I saw a similar helicopter (same thing on the bottom of it) and an orange twin engine plane flying in formation into Wisconsin, I was walking to UWS when I saw it.

Thanks for the tip, Ian. Intriguing... what is the significance of the orange plane I wonder, or the fact that it was single-engined in my sighting, but two-engined in yours? Are we mis-remembering the same plane, is it co-incidence, or do orange prop-planes routinely fly back-up on these military chopper spraying runs?

Most likely it has something to do with the nefarious agenda of the Bush administration. Give Fetzer a call.

Jesus Christ! I am in New Hampshire and I know that this is a test for different type of de-icing equipment. Read the newspaper there sometime and you might learn that not everything is how Rosie says it is.

Was bigfoot the pilot?

Here is a link:
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_068162503.html

And that is a chinook in the pics.

Yeah, right. That WCCO article is obviuosly fake. Always assume the conspiracy is true. Thay ARE out to get us...

Sure, the newspaper article is what they want you to think. It really is an ingenious plot to put mind control drugs into the drinking water. But first they have to test it on fish.

specifically, a CH47 Chinook...I'm surprised that they even have those in service still.

They're workhorses, but deathtraps. I've ridden on one, and seen the same one crash while doing vertrep in the Indian Ocean.

zra -

Man, you're posts and comments lately have been chock full of specific technical references and obscure knowledge. Sweet!

p.s. Vertrep?

So they were dumping de-icer over the lake, is that the consensus? Great. Fills me with confidence about the world.

The orange plane thing is a fun coincidence. The one I saw seriously flew right at the chopper and only veered off at what seemed like the last moment. My first impression was that it was a concerned citizen trying to mess with their chemical dumping idiocy within spitting distance of the Lakewalk.

Prof - I don't think so. The article said they were dumping water, which the plane would then fly through to create ice.

"When a plane's wings or a helicopter's rotors get too weighted down with ice, "you stop flying and gravity wins," said team leader Jim Correia of the Army Aviation Technical Test Center, based at Fort Rucker, Ala.

"We only fly when the temperatures are just right and we know we are going to be safe," Correia said.

For doing tests, the unit flies a Chinook helicopter equipped with an internal 1,800-gallon water tank and an external boom sprayer. The aircraft being studied follows the Chinook, flying through a cloud of freezing mist.

Instruments on the Chinook measure and record the icing conditions affecting the test aircraft. A small airplane also flies in the formation, observing the tests with sensors of its own.

Such testing has helped the military design aircraft that can cope with icing. Blackhawk helicopters with heated rotors can fly in moderate icing conditions for extended periods of time, for example.

The Army unit started testing in Duluth 23 years ago. "

I will get you. We will all get you. We are one huge conspiracy.

Thank you, Vicarious~

(note to self: read through all links.)

vertrep: Vertical Replenishment. In the Navy, We used CH47's to transfer skids of mail, food, supplies, parts, etc from the deck of one ship (in our case, usually the U.S.S. Camden (AOE-2) to mine (U.S.S. Nimitz CVN-68)...

These buggers are notoriously prone to gearbox and engine problems, not to mention they shake worse than a paint mixer at Hardware Hank.

I have a ton of completely worthless trivia left over from my days in uniform.

where the hell IS Fetzer, anyhow?

In a half-assed way, I've kinda missed reading his waythehelloutthereinleftfield (dare I say..."Far Fetched?") conspiracy theories.

i saw it and flushed all my dope god damnit!

Fetzer retired, he's in Madison now with his, grandkid/s(?)

I don't know, but I think UMD offered him an early retirement package

I think Fetzer's right on about JFK but I don't follow him all the way down on some of the other stuff. He makes a good case for a Wellstone conspiracy, but I don't think the space shuttle was shot down by an electromagnetic weapon. So I look at him as offering a buffet of options and I take what I like.

Mmm...buffet.

I found some of Fetzer's Wellstone information to be a little dicey, hard to swallow and some even way off base, namely his assertion that the federal agents first on scene had to have come from the Cities, as there is no FBI office up on the Range...which is false. I believe the FBI field office is in Virginia, a mere 15 minutes from where the crash site is.

I point to this post for an explaination.

Yes, Fetzer's Wellstone case: not ironclad.

did you guys know that some wingnut has accused Fetzer of being in cahoots with the govmint in killing Michael Zebuhr in the Cities? (http://www.metafilter.com/59469/Random-act-or-conspiracy)

Heidi, are you RedEmma?