In response to complaints from Berkeley residents about noise from news helicopters, KTVU news director Ed Chapuis said his station’s aims not to fly below 1,000 feet, and much of the noise people are hearing could be from police helicopters, which fly lower.

Chapuis, in a Q&A with the Berkeleyside.com news website, also said people may be noticing helicopters now because of the Occupy Oakland demonstrations.

“We recognize that noise is an issue and we try to get in and out as quickly as possible. But sometimes the event we are covering is protracted, like a riot or march, and that requires us to stay up longer,” Chapuis said. “The police helicopters are usually lower than ours so they many be making more of the noise. We do try to mitigate noise though. I get a handful of calls about noise [when our helicopter is up] and I always talk to the caller.”