Hovering Helicopters Incur Wrath of Neighborhood Residents During MGM Opening Last Week

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Northern Virginia residents across from MGM National Harbor expressed outrage last week when a couple of helicopters covering the opening, and likely getting a good view of traffic tie-ups, hovered over their neighborhood for hours on end.

"How would you like it if a helicopter hovered over your home for hours?" said Greg Crider, a neighbor in the Williamsburg Manor neighborhood in the Fort Hunt/Mount Vernon area. "I don't understand why the FAA would grant waivers to news helicopters to hover in place for hours over residential neighborhoods to cover the opening of the MGM casino. And it just wasn't one time. It was on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The people responsible need to be found out and held accountable."

"Furthermore, the residents of our area deserve a public apology from the FAA and the responsible news organizations," Crider said. "I have asked my Fairfax County supervisors and Congressman Don Beyer to pursue this matter."

The helicopters, according to residents, hovered over the area from about 9 p.m. until after 11 p.m. Thursday night, the night that the casino resort opened. Choppers showed up again the next day in the early morning at around 5:30 a.m., and again during newscast in the evening, residents said.

Residents who live in the Williamsburg Manor neighborhood and 15 other surrounding neighborhoods complained of the noise. Three threads on an online neighborhood forum in the Fort Hunt/Mount Vernon area concerning helicopter noise featured 120 posts. Comments were posted from neighborhoods in Hollin Brook, Wellington, Kirkside, Westgrove, Candlewood, Bucknell Manor, Villamay, Williamsburg Manor, Collingwood Springs, Riverside Estates, Waynewood, Stratford, Hollin Hall and Tauxemont.

The first hint of any helicopters came in a comment two days before the opening: "Any idea what the helicopter action is at 6:15 a.m.?"

Some residents contacted Fairfax County Police, who said it wasn't their chopper and gave them the phone number for the FAA Operations Center. At first, the FAA told the residents that the helicopters were strictly law enforcement, but on a later call, said that actually it was news organizations and Prince George's County Police who had been granted waivers to fly in the area.

PHOTO of traffic near MGM National Harbor (from a car, not a helicopter) by Patch