[mhking]

"Here, hold muh beer so I c'n shoot at that thar heliocopter..."

[Kerberos]

Now here's a guy who takes homeland security seriously.

[subterfuge]

Wouldn't you have to be a pretty lousy shot to miss a helicopter. Weird. And aren't they supposed to be black helicopters?

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bang

[Freedom4US]

Well, guess what. If he had a "panel light" it was probably a chip light -- and ya can't really take off again without at least taking a look at the chip detector in the appropriate gearbox. Convenient excuse, though.

[CaptRon]

Sure could use a few more vowels.

[Jonah Hex]

Idiot (the shooter, I mean). Everybody knows helicopters are out of season this time of year in Tidewater. Naugas, on the other hand .........

[DoughtyOne]

Nubmer one, the copter pilot landed to pick up a friend. His butt's in trouble. Second, the homeowner should only shoot at someone when there is a direct and clear threat. There person getting on the copter didn't represent that as described here. Sorry folks, not every situation is "TERRORISM" and this is the reason why the government should back off just a tad. People are panicing.

[Movemout]

In a similar situation about 15 years ago I was working in my garage when a helo descended to the suburban intersection in front of my house. I didn't get my gun. It turns out that neighborhoods have designated helo landing sites for medevac services. That was the case here. The ambulance roared up moments after the landing and they loaded a stretcher with a sick guy and flew off. That doesn't seem to be the case in this article.

[TADSLOS]

The pilot of the helicopter insists a panel light came on and he landed as a precaution.

The passenger who was picked up lives across the street from where the helicopter landed

This is BS. The pilot's covering his butt for knowingly landing (presumably) illegally to pick up a passenger in a residential neighborhood. If he had to execute a precautionary landing because a caution/warning light came on he would have shut down (or, at least, I would have), and why did a guy in a business suit then board and the pilot take off if he had indications of a malfunction?

Some business exec just didn't want to make the drive to where the aircraft was parked and the pilot caved to his bosses demands, hoping that the FAA wouldn't be the wiser.

[Willie Green]

"Here, hold muh beer so I c'n shoot at that thar heliocopter..."

Kinda reminiscent of Ernie Holmes who played on Pittsburgh's famed "Steel Curtain" defensive line back in the early '70s.
That kook took some pot shots at a state police heliocopter.
I forget what the outcome of that little escapade was.

[piasa]

.

[zoyd]

"I didn't know what was going on," says Chwaszczewski...

So he runs inside, gets a gun, and starts blasting away at the chopper?

It's a funny story, but bizarre, and it sounds like Chwaszczewski needs to soothe that itchy trigger finger of his...

[genefromjersey]

Here's a guy who runs into his house, grabs a gun, and starts shooting at a helicopter that isn't even on his property : Yikes !

Is he-in any conceivable way-under attack ? Nope.

The worst part about it is where is year-round home is located: in New Jersey-about 10 miles from where I live. Double Yikes !!

Now, perhaps, some of you will begin to grasp why NJ has the most restrictive gun laws in the USA :we have more nuts on the street than in the trees !!!

[KSCITYBOY]

LOL - Once again the FreeRepublic has the best social commentary. I can just see this guy standing proudly next to the copter he shot down.

[Shooter 2.5]

We had a black helicopter zoom over the firing line at the gunrange I was at. It landed in the parking lot and the pilot talked to the owner and they left.
I talked to the owner of the range a week later and he told me about the nice time he and his friend, the pilot had. The owner is ex-Army Air Corps.

[ladtx]

If I remember correctly this is a Federal offense, the guy could be in some really deep do.

[VRWC_minion]

Let me guess. The helicopter was black and the guy with the gun listens to Art Bell ?

[Centurion2000]

"My initial reaction was, this had got to be terrorists," he said. "I fired two shots. I tried to knock the windshield out of it. I don't know if I hit anything."

Chwaszczewski would not say what kind of gun he fired. He said the helicopter took off and he thought about firing more rounds but didn't for fear of making it crash in the neighborhood.

"It just happened so quick," he said.

Well, it's a good first reaction. I'd be glad to have him as a neighbor.

[tracer]

Wella, wella. WMAL (WashDC) reports that the shooter has been arrested....

[Consort]

Oh, that John Chwaszczewski.