Reader Submission: Helicopter Flying Over Property at 100ft Altitude Scared My Family

How a little detective work solved the mystery

Working from home means you sometimes see and hear things during the day that you may have missed when in the office. On May 8th I was home with my kids when it suddenly sounded like a train was running through my backyard. My oldest son ran into the house screaming, “Mom, Mom - there is a helicopter flying really low over the house. What is happening??”

I ran on the back deck to see the helicopter flying directly over my wooded 4 acre property. I was used to seeing helicopters flying low to check power lines occasionally in my old neighborhood but this was clearly not what was happening here, over our fully wooded property.

Time to Investigate

I visited the website http://Globe.adsbexchange.com to track real time flights in the area. After a little manual navigating of the map to find my location, I was able to find the helicopter that was closest. The image below shows the flight path of the helicopter and who it was owned by. This gave me a lead for who to call - the Board of Chosen Freeholders (now known as Commissioners.)

Next, I called the Ocean County Board of Commissioners and told them what happened. I was able to give them the registration information for the plane found in the screenshot above which enabled them to make a few calls and get back to me about why the helicopter was over my backyard.

Mystery Solved

The Commissioners office called back within an hour to let me know that the helicopters were indeed theirs and they were doing some mosquito investigation/spraying throughout the county. I have lived here 5 years and didn’t even know that was something they did!

Why Am I Sharing This?

Not many people realize we have the power to track aircraft easily. My kids were freaked out and I had no idea what this chopper was doing. A little detective work enabled me to give them and myself some peace of mind. I just wanted to share for fellow New Jerseyans who may not be aware that this capability is as close as a simple internet search.