What's Up With the Bleepin' Helicopters?!?

A comment on a another post (deleted and promoted to here) hit at an issue we'd like to tackle:

kdogluv said...

Does anyone know why so many helicopters have been hovering [over] Noe Valley recently? Thx

We know that many of the "flying rocks" have been in and around the 'hood to monitor the MILK premiere, No on 8 protests and the anniversary of the deaths of Harvey Milk & George Moscone. Tonight they seemed to be focusing on the Caesar Chavez and Mission area (at least from our window), but KCBS, KGO, the Chron and other news sources had nothing to say about it - five helicoptors don't seem to warrant any real news.

In the interest of the ultimate in voyeurism (and NIMBYism) we'd like some input: how best to find out what's going on when there's helicoptors overhead? Twitter, news sites, hotlines, whatever - we want to know. Put your suggestions in the comments, please.

In the meantime, we're going to research the laws that govern helicopter swarms. Our feeling is that if they're SFPD, Coast Guard or Lifeflight ... fine - news vultures can buzz off.