Conspiracy Encyclopedia

The following explanations have been provided by various organizations and experts, including government agencies, regarding the alleged black helicopters:

• At least some sightings of black helicopters are very likely to have been helicopters on exercises and/or missions. Some of them are flown by units of the Army National Guard and are actually black (not dark olive or chocolate brown) when seen in ordinary light. The Department of Homeland Security operates a dozen black-and-gold UH-60 Blackhawk under the US Customs Service. The American military does in fact operate helicopters painted in black or dark colors, particularly the Pave Low which is optimized for long-range stealthy insertion and extraction of personnel, including combat search and rescue.

• U.S. Army and National Guard helicopters painted olive drab will appear to be black in the reddish light of dawn or dusk, or under other low light conditions during the day when their shadow side is viewed against the sky with the naked eye. The Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment use helicopters primarily painted black.

• In the early 1970s, the CIA operated a black Hughes 500P helicopter in Vietnam, in order to place phone taps. Test flights began at Culver City, California, in 1971. It was noted for its low noise emission, and given the nickname “The Quiet One”. After the mission assigned to it had been completed, the helicopter was returned to California and had most of the special features stripped out by mechanics. Its trail of insurance and registration papers ended in 1973, after it was transferred to Pacific Corporation of Washington, D.C..

• The U.S. Army regularly conducts both exercises and operational missions in American airspace. Some of these exercises have taken place in densely populated cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and Washington, D.C. Most operational missions are tasked in narcotics interdiction in the American Southwest and out of Florida and Puerto Rico. By extensive use of IR, Radar, GPS and night vision devices, as well as other classified means, they are able to fly in zero visibility conditions with no running lights[citation needed]. At this high intensity level of operation, training is necessarily almost as dangerous to pilots, other air traffic, and the public as actual combat. Frequent practice is necessary to retain proficiency. Frequent practice results in frequent sightings by concerned members of the public.

• Many defense contractors and helicopter manufacturers also conduct public flight testing of aircraft and components or fly aircraft in public view to test ranges or other corporate airfields for training or demonstrations. Occasionally, some of these aircraft will be made for military clients and are painted in black or dark colors.

• In the UK, Police Helicopters are required by the CAA to be marked in a standard ‘high conspicuosity’ paint scheme, to make them more visible and avoid the possibility of air proximity hazards with other low flying aircraft. This paint scheme, also used by UK military training helicopters, requires them to be black on the sides and underneath, and yellow on top. When seen from the ground, these helicopters are black but this is to make them more visible against the sky as a safety feature (and yellow against the ground when seen from above).