Ground-shaking helicopter flights rattle residents with low flights over Forsyth, Davidson counties late Wednesday
Helicopters swooping over parts of the Winston-Salem area at low elevation with ground-shaking power Wednesday night were part of a military training exercise, Winston-Salem police said.
The U.S. Army had notified the police department beforehand, a police communications supervisor said, but he was given no further details about the military exercise.
The police department was inundated with calls from concerned residents with reports of up to six helicopters that were flying with their lights off at about 11 p.m.
“One flew right over the house, no more than 20 to 30 yards above the ground,” Ardmore resident Roy Doron posted on Facebook. “I have a big oak tree in my backyard. The chopper was skirting the top of the tree.”
Puzzled residents of Ardmore likened the noise to an earthquake and said the noise shook their homes. One resident reported it gave her dog a seizure.
“Scared the living daylights out of me,” Mary Ann Hauser wrote on the Ardmore neighborhood Facebook page. “I thought one of the copters heading towards the hospital was crashing.”
A representative from Fort Bragg said no further details were available on the training exercise or whether it would be recurring.
The helicopters were also reported over Davidson County and other parts of Forsyth County.
“They came over our house off 150,” Susan Beane Gordon posted on Facebook. “It shook the entire house and sounded like they were right above the trees.”
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