Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

[Desertdawg]

I know this is a bit off topic but it was flying.

This time of year I leave the windows open at night. At 3:15am, I was deep asleep when I heard the something fly overhead. I did not have a clue what the noise was?

I jump out of bed and ran to the window, it flew right over the house maybe 500ft alt., absolutely no nav lights, was a heli for sure, but the rotor sound was odd. Quiet, almost like a ducted fan sound. As it passed by the sound diminished, then I could hear it again when it landed at the Nat Air Guard base in Stead.

I thought just maybe, that was the sound OBL heard on his last night.

[ohioboyinreno]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

There have been a have few Ospreys @RNO.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

I was thinking about that this morning, couple weeks ago we there were couple Osprey flying around. The sound definately changed when they landed at Stead. So your probably correct.

Next time I'll pay more attention to the rotor sound when I see one during the day.

[4banginfocus03]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

Ya, stead seems to be busy lately. I took my son down there just to let see some planes and while were there a C-17 Globemaster lands, unloads two flat black blackhawks and takes off. Cool for us but unusual...

[Desertdawg]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

while were there a C-17 Globemaster lands, unloads two flat black blackhawks and takes off

"unloads two flat black blackhawks"

Now thats interesting, I wonder if they have the new special rotors I've been reading about? May explain the rotor sound I heard last night?

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

BeerNazi lives on the flight path to PDX and we heard the V-22 a lot a few years ago when they did nasty weather testing here.... it has a really distinct sound that is nothing at all like a ducted sound. Actually, completely unique, especially as they come off the airplane mode into heli mode...

I do wonder, especially with the nav lights off, if you didn't hear one of the new helo's that nobody has seen yet...

It's been my experience that even when flying training missions, when they are in "normal/civilian" airspace, at least, with "normal" birds, they run their lights....

Just like all new designs, they will let us see them sooner or later...

Dunno if any of you remember my "experience" at Nellis a way's back, dumb airshow guy, used to the base during show time, go anywhere mode, I show up a week early and a bunch of noncoms "tricked" me into going out and taking pix of the Raptor...

Good thing I had friends on base..

"sir, were you out there when you took the pictures"

"do you want the answer that lets us all go home? Or the truth?"

"I'll need to have the truth sir"

"yes, I was out there"

My response led to him un-slinging his weapon.... as he sighed, because he really thought that I'd lie and we all COULD go home...

Not to drag this off topic (but I did didn't I) it was a unique experience, I did NOT get the foot on the back of the head treatment (for which I will be forever grateful to those friends on base for)...

My point though... curving back on topic.. turns out, at that time, nobody in the public eye had seen the weapons bays open, at least, as far as they knew... so they were being very strict... but only weeks later, they were showing everyone with flybys and there were very detailed telephoto shots of same...

Releasing back to topic.... I figure it's only a matter of time before the new stealth chopper, which we know exists, in some form or other, is doing air shows.

[4banginfocus03]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

ya I thought it was weird that the blackhawks were flat black.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

Wayne

Funny story. Good thing they didn't take you off to some special interrogation cell :-)

Cool that you had some inside access and info :-)

[Race5]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

ya I thought it was weird that the blackhawks were flat black.

That's not all that unusual actually. I have seen several painted flat black over the years. I saw pics of the ones getting unloaded at Stead, and they don't have any weird panels or trick rotors on them.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

I can't bring myself to believe that the bird that was lost on the OBL deal was an "ehnanced blackhawk".... My money is on a completely new design and I can't wait to see it!!

[Bob]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

Especially since the Pakinstanni air defence didnt even see them.
I guess we will have to wait for updates from china now....

[Victor Archer]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

Sorry guys, just moving the mother ship in place for the races...

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

I have to agree with Wayne about the tilt-rotors. I heard an XV-15 fly overhead many times for years from NASA Ames, and heard the V-22 at an airshow. Neither had a ducted-fan sound, and certainly neither could be called quiet in any sense of the word.


I tend to think of a 5-blade, small diameter high-speed-rotor concept Ames experimented with on an MD-500 heli that was amazingly quiet, at least compared to the stock 500 that flew past us before it did. I saw it at an airshow at Moffett somewhere around 1978-'82 during the short period that the Blue Angels were banned from performing there and NASA's experimental stuff stole the show.


But the no-nav-lights issue says "military" all over it to me (that or drug runners ). Definitely sounds like new mil technology, whether applied to older existing aircraft or a totally new airframe.


.

[Curt]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

What about an H 500 NOTAR?

[Race5]

Re: Strange Sound Last Night Over Stead

Could have been a UAV of some sort a well.