Photo: Luke Patterson.

Hordes of Eureka and Arcata residents have been pinging us this afternoon, wondering what is up with the blue-and-white helichopper violating their Constitutional rights.

It is PG&E!

Humboldt County aviation program director Emily Jacobs confirms to us that PG&E is flying the electrical lines around the bay today. They do this with weird gear — infrared or ultraviolet or microwave or something — that apparently spots problems with the wires before they get really hairy.

Fun fact: The cool photo sent to us by Arcata’s Luke Patterson, above, gives a pretty good look at the tail number, which further tells us that the copter is owned by a Red Bluff company called Helibro LLC.

Helibro!