“10pm on the South Waterfront. These helicopters are driving me crazy; they’re (expletive) loud!” read one Reddit comment on Sunday night.
Another under the title “Helicopter South Waterfront/Johns Landing” read: “vibrating our windows for a couple hours now.”
To which a third person responded, “Its so annoying .. Over and over and over. Endless laps around the south waterfront. I can feel my tax dollars burning.”
You may have seen, heard or felt the helicopters and planes buzzing around Portland’s center of national attention for the last few days — the ICE field office south of downtown.
The droning hum and vibrations have generated more aircraft noise complaints to the city last weekend than in the entire fiscal year that ended in June.
So, who’s flying them? How long will they continue?
Here’s what we know:
They’re hard to miss.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building sits in a residential-business district in South Portland at the corner South Macadam Avenue and Bancroft Street.
Helicopters and planes have circled for hours since at least last Saturday, when President Trump authorized sending federalized National Guard troops to quell protests and protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building and its officers.
The troops aren’t here yet. Mayor Keith Wilson and Gov. Tina Kotek have rejected Trump’s rolling invective describing Portland as “War ravaged” and protesters as “Antifa-led hellfire,” and the state has filed a lawsuit and requested a temporary restraining order to block any troop intervention.
But the helicopters have arrived.
Federal flight tracking information suggests at least a Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter, belonging to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and a light-utility Airbus Helicopter H125, belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have flown in and out of nearby Hillsboro Airport on recent nights.
Customs and Border Protection has an office at the suburban airport run by the Port of Portland. The office is listed as open from noon to 8 p.m., though no one answered calls there on Tuesday.
Video from a tipster sent to The Oregonian/OregonLive shows one black helicopter with gold-colored trim and the words “Air and Marine Operations” on the side on the airport’s tarmac. The video shows a man walking away from the “Air and Marine Operations” helicopter dressed in a black shirt and camouflage pants.
Portland police have said they’ve also had their Cessna 172 planes in the air in recent days.
Police Cmdr. Franz Schoening said the bureau’s air support was active this past Sunday to help police “monitor for criminal activity and intervene as necessary” during a protest outside the ICE building, according to court records.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office also has a plane that’s been in the air recently, but it’s not been used around the ICE facility, said Brent Weisberg, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
The helicopter noise is a drawing resident ire.
People at the scene and in surrounding neighborhoods and even miles away in Southwest and Southeast Portland have described the constant drone of the blades and engines as disruptive.
The city and Port of Portland noise hotline received so many complaints that the port put out a recorded notice on its “noise management line” that said:
“This is Sunday, September 28. The time is 9:30pm. The Port of Portland is aware of the high volume of helicopter and propeller airplane activity currently taking place over Southwest Portland and South Portland. This is related to law enforcement and military activity. This is not something the Port of Portland has any control over.”
Portland Permitting and Development received 45 complaints about helicopter noise this past weekend.
That compares to only 11 complaints related to aircraft noise during the entire fiscal year that ended June 30.
The city’s noise code, though, excludes such aircraft noise, which is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to Elliott Kozuch, a city spokesperson.
How long will the helicopters be flying overhead?
That’s not clear.
Yet, according to the FAA, a one-mile nautical radius encompassing South Portland is temporarily restricted air space for “special security reasons.”
The restriction is in place from Sept. 17 to Oct. 17, according to the administration.
Aircraft operating in that space are in support of national defense, homeland security, law enforcement and firefighter, search-and- rescue or disaster response missions, according to the FAA.
On Saturday night, someone pointed a laser at a Customs and Border Protection helicopter circling the ICE facility, according to Portland’s FBI.
The FBI has identified a suspect and is continuing to investigate. Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a federal crime.
After federal agents served a search warrant in the city Monday morning in the investigation, immigration enforcement officers detained four people, alleging they were illegally in the U.S.
Late Tuesday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin decried the alleged laser pointing at a Customs and Border Protection helicopter, saying in a statement that it “endangered the lives of our CBP personnel, the safety of every other aircraft in flight during the time AND put everyone on the ground in immediate danger. ”