Military training, low-flying helicopters over Pittsburgh to end Thursday

Military exercises that have included low-flying helicopters and tactical ground operations in Pittsburgh and neighboring suburbs will end Thursday night, Pittsburgh officials said Wednesday.

The city and local municipalities have received numerous calls and social media inquiries from people curious and concerned about the exercises that have been going on since last week.

At one point during AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh’s broadcast of Tuesday night’s Pirate game, commentators Steve Blass and Greg Brown said they could see choppers flying low over the Allegheny River. The station cut to a view of the river and two helicopters flying almost level with PNC Park.

Mayor Bill Peduto said Department of Defense officials met in advance with him, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich and police Chief Scott Schubert for permission to conduct exercises in the city.

“Our public safety director, our chief of police and a number of public safety officials have been working directly with the Department of Defense for the past several months to assure safety, and that’s why there are no media alerts or announcements of where and when they will be occurring because they don’t want crowds,” Peduto said. “If you see a helicopter in the sky, understand that’s somebody who’s protecting this country overseas who’s getting trained in Pittsburgh to make sure they’re able to do their job.”

Peduto said the exercises include all military branches and city police, who are being trained in “all sorts of stuff.” He would not give exact details, but said police SWAT officers are involved.

“They are doing operations throughout, not just the city, but around different parts of Western Pennsylvania, and they are working directly with our officers as well and helping to train our officers,” the mayor said. “Our officers get the benefit of being trained by the world’s very best, and cities throughout the country have opened up to allow urban exercises to happen.”

Peduto and Hissrich thanked the public for putting up with the nighttime exercises, acknowledging it’s probably an inconvenience for some.

Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bob at 412-765-2312, bbauder@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobbauder.