Democracy Dies in Darkness
Transportation

Like ‘living in a war zone’: Washington-area residents say increased helicopter traffic is giving them nightmares

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June 23, 2019 at 7:13 p.m. EDT
Bill and Gabrielle Stevens, who are retired and in their 70s, have lived in their Bethesda home for 20 years. The couple, shown last week, say they might not have bought the house had they known they would face such high levels of aircraft noise. (Hannah Natanson/The Washington Post)
correction

An earlier version of this story had an incorrect weight for the typical military helicopter. It is around 22,000 pounds. This version has been corrected.

The helicopters typically come in threes.

As the first one flies by, the walls of Kathy Daniel’s Bethesda, Md., home start to shake. When the second follows, the chains on the metal lamps in her living room begin jangling. The brass lamp her father brought home from the Bahamas goes “clink, clink, clink.” The lamps with sailboat finials make a “boing, boing, boing” sound.