Arlington County board member Mary Hynes will lead a panel discussion about helicopters and local helicopter regulations Wednesday night at the Arlington County Board Room (2100 Clarendon Blvd, third floor).
Hynes, who chairs the Aviation Policy Committee for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, says there has been a noticeable uptick in complaints about helicopter noise in the past couple of years. She says Wednesday’s forum will allow residents to learn more about the rules that govern helicopter flights in the national capital region.
Hynes says she hopes the forum will also lead to the development of a better system for handling citizen complaint about helicopters, especially military helicopters, which are the most prevalent over Arlington.
“The focus is to have a good conversation about the impacts of the helicopter traffic on the residents, and see if there’s some way we can work with the military to lessen that impact,” she said.
Military helicopters usually fly defined routes from the Pentagon to other military installations. The flight paths are typically major highways like I-395 or waterways like the Potomac River. Even if the helicopters pilots stick to the path, however, they sometimes fly lower than they’re supposed to, irking residents.
Homeland Security and local law enforcement flights are also fairly common around Arlington, Hynes noted. News helicopters typically don’t fly over Arlington because the county is within a no-fly zone around Reagan National Airport, put into place after 9/11.
“Dust off your brown flip flops and get ready for the 13th Annual Clarendon Day,” reads the official press release for Clarendon’s biggest block party (
