Military helicopters spotted over Sonora
Residents of Sonora, East Sonora, Crystal Falls and Cedar Ridge said they saw military helicopters flying fast and low over their rooftops Sunday, and at least one resident got photos of some of the aircraft.
Photos by Tuolumne County resident Jody Dugan appeared to show four-blade Bell AH-1Z Vipers twinengine attack helicopters, which are upgraded AH-1W Supercobras used primarily by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Dugan posted to social media at 12:09 p.m. about a “military helicopter flyover.”
“I only had about 20 seconds to grab the camera, throw on the 1280mm lens and snap a few pictures before they were gone,” Dugan said in his post. “Got these when they were about 2 miles away.”
Dugan posted again a minute later, “Cool flyover today, been a while since we got one of these!”
Some residents speculated the helicopter pilots were taking part in a training exercise in conjunction with Marines at the Mountain Warfare Training Center at Pickel Meadows on the east side of Sonora Pass in Mono County.
Marine Corps public affairs staff at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and Pickel Meadows did not respond to questions Monday about the Sunday exercise.
Cal Fire TuolumneCalaveras Unit staff said only that the military helicopters were not Cal Fire aircraft.
Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Deputy Niccoli Sandelin said he could not confirm anything about a military training exercise on Sunday.
Sandelin said he understands helicopter pilots do come train in east Tuolumne County on occasion. He did not know where military helicopter crews that train in Tuolumne County are based, or whether they are Army or Marines.
Sunday logs from the Sonora Police Department included an entry for “public peace, fight, disorderly conduct” at 12:25 p.m. that stated: “Occurred at N Washington / S Washington. Four low flying military helicopters flew over the city, generating calls to dispatch.
The log note stated the county Sheriff’s Office contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, which said nothing showed up on radar and there were no planned flights in the Sonora area on Sunday.