Do they file an IFR-R (I Follow Rail Roads ) Flight Plan?
There is nothing particularly scary about “black helicopters” in this instance It is particularly unlikely they would be doing any post-event, covert survey of a stalled freight train, under the cover of plausible denial. It’s as threatening to national security as a broken conveyor belt in a clothespin factory. The term “black helicopter” is a double meaning as it applies to “black operations” to which they are assigned and they typically have no FAA markings, which, are in effect, blacked out.
Wanna bet?! I remember one time in Kingsburg, California a freight ‘hot box’ got really hot and ground the train to a halt. I saw it grinding to a halt with the wheel on fire and thought (being about 19 at the time) hey—lets hang around for the fireworks. Within 20 minutes there were Army helicopters landing with armed troops. I still have no idea where these guys were staging from but they were deadly serious about protecting something that was on that train. The newspapers never said a thing about the incident.
Was it a train of white boxcars (with shackles inside)? If so, stay where you are. They will be there to pick you up shortly. [alien]
It was probably NS managment making sure the conductor walked the whole train!
Ha, Ha! The only white boxcars I’ve ever seen are the ones coming out of the cement plant south of Mojave! Couldn’t have been NS management as this was back in the days of the SP. They sure were ‘weed weasels’ though! [(-D]
5 to 1 it was hauling weapons of some sort to a military base. Using standard cars and hiding in plain site sounds more likely than when they publicly announce they are hauling something, like nukes to a navel base, and get the respondent protestors lining the route and causing all sorts of mayhem to disrupt shipment. The last time they did one of these announced nuke deliveries is was a bloody mess, including some guy who got run over when he didnt move out of the way of the engine. PS the train didnt stop, it keep on going.
Hey, if you don’t mind me hijacking the thread for a moment, what actually happens when a train’s air hose breaks? Do the wheels lock up or does the train come to a gradual halt?
It sounds like there could have been way more fireworks than expected in that instance!
Most military helicopters appear black from the ground. You see them all of the time over Washington, DC operating out of Anacostia Naval Air Station/Bolling Air Force Base. Despite the sinister reputation of black helicopters, what really gets attention here is when the F-15s are flying overhead. Then you know some sort of alert (generally a stray Cessna) is going on!
A little USAF knowledge here, skys are fairly light in colour usually and because of they way the human eye registers contrast, as well as how the brain works our interpreting shapes, almost anything looks black against the sky at distance especially if it’s a blue sky.
When fighter pilots used to see planes on the horizon (in the days before onboard radar) no matter the colour of the plane it usually looked black. It could be a green Japanese Zero and unless you were looking at the white underside it would look black.
The helicopter could have been almost anything from a Norfolk Southern company coter to a news or police or even a private chopper who was curious. It could have been many colors too, blue, green brown gray or black and they would always appear black at certain distances.
If you want a good home example of this, for those of you who live near an air force or naval air station, and see a plane on the horizon mark what colour it looks to you. This is harder to do with commercial aircraft as many are usually painted in high-visiblity white or metalics.
Cheers!
~METRO
Maybe they’re PRR Brunswick Green?? [:D] Could be, the ones I see (from the National Guard airbase across the Mississippi from DT St.Paul where I work) sure look black but then up close they could be a real dark green. Can’t see markings on them so I assume they’re not commercial choppers??
Aren’t most private and police helicopters painted white? Or at least partially white? I know that in Washington, the solid colored dark helicopters appear black - and since I’ve seen them flying over restricted air space, it goes to reason that they are military or otherwise government related. But when a helicopter has some white on it, you’ll be able tell it was two tone (likely black and white). Many of the military planes are painted light grey and you can usually tell its a light color. Dark green and dark blue ones do appear black.
I used to work in the flight path of National Airport so I saw many commercial planes. I was close enough to the airport that you could see what airline the planes were from. But further away where the airplanes are higher in altitude you can’t. What is interesting optically about where I used to work in Arlington was how the airplanes from certain angles on the ground appeared to be about 10 feet from an office buildings. I knew that they couldn’t possibly be that close, but the eyes can play tricks on people based on angle - especially on airborne objects.
You were not supposed to see that! Thawas an old Jolly Green Giant copter owned by NSA,painted black,and used to airlift white boxcars with shackles!
The train goes into emergency. Whether the wheels lock up depends on a lot of things.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I’ve seen several local law enforcement choppers that were black.
I’ve noticed that most of the helicopters that fly around this area at night (shining really big spotlights) are INVISIBLE!!! [alien]