Law Enforcement Helicopter Circles Grows and Southern Humboldt Town Yesterday
At least one law enforcement helicopter and possibly more circled over cannabis grows and the town of Redway in Southern Humboldt yesterday.
According to one resident of the Kings Range area, about 1:30 p.m. “low flying black helicopters” flew over permitted grows on Wilder Ridge Road in the Honeydew area and then southwest into the Kings Range mountains.
Reports on social media indicate that at least one helicopter then flew east to Miranda and south to Redway. There, according to a reader, about 2:15 p.m., a single helicopter circled the small Southern Humboldt town at least four times “decreasing height with every pass.”
The reader in Redway took these photos showing the N Number of the chopper is N487HB. That is the same helicopter which flew over Southern Humboldt grows on August 30 and August 31 and about a week previously on August 22.
At the time we learned that the helicopter with that number was registered to the Arizona Law Enforcement Air Support. The Company is set up as a non profit (with a failing score on Charity Navigator) and in June of 2022 donated a helicopter to the Butte County Sheriff’s Department.
A Facebook post from the Butte County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue on July 2 shows Helicopter N487HB belongs to the Butte County Sheriff’s Department though it is still registered with the Arizona Law Enforcement Air Support.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) says on their website, “BCSO utilizes…aircraft to locate and eradicate illegal marijuana gardens, assist in Search and Rescue missions, take aerial photographs of crime scenes and assists to patrol officers during pursuits are some of the types of missions our aircraft are used for. BCSO currently has four helicopter pilots and three fixed wing pilots.”
About six weeks ago when KMUD and Redheaded Blackbelt requested information from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department (and other agencies) about who was responsible for the flights, no one acknowledged responsibility.
Below is KMUD’s piece from the end of August about the helicopter in which Supervisor Michelle Bushnell stated that she believed that if the garden flown by the helicopter is a licensed cultivation site, then law enforcement is “not there for you.”
Update: HCSO Confirms Low-Flying Helicopter Being Used in Illegal Cannabis Cultivation Investigation
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What in cousin-fu**n’ tarnation
Alabama Betty Crocker Miss fu**in
Betty White shit is this? Holy shit.
exactly. right now the evil nazi democrats are back wasting our money, we fucking hate Schiff, and all his freak party members. We want Jan 6th, and 7th, 8th, etc. It was so neat to see congress people crawling and being scared. Because if they are not afraid of us, then its time we just put some asshole in office, like Mao, or the little punk Che Guervo, and other commies.
@ FBI
Attention
Yeah you said it ! But you forgot Che’s nazicom brother Jose Cuervo. How long have you been off your meds?
Or some guy like Mussilini…wait, you already did that (for one term).
WTF are you talking about? Who are “we?” You obviously hate the truth. Trump is as close to a fascist as you can get.
How about providing some evidence for you chronic TDS rant.
[edit]It was that corrupt Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew that approved using a military helicopter raid out Alderpoint Road resulting in an unarmed grower being killed, shot in the back!
Where did you come from??? Ronnie Reagan ring a bell…btw if you don’t like our lil system here, called democracy, I hear Trump’s butt buddy Putin is looking for brainwashed people to drink his kool-aid and forfeit their future on this planet …but it sounds like you’ve been sucking Trump’s kool-aid down by the gallon! Take the next boat to the USSR, you’ll love it! All the free kool-aid you can drink – it’s delivered with a fire hose!
The democrat party owns and has helped weaponized the FBI, DOJ, CIA and NSA, to name a few. Our biased, corrupt and liberal news media is the propaganda arm, of the democrat party.
Don’t feed the trolls
Lions and tigers and bears and helicopter flying 500 feet, oh my!!Blah, blah, blah. They were well within their parameters. The comments on this thread sound like a bunch of green rushers that didn’t go back to where they came from.
Say hello to Robbie the Robot!
Business as usual. Onward through the fog.
They were over on the East Side not too too far from AP.
Are you all new around here? Been going on for forty years now!
Days Of C.A.M.P.
It’s EPIC now cause according to Book’em Bonita they were unsuccessful. So a new and improved army is being created. I hear they smell fresh and clean as well, lol. Fuck Legal!!
In a way, longer than that. Dirk Dickenson in 1972. 50 years ago. I think there was another killing a couple of years before that, but the helicopter raid still sticks in my mind. I was 15.
I remember when the longhair jacked a semi with a helo strapped to the trailer and drove the whole mess over a cliff as he jumped out.
When and where was that?
I seem to remember an incident in Hoopa, but as I remember, the helicopter was on the ground, and unattended, at the time.
Emphasis on the “was”…
I think they steered clear of Hoopa after that…
If it was even a true story…
To be clear, I neither condone or encourage that sort of thing…
Interestingly the Butte Co Sheriff have not updated their aircraft web page to include this helicopter;
http://www.buttecounty.net/sheriffcoroner/air
What they do list are 2 other helicopters in their arsenal.
An OH-58 (with a base range of 300 miles).
And a smaller OH-6 (with a base range of 260 miles).
The mystery helicopter Kym wrote about above is an Airbus H125. It has a base range of 410 miles. That is a big range boost for BCSO.
How many years has the BCSO had this helicopter, and why haven’t they updated their web page.
And why is no one responding regarding these flights?
I imagine training may be going on, but then why not just say so?
The donating company, Arizona Air Support (AAS), lists John Black as its director and agent with a Steve Zeigler as vice president.
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_az/21262515
Both these people also volunteer a “Sheriff Assist Team” in AZ, as the Commander and Dep. Commander:
https://www.cochise.az.gov/525/Sheriffs-Assist-Team
Along with the AAS treasurer, James (Jim) Behnke;
https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/cochise_county/behnke-named-sheriff-s-assist-team-volunteer-of-the-year/article_0d5f52be-5bf0-11e9-9a0f-1f028125959e.html
He tried for Congress early after 9/11;
https://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020911070546/http://www.behnkeforcongress.com/
“If we are to win our fight against terrorism, this border must be sealed and it must be sealed immediately.
We now know that Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners have learned about our gigantic hole in the fence”
What any of this means for Humboldt is a big fat “I dunno”, but how the heck do $4 million helicopters get slung around so easily?
AKA Eurocopter AS 350 B3
The AS 350 B2 is aka an H125.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS350_%C3%89cureuil
Same thing.
But notice we aren’t in Europe.
I had looked this copter up before…
I came up with Eurocopter AS 350B2 back then…
But I didn’t have a tail number, only a front view and right front side view…
So I didn’t have a model year…
But yeah, a 2020 AS 350B3 and H125, same thing…
AStar.
We aren’t in Europe…???
Which side is “The Stick” on?
The right or the left?
Hint: (The right)…
Is that a “Euro” thing…???
Hint: Nope.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/special-shows/the-mystery-hour/why-do-helicopter-pilots-sit-on-the-right-hand-sid/
Correction:
“Eurocopter” became “Airbus” on January 1, 2014…
N487HB is a 2020 model.
Airbus AS 350B3
According to the article you’re commenting on, the helicopter was given to the butte county sheriff in June of this year
If you download the report, a note at bottom says “Revised 2019” and talks of donating a 2020 helicopter.
The price appears to be valued at a new unused condition.
I’m left a little unsure.
Nice work !^ way to dig
this is a great story for anyone who has had animals/ family terrified as choppers circled.
Funny though, in the end it’s something we all could’ve guessed w high probability…
….
Weed enforcement.
🤣
lol, it’s over, harvest is pulled and gone. See ya goons next year! Remember, Michelle said they ain’t here for you legals.
A lot of people still have plants outdoors and in greenhouses. No rain is allowing sativas to ripen. Most of the people I spoke with that haven’t harvested are illegal grows. Also looks like a lot of late planters. People trying to squeeze in an extra harvest. Growing in greenhouses is year round now. Never stops. CAMP didn’t eradicate a single plant in Humboldt County this year. They were focused outside of the once legendary emerald Triangle. I almost think they feel sorry for us. They know our economy in rural areas got crushed.
Yea, I ain’t pulled anything yet either but they don’t need to know. Well if those sativa’s can go til November and a tad bit into November they should be pretty tasty, so, glad to hear. They didn’t come after us cause we got skills others don’t.
It’s not legal if you’re selling on the black market. And so….most “legal” grows are not legal. And should be raided as much as illegal grows….
I don’t draw that line and honestly it’s not as horrible as you make it sound. Your umbrella is to wide if a mon-n-pop does it or struggling 10k or less you need to ease up. I will help any legal grow pre ’95 but they can only sell in-state. I do not help them sell anything illegal in-state or in the traditional market. Not one drop of my weed is sold in California. I do share with friends in-state given as gifts, only.
man, you openly admit to fed felonies ALL THE TIME. i hope you’re on a VPN or tor browser.
lol, really. I think you watch to much tv police. I admitted to nothing other than giving my friends weed. Yes I am one of the many that grow the dankest weed in the triangle. Sticky stanky “smooth” fat nugz!
The Irish resistance wrote the book on dealing with choppers. Don’t like em deal w em.
Thanks for this article Kym. I definitely want to know why these guys are circling legal grows 10 times, low and slow. I hope they know how to figure out who’s legal and can stop harassing them. People didn’t go through everything they have in the past few years to be legal to still be harassed by choppers.
It wouldn’t be the first time they cluelessly “busted” a legal grow, as if it wasn’t a permitted, legal grow…
Yup. There were convoys years ago targeting completely legal farms. Some of them were reported by racist neighbors but nothing was ever found and there
were no citations. It just made the farms look guilty but they had done nothing wrong.
THATS WHY WE ALL HAVE GUNS
Flew treetop level in 14000 block Alderpoint Rd yesterday, circled the neighbor 3 times which is a fully legal grow.
Spooked the horses and cattle.
A*holes.
Fix the damn roads!!! You coulda patched the road with the cost of one flight.
But then the cops wouldnt be able to buy their vacation homes, boats, cars, hookers, etc with the money they steal.
Now that they cant sell off dead folks items for personal profit, they cant do without the millions they steal from growers, guilty or not.
Does the neigbors legal grow look like something to showcase as a GOOD example or BAD example when viewed from above?
Is it clean?
Is it organized?
Does it reek of professionalism?
I won’t be voting for Michelle Bushnell ever again . I don’t like helicopters 🚁 circling our neighborhoods for no good reason-the green rush in Humboldt county is long over( 👋🏻 Oregon) .
But it is CA taxes paying for these helicopters…so they cannot go to Oregon. They are taking photos for abatements ie. tax revenue. Keep an eye on your mail- new abatement papers w egregious fines will be arriving shortly! Don’t forget- They are the government and They are here to “help” you!!! 😂 Enjoy being Free and Safe
that is exactly what this very copter was doing last few weeks in butte
She’s no help for our cause.
I live in butte county now and this helicopter has definitely been active with abatements. multiple in my area alone. threw me off because it is not their normal copter but i see from kim’s reporting that it is new this year.
Landed at vista point on 299 around 230pm, camera man and one other hcso
Micky, may we use the photo above in a follow-up article?
Yes
That is very cool of you to do.
Thanks.
These damn harassment helicopters are extremely tough on our Vietnam Vets. When they fly over we actually feel like our former enemy the VC hiding from Army helicopters under the canopy…
Yep, my girl said that they circled the house out here by Redway Feed.
I imagine there are looking for unpermitted residences also. “Safe Homes” coming for you and your loved ones living in unpermitted rentals very soon. Get California out of my Humboldt County!
WTF is BCSO doing here?
Kind of late in commenting but if anyone is interested, you can download an app called Flightracker24 and you are able to see live flight paths with identifying information of the aircraft and a picture of it. I use the free version to watch Calfire when there are wildfires in the area but it can be used to see who’s flying above your area. There’s a paid version but the free version works great for tracking who’s flying above.
I’ve had copters fly over and not show up on the app.
I saw a helicopter with a big crane/hook hanging from the bottom of it recently. Kinda makes me think about what I would do with a helicopter crane. I’d prolly use it to pickup trees and start a firewood business. Pick my homies truck up when it’s stuck in sand. Possibilities are endless man.