a news chopper covering a gas leak on 25th Avenue, but today it has to do with a federal study.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office is conducting aerial tests to assess natural background radiation levels. The helicopter conducting the study is flying over parts of Oakland, Pacifica and San Francisco this week.
More from SFAppeal:
The survey will cover about 69 square miles, and will be performed by the NNSA’s twin-engine Bell 412 helicopter, which is operated by the Las Vegas-based Remote Sensing Laboratory Aerial Measuring System in Las Vegas.
The helicopter will fly in a grid pattern about 300 feet above ground. The flights will be limited to daylight hours.
Federal officials say the data will be used as background to help local, state and federal entities measure radiation levels in the future.
Thanks to cub reporter David H. for the tip and pic.
Sarah B.
Let the conspiracy theories begin…
Personally I think it’s KTVU trying to get a pic of Pole Gardener doing his thing…
Glad to hear an explanation. I’d been searching the news trying figure out why they’ve been buzzing me all day.
Peter, I have found that Twitter is super handy for stuff like this. I used it Sunday for the siren, yesterday for the ‘copter, and today too. SarahB. had info about today’s ‘copter up durn quick on Twitter.
There was also a story about them on the morning news before they took to the skies.
Hi Mel – who do you follow on Twitter for these type of local updates? Thanks!
https://twitter.com/richmondsfblog
And, I also do a search for the situation and use “richmond district” or “san francisco.”
I know Twitter was super handy when we were trying to figure out if fires were getting to close our house we still own back in the Austi-metro last year. One got dang close to our storage unit and the another to our old neighborhood. But, all was bueno in the end for us.
Hi Mel, Thanks for the information. The goold ol’ technology. I’m just not a Facebook fan at all, so I will definitely sign up for a twitter account. Glad you are safe!
Thanks to Sarah for being our Batman and keeping us safe in the neighborhood with useful info.
*good ol’
It’s interesting that no one is talking about why they would want to do a study on background radiation.
The most likely explanation is so that the federal or state government can set up some sort of permanent monitoring system in the city that checks radiation levels, and if they go above the natural background levels determined through this study, the city/state can be alerted that something is afoot…i.e., a possible bomb.
@J Yup, that’s exactly what the news report said the reason was for the helicopter swooping all over the place.
@MS funny, I can totally picture Sarah wearing a cowl and speaking with a raspy voice…