An AH-64 Apache helicopter flies below the treeline over state Route 3 on Thursday. These helicopters from Fort Drum are practicing flying low and fast for safer maneuvering in combat. (Provided photo — Jim Lanthier)

Apache helicopter pilots from Fort Drum were training in the area last week, flying low and fast over state Route 3 between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake, delighting some drivers and frightening others.

Captain Veronica Bean, the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade’s Public Affairs Officer, said the pilots in the AH-64 Apaches were performing terrain flights — which involves flying at low elevation and high speed in mountainous areas and over water.

“In combat we’ll often have to use terrain features to shield ourselves from the enemy,” Bean said.

They were flying in and out of the Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear.

Falcon’s Peak

Fort Drum is only sending small groups for now, Bean said, but she added that training will ramp up in August when the 10th CAB holds its annual Falcon Peak training, which involves the entire brigade.

Falcon’s Peak returned in 2018 after over a decade. At that time, Fort Drum leaders told the Enterprise the training exercise was needed again because other nations — namely Russia, North Korea and Afghanistan — had improved weaponry.

Shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles can be lethal for the Army’s pilots, but by keeping low and increasing speed to reduce sound and visibility, they can be avoided.

At a demonstration in April 2018, soldiers showed how this works.

Helicopters flying at the 500 foot cruising height were audible around three miles away and visible at around a mile away. However, when they buzzed over the trees at 20 feet or less, there was little auditory warning and only a couple seconds of visibility as they broke the treeline.

From Aug. 8 to 13, Apache and Black Hawk pilots will again train in the North Country for combat deployment.

“There are certain maneuvers and techniques that our pilots have to be proficient in in order for them to be safe and adequate in combat,” Bean said.

Falcon’s Peak is their time to focus hard on that.

Flights over the road

Tupper Lake photographer Jim Lanthier snapped a picture of one Apache flying below the treeline on the roadway over state Route 3 on Thursday. He has seen other helicopters flying in the area a day or so before, so he was ready with his camera. Even still, he barely had enough time to get his shot.

“I tried to get a picture of him right above my head but I just wasn’t fast enough. I got lucky and snapped a shot of him just as he was rounding the corner,” Lanthier said in a Facebook message. “It was a very cool sight.”

Nicole Reuter was driving from Tupper Lake to Saranac Lake on state Route 3 Thursday when she heard a strange, oscillating whirring sound and saw shadows pass over the windshield of her car.

“I was pretty sure that was my last moment on earth,” Reuter said in a message.

She had to pull over after the helicopter passed to settle her nerves.

“It was the scariest thing that has happened to me in a bit,” she wrote.

Bean said it is never their intention to freak people out.

“We really appreciate the fact that the community allows us to do this,” she said. “We do our best to fly friendly.”

Bean said the 10th CAB appreciates public input. She said if people contact Fort Drum they can follow up with pilots to make sure they’re being appreciative of the airspace that is lent to them.