Last night at about 8:45 PM I heard the familiar sound of a helicopter flying overhead. Familiar, yes, because nearly every day since we've lived in our home (twenty years), the helicopter flies over between 8:30 and 9 PM.
Several years ago I was at a neighborhood party and I overheard someone talking about a resident of our small town (population 16K) who owns a helicopter and flies it to and from work. I wasn't engaged in that conversation, so I didn't hear the rest of what they said nor did I have the opportunity to ask questions. The subject changed and life moved on. A few years ago after hearing the helicopter fly by, I did a lazy Google search to see if I could determine who the pilot was and any other interesting information. My search terms consisted of "helicopter" and the name of our small town. The results did not provide any information. More recently I performed a more aggressive online search with specific keywords and learned the pilot lives only 4 miles north. He had been involved in a few legal disputes regarding his right to use his property as a heliport. He lives on 1 acre. A heliport. On ONE. ACRE. At least one of the legal disputes began because of neighbor complaints. No Kidding. Imagine relaxing with your family, watching your favorite TV show or lying in bed to read a book at the end of a long day only to be rattled with the CHOP-CHOP-CHOP-CHOP from your neighbor Stanley's Rotorway Exec two-seater coming in for a landing at the "heliport" next door. One acre is not a lot of space. My house sits on just over 1 acre. I can't fathom a helicopter landing on the front lawn, though I suppose in an emergency, it's possible. There are other considerations when landing a helicopter in a semi-rural, residential area, especially at night. Kids, pets or wildlife running around, weather and wind. Power lines. I looked at it on Google Maps and though the pilot's yard is mostly open, there are trees - hardwoods and pines - on the neighbors' properties and along the road. Seeing the satellite map view makes that 1 acre seem oh, so tiny. It would be more appropriate if the pilot's property were, say, around 10+ acres and his heliport was situated smack in the middle. My friends and family know that I'm very particular about neighbor "etiquette" - behavior and common courtesy. I've experienced more than my fair share of crappy neighbor situations, like a Halloween party with 300+ attendees (resulting in multiple stabbings) to having my yard set on fire. (Stories I will share later.) I wouldn't be thrilled to live next to a residential helipad. I'm sure there's more to the story. And maybe through the course of his daily commutes the pilot has stopped to perform search/rescues of lost hikers, a la Harrison Ford. That would be cool. Or maybe he IS Harrison Ford. My husband and I are planning to move soon and we've been meticulously researching neighborhoods in hopes of finding our dream oasis of property; a sanctuary for eventual retirement. In addition to all the other criteria we have in mind, we'll need to add "no residential heliports nearby" to that list.
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About Sally FarleyI'm a typical, hardworking Midwesterner, enduring (and sometimes participating in) the passive-aggressive complexities of life in Minnesota. ArchivesLinksAsk a Manager
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