How do you work out why a helicopter is circling your house?

[notknowledgeable]

I don't think they show up on flight radar, do they? Or if they do, I don't know how to see them

Some show up.

But that wouldn't tell you why!

By looking to see if it belongs to the local police force or not. If it does it's looking for someone, if it doesn't it's aliens.

Im unwell in bed right now so I can't go out and see what sort of helicopter it is. Its very loud and been there very long though, so sleeping is impossible

If you’re one of my neighbours you post a message of faux concern on the local Facebook group- ‘helicopter circling over Acacia Avenue hope no-one is hurt xx’.

I sometimes check twitter. But it's normally a search for someone/something (suspect, missing person). Sometimes they circle around us looking for houses that are being used as cannabis farms.

I don't understand why you would want to know? If you live in a large town or city, it probably happens now and again, but doesn't have any impact.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
adsb shows more types of aircraft I think.

It's never good news if we hear one round here, it's normally a Search & Rescue helicopter.

We used to get this now and then when we lived in a rather ‘rough’ area. We later heard that it was police looking for drug runners going from house to house or from houses to public spaces etc. We also found out that one of the neighbouring houses had a cannabis farm inside it. 😳

Why do you need to know ?

do you have a cannabis farm in your attic and you think they can spot it ?

do you think there are criminals hiding in your garden coz they have just robbed a bank ?

if not, then you could guess they are looking for a vulnerable person - often / usually elderly.

I look at it, and see if it's black and yellow (police) or yellow and green (air ambulance).
Then look at their Facebook page. It often tells you why they have been scrambled.

Bizarrely, a helicopter has just gone over us. I wonder if it's the same one?

I lived on the coast for several years, holiday destination. Peak holiday times the helicopters started. Police, coastguard, sometimes it was every day, several evenings a week often late at night.
As long as they’re not searching for you you’re ok.

wow, @woodpecker2 that is awesome. its search and rescue apparantly

In OP's defence, having a helicopter circle for a long period of time is very noisy and annoying even if it's there for an important purpose.

It's normally a police helicopter either searching for a vulnerable person or a criminal.

Normally here they are looking for someone vulnerable or potentiallY dangerous ( statistically more likely to be someone vulnerable )

Yes but what does that have to do with why they are there?

@soupfiend I find if I know why it's there, it's marginally less annoying and you get a better sense of how long it might be up there.

We get a lot of Navy helicopters overhead here, presumably on training, as well as helimed, coastguard, electricity etc.

Is OP not allowed to be curious about something that's flying around overhead? I find it odd that you wouldn't be interested but there you go, we're all different.

9 times out of 10 its the police chasing a criminal, 1 time out of 10 its the police looking for a vulnerable person (missing/suicidal)*

*science based statistics from my own anecdotal experience

Well in the past, when we lived very close to a cat B prison, I would worry.
Silly really cos I dare say they would get as far away, as quickly as poss.

In my experience, it's only the Police helicopters and certain special military ones that are cloaked to the general public.

I know the Police are 'cloaked' because I often see them fly over and around my house when they are on ops but they never appear on Flightradar...

Interestingly, the sound of their helicopter is different from that of the air ambulance which often lands in the field at the bottom of my garden... The air ambulance does appear on Flightradar...

I'm guessing the Police will want to be 'cloaked' otherwise the perps they are chasing may have accomplices who could be feeding them info as to where the chasers are!

Do you have a you onow youre from ' random town name' when. Thats is where we find out things like that. 🥴🤦‍♀️

Know!

Facebook local town group I mean. Sorry for misspelling child climbing over me.