Mystery Helicopters (as mentioned in "Three Hundred Zeroes")

[Retro]

I just came across this pic I took of a helicopter in Georgia right before I walked right smack through the middle of a military training exercise along the AT in 2009. I suspect that they had just finished up several helicopter drops since there were helicopters flying all over the place. When I passed, there were maybe 50 or 60 soldiers grouped along the trail. It was a bit early in the season so perhaps they weren't expecting hikers quite yet, but I no doubt surprised the heck out of them. I'd stumbled upon training exercises while hiking in that area before so fortunately this I knew what to expect. It's my understanding that for them to be seen by civilians is an epic fail, nor are they allowed to acknowledge or interact with hikers. The trail was lined with soldiers. As I passed, they remained frozen and totally motionless.They were all fully armed with some rather large caliber weaponry and fully decked out in combat gear. The guys right along the trail were so close that had I reached out, I could have touched them-- in fact, I actually had to step over one of their legs to get by. I made eye contact with them, but none of them acknowledged me nor responded to the occasional wink and nod I gave them as I passed. The only acknowledgement I got was from a group of ranking officers who were standing on a landing at the top of the hill. One of them simply said "You're safe.". I nodded and walked on. I remember that I still had my camera in my hand since I had just taken a picture of the helicopter but thought that it wouldn't be very smart to take any more pictures. Overall, it was an extremely odd experience. Had I been unfamiliar with their exercises, I would have absolutely freaked.

[sevensixtwo187]

As someone has stated earlier, Camp Merrill is very close to Springer. This is where the Mountain Phase of U.S. Army Ranger School is conducted. My first encounter with the AT was there around 20 years ago .....

[theinfamousj]

funny how most all the cool toys we now take for granted, came out of Military use,ie space blanket, tyvek, freeze dried ice cream, tang, plastics, and on and on.

And NASA. Don't forget NASA (says the space nerd).

/end thread drift

[k1ypp]

Fun thread here.

The amazing thing about the choppers in the book, especially the one in PA at the Rausch Gap Shelter, was just how quiet they were. According to Lemur and MacGyver, (the other thru-hikers at the campsite, there were others over in the shelter), the chopper was right IN the treetop above me, and I didn't awaken. I slept right through that one. Lemur was pretty excited the next morning and couldn't believe that it was that close and I didn't wake up. I'm still convinced they were still perfecting the identification technology, or at least training on how to use it. The choppers I saw had no markings on them at all. Weird.

[Pedaling Fool]

It's not too far off when we'll be flying around little insect-sized drones for identification and intelligence collection.

[Kerosene]

The choppers I saw had no markings on them at all. Weird.

Note that covert vehicles may still have very understated, almost blacked-out markings that you would be able to see if the light was good and you knew where to look. Hard to believe that they wouldn't have any markings if they were a military vehicle on U.S. soil. Of course, the lack of markings gets the paranoid community looking for conspiracies.

[Rain Man]

As someone has stated earlier, Camp Merrill is very close to Springer. This is where the Mountain Phase of U.S. Army Ranger School is conducted. My first encounter with the AT was there around 20 years ago .....

My daughter (a petite girl) scared the doo-doo out of some Camp Merrill boys early one morning back in '04. She was the first to leave the shelter and had taken the wrong fork in some dense fog yet to burn off. Realized she was off the AT and about to turn back when she heard noise and voices ahead, so she kept going, visibility nil. She knew she was approaching some people, ... but they didn't know she was approaching them. Suddenly she appeared out of the fog in their little clearing. She said they all jumped in fright at the sight of her right in the middle of them!

RainMan

.

[buff_jeff]

The helicopters used in the Bin Laden Raid were stealth:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-se...3#.UBYM8_U8SSo

[Smokey & the Bandit]

Cleaning up the trail. Same concept as using a very large leaf blower.

Spokes, you're funny!

[Shutterbug]

I just came across this pic I took of a helicopter in Georgia right before I walked right smack through the middle of a military training exercise along the AT in 2009. I suspect that they had just finished up several helicopter drops since there were helicopters flying all over the place. When I passed, there were maybe 50 or 60 soldiers grouped along the trail. It was a bit early in the season so perhaps they weren't expecting hikers quite yet, but I no doubt surprised the heck out of them. I'd stumbled upon training exercises while hiking in that area before so fortunately this I knew what to expect. It's my understanding that for them to be seen by civilians is an epic fail, nor are they allowed to acknowledge or interact with hikers. The trail was lined with soldiers. As I passed, they remained frozen and totally motionless.They were all fully armed with some rather large caliber weaponry and fully decked out in combat gear. The guys right along the trail were so close that had I reached out, I could have touched them-- in fact, I actually had to step over one of their legs to get by. I made eye contact with them, but none of them acknowledged me nor responded to the occasional wink and nod I gave them as I passed. The only acknowledgement I got was from a group of ranking officers who were standing on a landing at the top of the hill. One of them simply said "You're safe.". I nodded and walked on. I remember that I still had my camera in my hand since I had just taken a picture of the helicopter but thought that it wouldn't be very smart to take any more pictures. Overall, it was an extremely odd experience. Had I been unfamiliar with their exercises, I would have absolutely freaked.

Next time, take all of the pictures you want. The law in the U.S. is "if you can see it you can legally photograph it (with a few exceptions, like security check points at airports)."

[Mike2012]

I saw an interesting aircraft in the wee hours of the night while camping at the shelter north of Stecoah Gap. It made no noise and was directly overhead. Bright lights. Coasted away without a sound.

[imscotty]

Good point Shutterbug, but I just want to clarify about TSA checkpoints. See below...

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav..._pictures.shtm

[turtle fast]

The helios will have markings, but they will be muted into the black matte colored helicopter (for many military blackhawks), the insignia is normally a light grey and a lot of times hard to see from some angles which is done on purpose as it can buy an important moment from the enemy when they try to identify friend or foe and give that moment to the chopper to fire first and yet still retain the letter of the "law" of aircraft dentification.