trio of mysterious gray Bell 407 helicopters equipped with unique antennas, which may belong to an especially secretive U.S. military aviation unit, was up in the skies again over greater Los Angeles yesterday. You can read more about what we've been able to determine about them so far in our initial reporting here. During their most recent flights, two of them landed multiple times on rooftops in downtown L.A. This is very reminiscent of realistic urban training exercises that the U.S. Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment has conducted in the same general area in the past, among other locations across the United States.
All three of the helicopters – which have the serial numbers 12-1141, 12-1142, and 12-1143 painted on their tail booms – left Bob Hope Airport, also known as Hollywood Burbank Airport or KBUR, just north of Los Angeles, at around 6:00 PM local time on Jan. 14, according to online flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange. The helicopters had first arrived at that airport on Jan. 12 and have made multiple flights around the area since then.
12-1141 and 12-1142 subsequently flew routes that took them south to Long Beach, then down the coast to Laguna Beach, and eventually back to downtown L.A. via Anaheim. 12-1143 appears to have made it to Long Beach before turning straight back for Burbank for unclear reasons. These flights generally followed major freeways and occurred at altitudes below 1,000 feet.
After arriving over the center of L.A., 12-1141 and 12-1142 flew numerous orbits and touched down briefly on a number of rooftop helipads. Both helicopters visited the tops of the James K. Hahn City Hall East building and Two California Plaza, while 12-1142 also stopped on the roof of One California Plaza. One and Two California Plaza are commercially-owned skyscrapers that are approximately 577 and 750 feet tall, respectively.