Yesterday afternoon I heard a rather loud helicopter noise, then saw two others flying backwards and forwards overhead. Maybe another lost bushwalker search, I thought.
Today however the truth was revealed. One of the Army's ageing Black Hawks had had to make an emergency landing in nearby Headen Park in Thornleigh. A warning light had indicated something very wrong with the mechanics. It was still there as I drove past on my way home from work today, and what a carnival atmosphere it was!
Neighbourhood kids were posing on it for photos, and everyone was dropping by to enjoy the unusual spectacle and wish the crew and repair team luck. They were stoically working away on the thing, while carefully ignoring the indignities of all the public intrusion and scrutiny. One minute they're the tough guys in the sky, fending off terrorism, the next they're the community carnival sideshow. I think they'd been instructed to make the most of the public relations opportunity, and I think they did a good job. 
I told one chap he was very tolerant to have not erected a cordon around it, and asked whether his audience would soon experience the grand take-off climax. "It won't be today", he said. "But we've taken out the old one, and put in a new one". Re the kids and festivities, he said, "It's OK, they're not touching anything". Actually they were. Some were even jumping up and trying to swing off the rotor blades! The cordon however, did start getting erected soon after.
