Unusual Aircraft Activity; Black Choppers

It's been happening since yesterday. It is not unusual to hear helicopters passing overhead this time of year but the strange thing is what the aircraft look like. I'm posting from Maine. Yesterday morning my son lost his mind when he saw a helicopter from the living room window - "helicopter, helicopter!" I didn't really think much of it and I didn't see the aircraft for myself. This afternoon while I was driving home on the interstate with my boy we passed five or six camouflaged trucks, we have an armory nearby so that's a regular occurrence.

About an hour later I heard what sounded like a low flying helicopter and I saw my son standing on our couch again going crazy. I didn't think it was strange but we rushed outside to our front yard so he could see it better. Passing over our heads due east was a jet black helicopter. In all the years I've lived in this area I have never seen a black one - they are usually white or maybe green with visible markings. This one appeared to be unmarked and it was low enough that I can say with a great degree of confidence that it was black and unmarked; my three year old son even thought it was unusual. Unfortunately I didn't have my phone or camera and it had passed before I had the chance to run back inside. After the chopper passed we noticed six or seven contrails and a couple jets all headed north-northeast, which isn't a big deal, but it's definitely more air activity than what is typical for our area.

We are on "look-out" now waiting (with the camera ready) for another one to go by, as this was just one of a handful of helicopters we've seen since yesterday.

reply to post by cosmikDebris


I actually saw a black chopper today flying incredibly low. So low in fact that I could hear the POP sound of each of the helicopter blades. Anyone that has had a chopper fly very low by them knows this very sharp POP/CHOP sound they make when they're really close.

I see them flying all the time in line with Interstate 10 (I-10). Someone once told me that what they are doing is target practicing with the cars on the freeway honing their target tracking skills. It made me very uneasy hearing this.

You know, if I bought a private helicopter, I'd paint it black just to mess with people.

One would think they'd paint their choppers the same color as fighter planes. I mean, a black helicopter is pretty obvious..

reply to post by cosmikDebris
I too have noticed unusual activity. Living in Escondido California with a military base near by it's not unusual to hear helicopter flying over head on occasion. Recently however; within the past few days it has been non stop. Low flying and extremely loud, they have been rattling the walls of my home every 30 minutes till all hours of the night. Usually 2 or more at a time. Thinking something is up!

reply to post by MystikMushroom


The dark green/low visibility markings that are used on helicopters appear black/no markings at any kind of distance.

Their could be a lot of reasons for low flying black choppers, I could list them all but I'd rather spend 5 minutes staring at a blank wall... YOU don't know what they are doing. But a lot of people do, and they are doing their jobs. Nothings stopping you from going to the nearest base and showing them a video and asking questions. They will probably tell you its a research team.

We have an Air National Guard armory right up the road that has Blackhawks. I don't pay much attention to them anymore but pretty sure they are all a flat black with no markings.

reply to post by cosmikDebris

Well...you do live in a United States Coastal state....a major area for invasionary forces just like the West Coast.

I would kinda expect to hear (even see and NOT see) some air movement if Homeland Security is doing it right. Right?

It may have been unusal before but perhaps its going to become normal? You dont need to be close to a coast to see an upgrade of security at times. But your entire state is a coastal one.

reply to post by tinner07


The Army uses a flat green with black low visibility markings. From a distance it appears black.

Terims
reply to post by cosmikDebris

 

I too have noticed unusual activity. Living in Escondido California with a military base near by it's not unusual to hear helicopter flying over head on occasion. Recently however; within the past few days it has been non stop. Low flying and extremely loud, they have been rattling the walls of my home every 30 minutes till all hours of the night. Usually 2 or more at a time. Thinking something is up!

The carriers Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson are out training, could very well be the reason.

I've also noticed more military craft flying overhead in the recent weeks. Just yesterday two black helicopters flew fairly low right over my house and it was pretty loud. CareFlight flies over my house almost everyday and these two were a lot louder. A couple days before that, I saw this HUGE military aircraft flying extremely low. It was pitch black outside and I could still see the outline of the plane it was so low. It looked like it had more of a triangular shape to it than most planes. I've also noticed more military jets flying around.


Maybe it's because the weather is warming up, but there does seem to be an increase in military aircraft flying around here.

reply to post by cosmikDebris


Where abouts in Maine. I'm in Southern Maine and I've noticed alot of MH-6's as of late?
2nd

QuantumEffects
Maybe it's because the weather is warming up, but there does seem to be an increase in military aircraft flying around here.

edit on 4-4-2014 by QuantumEffects because: (no reason given)

The start of the year, through some time in April, or even into May or June some years, is when there are more exercises, and a lot of unit swapping going on. The units have money, and have to spend it, so they do a lot of exercises with other units. It's also when planes that are from other units get swapped with a unit that flies planes that use the same type.

reply to post by cosmikDebris


OMG, Op, I saw your post and just had to login. Let me tell you all what I saw yesterday and some background.

I live in the southern Colorado area right in the heart of NORAD and various military bases. I see planes flying in all the team, low flying military planes are not uncommon to see at all nor are jets. Military choppers are pretty rare to see flying around however especially in groups. Dont get me wrong - it happens, but I see squadrons of military cargo planes taking off and landing every single day; I see military choppers maybe a few times a year.

On topic, yesterday I was driving my girlfriend to a hair appointment. Just as I was pulling into a parking space right over the top of the hair building, 8 jet black (it appeared so at least) helicopters flying really low came whizzing right over the building. Their heading was directly northwards. Now i know - pics or it didnt happen

I promise I will keep my eye out for my activity and try to get a pic or two the next days but let me explain, I was literally wedging myself very carefully into a tiny parking spot when they flew over and by the time my phone was out they were already too far away. They were flying fast.

OP, let me ask you, what kind of choppers did these look like to you??

The ones i saw looked like this link -

Chinook

Except for they were jet black, and they had very distinctive almost spear looking objects sticking about 10 feet out in front of the nose. No joke, these things looks like lances or something lol. Thoughts?

Edit to add: I wanted to mention, i adamantly do not believe I was mistaking dark green for black when i saw these choppers. These bad boys were maybe 500 feet above my head looking out the sunroof I could see them clear as day jet black and no markings of any kind.

QuantumEffects
A couple days before that, I saw this HUGE military aircraft flying extremely low. It was pitch black outside and I could still see the outline of the plane it was so low.

How do you know it was a military aircraft?

reply to post by lightedhype


They're flat green, not black. They look black from a distance. Black is actually not a good color for flying at night.

It's a refueling probe, they're MH-47Ds (most likely Ds, the Gs are still entering service).

imagery.vnfawing.com...

reply to post by lightedhype

I don't know a whole lot about identifying military aircraft but this was certainly not a chinook. The closest video I can find is in the one below - the helicopter I saw today looked and sounded exactly the same except for that in this video it looks like that chopper might be a dark green color rather than black and also the one in the video appears to have an attachment on the front whereas the one I saw did not. It was black, there was no mistaking that. Unless I'm severely mistaken the one I saw had landing skids and tail fins as seen in the video.

reply to post by cosmikDebris


Almost all US military helicopters are green, not black. It's actually quite easy to mistake under the right conditions.

geauxguard.com...

That's the green used.

hellobruce

QuantumEffects
A couple days before that, I saw this HUGE military aircraft flying extremely low. It was pitch black outside and I could still see the outline of the plane it was so low.

How do you know it was a military aircraft?

I see military planes around here all the time and the navigation lights are different.

reply to post by QuantumEffects


No, they aren't. All aircraft use red, green, and white, regardless of if they're military or civilian. The positioning, and whether they use strobes might be different, but that's the same with all aircraft.