I wonder who's in the helicopter?

Friday 19 June 2026 10:48 CDT   David Braverman
AviationChicagoMilitary policyObamaSummer

From my perch overlooking the lake, I occasionally see some interesting vehicular activity, like enormous cargo ships or, today, a military helicopter.

A few minutes ago, a helicopter buzzed my house, so I hopped onto ADS-B Exchange to see who it was. I found out that it was a Eurocopter MH-65D with tail number C6527 registered to the US Coast Guard that took off from Waukegan at 9:56. It passed my house going south at 10:13, doing a leisurely 90 kts, on what is unmistakably a sightseeing flight:

C6527 orbits Wrigley Field

C6527 orbits the Loop

Here he is a few minutes later passing my house at 925 ft and 104 kts, heading back north:

C6527 passes on the way north

At the moment, he's continuing north past the state line, still at low altitude and slow speed. I wonder who rated an hour-long sightseeing flight in a Coast Guard helicopter today? (Could it possibly be this guy?) Where are they going? How can I get a ride like that?

I'm totally envious. It's a perfect VFR morning, the kind that makes me wistfully look at my own flight bag...

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