Army Copters Used in Drill : SWAT Tune-Up Proves Eye-Opener for Sleepers

Residents said it sounded as though every helicopter from “Apocalypse Now” was about to land on their rooftops.

But the thundering of chopper turbines and rotors, which jarred awake hundreds of sleeping people around Hawthorne shortly before midnight Thursday, was only the Los Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Army helping keep the world safe for democracy.

Officials said Friday that Army helicopters loaded with combat-ready Los Angeles SWAT officers participated in what police described as an “anti-urban guerrilla” training exercise.

The helicopters massed near Hawthorne Municipal Airport before flying to an area southeast of Los Angeles International Airport, near the intersection of Imperial Highway and the San Diego Freeway. There, they dropped off their heavily armed police passengers, who simulated an assault centering on an undisclosed industrial facility, sources said.

The drill was not prompted by concern over any specific threat of a potential terrorist attack near Los Angeles International Airport or elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, according to Capt. Robert O. Woods, commander of the Police Department’s Air Support Division.

“Unfortunately, we have to recognize that there are bad people in the world,” Woods said. “We are obliged to understand (their tactics) as much as we can . . . and prepare for them in any case.”

He said the exercise, which apparently began at about 11:45 p.m., ended before 1:30 a.m. Friday. Woods would not say how many police and Army personnel were involved nor the specific number of helicopters, except to say that there were “several.” The last time the Police Department and the Army worked together in such away was before the 1984 Olympics, he said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said that the helicopters and Army pilots who participated in the drill are normally based at Ft. Campbell, Ky., and possibly assigned to a Special Forces unit there. However, spokesmen at Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, would not confirm the FAA’s report.

The helicopters remained parked on Friday afternoon at the Armed Forces Reserve Training Center at Los Alamitos.

Noise Complaints

Meanwhile, FAA spokesman Russell Park said the agency received “numerous” noise complaints from residents around the Hawthorne airport after the operation.

One resident told The Times that he was awakened “by the sound of my whole house shaking.”

“It sounded like an entire squadron of helicopters was about to crash into my bedroom,” he said.

Cmdr. William Booth, the Police Department’s ranking spokesman, said that the department received comparable noise complaints when it conducted a similar exercise about a month ago in Southwest Los Angeles.

“This time, we tried to do it in a place where we wouldn’t” disturb anyone, he said.

Booth said he was not aware of any noise complaints stemming from Thursday night’s operations.

He noted that both drills were intended to help “tune up our ability to conduct high-rise hostage rescue exercises.” He said the Police Department “borrowed” the Army’s helicopters, largely because they can carry more men than those in the Police Department’s air squadron.