I’ve been watching periodic helicopter maneuvers over the past year and occasionally try to take a picture or two. This week, I was luck the winds were favorable to shift the return flight path just enough to get a few ‘passable’ images.

The next challenge was figuring out who I was looking at.

The Wikipedia page on Navy Aircraft Squadrons a good start but it still lists the HS-3 Tridents which have a slightly different insignia. However, given how close it was to what you vaguely see in the images, I was sure it was close. A little more Googling and I found the news story that HS-3 had moved from Jacksonville to Norfolk last year and became HSC-9. Mystery solved. (addendum: of course, had I looked at the lettering under "NAVY" on the tail, I’d have spend a lot less time on this. DOH!)

Next was the type of helicopter. Again, about 15 minutes of searching and I had it narrowed down to the MH-60 and eventually to the MH-60S. (Anyone who knows otherwise, feel free to add a comment and I’ll make any necessary changes here.) There is a great image on the U.S. Navy’s Flickr gallery.

I don’t know that much about the Tridents or most of what the Navy is responsible for from Norfolk but I do know they are a big part of this area. I also know that most of I probably don’t appreciate how much work goes on outside of the news cycle – as realized when I was reading a series of Facebook posts announcing multiple deployments to Haiti. I’ll key watching as they fly by !

And before I close, I’d be remiss if I did not say "Thank you for your  service" HSC-9 !