[Baba Louie]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Dec-31-Wed-2003/news/22901079.html

Armed helicopters will patrol the restricted airspace over the Strip on New Year's Eve to protect Las Vegas from a potential terrorist attack, authorities said Tuesday.
Have a Happy New Year revelers. Altho if you read the article, no big guns on board, just response teams with handguns and rifles (probably black and evil looking) ready to swoop in and take down bad guys.
A friend of mine who's the Chief of the NLV FD will be working HazMat as will most of the surrounding Depts tonight. All of Metro is geared up for something more than a bunch of drunk monkeys (I've heard of sharpshooters on the roof of various Casinos as well)... word is approx 500,000+ visitors expected tonight.

444, what do they have you guys up to tonight?

I think I'll stay home and clean a few toys tonight.

Happy (and safe) New Year everyone, I mean that.

mods. if this belongs elsewhere, please feel free to do your thing

[Drizzt]

Ginships, eh? sounds appropriate for LV..... :p

[HankB]

I heard Mayor Bloomberg of NYC mention that in addition to regular and undercover officers, there would be "heavy weapons teams" providing security in and around Times Square to welcome the New Year. Interesting his use of this term rather than SWAT or "sharpshooters."

Hmmm . . . anybody else think the bad guys may have deliberately let slip their "plans" for a New Year's attack, figuring they'll watch the responses, bide their time, and hit us right AFTER we go back to Code Yellow?

[Pilgrim]

I heard Mayor Bloomberg of NYC mention that in addition to regular and undercover officers, there would be "heavy weapons teams" providing security in and around Times Square to welcome the New Year. Interesting his use of this term rather than SWAT or "sharpshooters."
Gee, perhaps a remake of the opening gun fight scene in "The Wild Bunch" is a possibility?

Pilgrim

[AJ Dual]

LOL, I too had visions of a bottle of Tanqueray on it's side with little sails and a Liliputian crew...

"Heavy Weapons Teams"

Well, if you've seen the pix on foxnews.com and cnn.com of the NYC area chopper doorgunners as they look out past the Statue of Liberty, I'd say that an FN MAG with some kind of fancy optics on top is indeed "heavy weapons", and falls well beyond even the SWAT classification, at least as I've come to understand it.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20031231/capt.nyr10612310316.new_years_security_nyr106.jpg

But what about the other Las Vegas strip?

Frankly a helicopter of any description, much less a "gunship" flying down Freemont street would be quite a sight. :eek: And the Plaza makes a bit of a "dead end" on one end as well. Despite what you see in the movies, I suspect that pilots are very uncomfortable flying anywhere there's a roof overhead.

Hope the pilots are good at controlled hover and zero radius turns...

[Baba Louie]

OK OK, my finger slipped and I didn't spellcheck... oops. But it does sound kinda right when ya think about Las Vegas on New Years Eve.
I just thought it kinda ironic, when the Sheriff says that the Feds told him it was "all quiet on the western front" to "full goose bozo-no fly zone" over most of the valley tonight and gUnships were going to be on hand with the federales patrolling the strip.
Hope the fireworks don't set off any itchy trigger fingers... they are doing fireworks this year aren't they? Or did a mandate come down from DC prohibiting such?
Must go find out.
PS, thanks mods for fixing my (ahem) spelling faux pas

[fatboyclone]

i'll be on my own ginship tonight...be safe everyone. Best wishes for 2004.