Blackhawks over Downtown Minneapolis

[WatchManUSA]

Honest to God, I'm at Target Field at the Twins game. As I type there are two Blackhawk helecoptors flying below the building tops. They are going up to some of the buildings and hovering before moving on.

[WatchManUSA]

Now two Scout type helecoptors came in doing similar manovours that the Blackhaws did.

[MikeBjerum]

Air Guard practice?

We still get them out here.  We are at the spot where they make their big sweeping 180's.

[WatchManUSA]

I'm sure it was Guard practice but I had never seen that in a city before.  They would come in low across the river and I mean low.  They we just above rooftops of the general sized office buildings.  That is well below the height of the towers.  Then they would swoop up to a two tiered building and wither touch and go off the lower roof or hover about two to three stories above the roof top for a minute and then go on.  My guess is it was the building on the cornet of 5th Street and 2nd Ave S.  I'm guessing it was something like 5 or 6 Blackhawks and the same number of Scouts.

I coulsn't see fro, my seats if they were doing it on other buildings, too.

[Bic]

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/08/27/downtown-mpls-serves-as-black-hawk-helicopter-training-zone/

and in May;   http://chicagoist.com/2012/04/17/low-flying_blackhawk_helicopters_gi.php

[Sponsor]

[WatchManUSA]

Video from a building across the street.

Part 1

Part 2

From Street Level

Part 1



Part 2

[jnevis]

Before everybody gets thier tinfoiil in a wad, 160 Special Operation Aviation regiment (SOAR) of Mogadishu fame has some of the best pilots in the world and normally operates in urban environments.  It's amazing how parts of Bejing, Baghdad, and other target locations looks like any other modern city, Minneapolis in this case.

The "scout" is an MH-6 "Little Bird"  Not always a scout, its used to insert small teams in limited landing zones.


The armed version is the AH-6

[WatchManUSA]

No panties in a bundle here.  It was just an oddity over my home city.  Even more rare that I was there to see it.  Most of the time one just reads about them rather than witnessing the event.

[tombogan03884]

The armed version is the AH-6


You'd think the little f**ker would get a hernia with that load

[jnevis]

The armed version is the AH-6
You'd think the little f**ker would get a hernia with that load

Designed to keep your head DOWN while the MH-6/60s come in.

They also have a version built on the MH-60, called a Direct Action Penetrator

There are a pair of mini-guns on the doors plus three hardpoints on the "wings" for Stinger, Hellfire, and other mini-guns or fuel tanks.