MILTON, Wash. — It was just before 3 Friday morning when residents in the Pierce County city of Milton were awakened by a loud and mysterious noise that shook houses and rattled nerves. “You could feel the vibration,” said resident Elizabeth Allison. “It made you shake.”
Several people said they ran outside to see some sort of aircraft flying low over their houses. “I could see all these lights and it was bright and it was very loud,” said Joanna Schoner.
“It seemed to me like it was escorting another (aircraft),” said Shannon Jorgenson. “It could have been a plane. It didn’t have any lights. It’s like stealth or something. It was really loud, it practically vibrated the whole house.”
Residents who saw the aircraft pass overhead said it appeared to be a large military type helicopter. A public affairs officer at Joint Base Lewis McChord said flight records show there were no Army aircraft in operation during that time period. The Federal Aviation Administration said it received no reports or complaints.
Nighttime flight maneuvers out of JBLM have generated complaints from people living near the base who claim the helicopters make too much noise. An incident in Port Angeles in July 2013 led to an investigation that found Army pilots violated the law by flying too low over that city during a training flight.
KIRO
