Mystery Helo

[DonnieDog]

I was out with the family today at Watauga Lake in Carter County Tn when a solid black helicopter came over the mountain. It was solid black with no logos or anything. It actually was "playing chicken with 2 guys on two seperate jetski. The tail number is N1530G. Upon searching the FAA database im not getting a current registered aircraft. The helo was flying very erratic and low to the water. I had my 246T and flipped over to the service search for Air and got nothing. Very weird, It appeared to be a Bell but not positive. Any help identifying this helo would be great.

[j0nnyb1aze]

N-Number Results

Hmm. Interesting. The only aircraft I found w/ that reg. is a Cessna 340a that was exported to germany.

[trainman111]

Did it look like the helo pictured here?:
http://military.discovery.com/techno...opters-05.html

[DonnieDog]

I can say that it kinda looked like that, but it looked more like a Bell. I "thought" I was gettting video with my cell but operator failure! I was too busy try to look at the helo and not my cell!!

My wife called 911 because it was acting so crazy and it was near the swimming section. They had the FAA call her and she explained the situation to the gentlemen. He seemed very interested about the story. I also checked with TWRA and it didnt belong to them.

[trainman111]

Any idea what type of bell it might have looked like? Below is a link to Bell's website. See if you can find a helo that looked like the one you saw. (Also check out the helicopters under the "commercial" tab)

Bell Helicopter - Military Index

[DonnieDog]

It looked pretty close to the TH-67 but the ID number was on the tail not the body. Ive googled myself to death since ive been home trying to find one like it.

[DonnieDog]

It also looked very close to the OH-58C Kiowa. It had shiny gloss solid black paint.Awesome looking helo.

[ColoradoRedlands]

Originally Posted by DonnieDog

It also looked very close to the OH-58C Kiowa. It had shiny gloss solid black paint.Awesome looking helo.

Did you consider that it might be a production company helo taking video or film of the jetskiers? Lots of production companies use Jet Rangers. The jetskiers could have been part of the operation.

Some of these guys are real hot dog fliers and by the time they are done, they are off to home base and nothing is ever said.

[DonnieDog]

Its odd you say that because there was mention of the third guy (passenger) had a video camera. But why would it have been solid glossy black? and id like to know for sure what type of helo it was. Ive been burning the internet up trying to find the right one we seen today. Thanks for your input!!!

[DPD1]

Black is also a popular color with camera vehicles, as it won't potentially reflect colored light back onto the subject.

[wheelerg]

It really sounds like filming of sorts, we had a small portion of "X-MEN" filmed here in Trenton at the AFB, and we live a half mile from there and there were black helo's doing the filming and flying erratic, they were Eurocopter "A-Stars" that were used to film and they were completly black. my two cents......

[ColoradoRedlands]

[QUOTE=DonnieDog;1134990]But why would it have been solid glossy black?QUOTE]

Probably for the reasons mentioned by Dave, but the question would be "Why not glossy black?" There is no law that Im aware of that regulates color schemes on aircraft. It would be like saying you can't have a glossy black car.

[DonnieDog]

Well the color wasnt no big deal, just thought it might help identify it better or being black for a reason.