Coyne CE2/ Helicopter case

I figured I'd chime in with a most bizarre favorite of mine, a classic in the annals of Ufology that puzzles us 30 years later. It was the case of an Army Reserve Bell helicopter that was harrassed by a cigar shaped UFO on October 18, 1973.

First, a link to the basic story.

Coyne UFO Report

On October 18, 1973, at approximately 10:30 PM a UH-1H helicopter of the United States Army Reserve left Port Columbus, Ohio, for its home base of Cleveland Hopkins airport, ninety-six nautical miles to the north-northeast. In command, in the right-front seat, was Captain Lawrence J. Coyne, thirty-six, with nineteen years of flying experience. At the controls, in the left-front seat, sat First Lieutenant Arrigo Jezzi, twenty-six, a chemical engineer. Behind Jezzi sat Sergeant John Healey, thirty-five, a Cleveland policeman who was the flight medic, and Coyne was the Crew Chief, Sergeant Robert Yanacsek, twenty-three, a computer technician. The helicopter was cruising at 2,500 feet above sea level at an indicated airspeed of ninety knots, above mixed hills, woods, and rolling farmland, averaging 1,200 elevation. The night was totally clear, calm, and starry. The last quarter moon was just rising.

This part is to establish the circumstances, weather, astronomical bodies present, and qualifications and experience of the witnesses, all of whom are high quality, responsible, knowldgeable, and well trained observers, not just your average idiot.

About ten miles south of Mansfield, Healey noticed a single red light off to the west, flying south. It seemed brighter than a standard aircraft port-wing light, but it was not considered relevant traffic, and he does not recall mentioning it. An estimated two minutes later, at approximately 11:02 PM, Yanacsek noted a single red light on the south-east horizon. He assumed it was either a radio-tower beacon or an aircraft port-wing light - most likely an aircraft, since it was not flashing - and he watched it "for a long time, a minute to ninety seconds" before calling it to Coyne's attention. Coyne, smoking, relaxing, glanced over, noted the light, assumed it was distant traffic, and told told Yanacsek casually to "keep an eye on it."

Here we have the beginning of the encounter. As we can see, though at first a bit odd, the witnesses were not easily alarmed or agitated, did not jump to sudden conclusions, and chose cautious observation to help gain more perspective and information. The men on board, as we can see, were obviously rational, calm, responsible people.

After an estimated additional thirty seconds, Yanacsek announced that the light had turned toward the helicopter and appeared to be on a converging flight path. Coyne verified Yanacsek's assessment, grabbed the controls from Jezzi, and put the UH-1H into a powered descent of approximately 500 feet per minute. Almost simultaneously, Coyne established radio contact with Mansfield control tower, ten miles to the northwest. Coyne thought the flight was an Air National Guard F-100 from Mansfield. After an initial acknowledgment ("This is Mansfield Tower, go ahead Army 1-5-triple-4"), radio contact failed. Jezzi then attempted transmission on both UHF and VHF frequencies without success. Although the channel and keying tones were both heard, there was no response from Mansfield; and a subsequent check by Coyne revealed that Mansfield had no tape of even the initial transmission, the the last F-100 had landed at 10:47 P.M.

Now, after moments of calm, rational observation, the witnesses realized that the object was a potential threat. They made no conclusions as to what it was, only that it was on a possible collision course with their craft, and the comanding officer too evasive maneuvers to avoid danger. We also see the witnesses radioing the local control tower for help, yet the object seemed to have a marked effect on their communications systems as it got closer, interfering with their radios. This was observed by all witnesses on board, ruling out one persons "psychological stress" or panic.

The red light continued its radial bearing and increased greatly in intensity. Coyne increased his rate of descent to 2,000 feet per minute and his airspeed to 100 knots. The last altitude he noted was 1,700 feet. Just as a collision appeared imminent, the unknown light halted in its westward course and assumed a hovering relationship above and in front of the helicopter. "It wasn't cruising, it was stopped. For maybe ten to twelve seconds - just stopped," Yanacsek reported. Coyne, Healey, and Yanacsek agree that a cigar-shaped, slightly domed object substended an angle of nearly the width of the front windshield. A featureless, gray, metallic-looking structure was precisely delineated against the background stars. Yanacsek reported "a suggestion of windows" along the top dome section. The red light emanated from the bow, a white light became visible at a slightly indented stern, and then, from aft/below, a green 'pyramid shaped" beam equated to a directional spotlight became visible. The green beam passed upward over the helicopter nose, swung up through the windshield, continued upward and entered the tinted upper window panels. At that point (and not before), the cockpit was enveloped in green light. Jezzi reported only a bright white light, comparable to the leading light of a small aircraft, visible through the top "greenhouse' panels of the windshield. After the estimated ten seconds of "hovering," the object began to accelerate off to the west, now with only the white "tail" light visible. The white light maintained its intensity even as its distance appeared to increase, and finally (according to Coyne and Healey), it appeared to execute a decisive 45 degree turn to the right, head out toward Lake Erie, and then "snap out" over the horizon. Healey reported that he watched the object moving westward "for a couple of minutes." Jezzi said it moved faster than the 250-knot limit for aircraft below 10,000 feet, but not as fast as the 600-knot approach speed reported by the others. There was no noise from the object or turbulence during the encounter, except for one "bump" as the object moved away to the west. After the object had broken off its hovering relationship, Jezzi and Coyne noted that the magnetic compass disk was rotating approximately four times per minute and that the altimeter read approximately 3,500 feet; a 1,000 foot-per-minute climb was in progress. Coyne insists that the collective was still bottomed from his evasive descent. Since the collective could not be lowered further, he had no alternative but to lift it, whatever the results, and after a few seconds of gingerly maneuvering controls (during which the helicopter reached nearly 3,800 feet), positive control was achieved. By that time the white light had already moved into the Mansfield area. Coyne had been subliminally aware of the climb; the others not at all, yet they had all been acutely aware of the g-forces of the dive. The helicopter was brought back to the flight plan altitude of 2,500 feet, radio contact was achieved with Canton/Akron, the night proceeded uneventfully to Cleveland.

Here is the main event, the very reason why this case is refered to as a UFO case. This unidentified object approaches the helicopter at close ranger, where now there was no question as to what the objects appearance was. It was seen up close, in detail, as a structured metalic craft, with a red lighted nose cone, no wings, and flashing a strange colored, laser like green light ( long before lasers were common ) that filled up the entire view from the windshield. To add to the strangeness was the bizzare behavior of the helicopter, which, after Coyne had put it into a normal descent mode to avoid collision with the object, was doing the OPPOSITE of what it should have been doing, and after it had left, the Major performed the actions one would do to have the opposite effect on the craft. After the object left, they had no further incident, though they really did not need one, as this whole episode was strange enough as is!

This case is a classic in Ufology, and occured at the start of a major UFO wave that was happening in the US in the latter part of 1973 to early 1974. The crew were all experienced, reliable, competant, and rational. But furthermore, they were not the only witnesses to this bizarre event.

Mrs. E. C. and four adolescents were driving south from Mansfield to their rural home on October 18, 1973, at approximately 11 P.M., when they were attracted to a single steady bright red light. flying south "at medium altitude." They watched for perhaps half a minute until it disappeared to the south over the trees.

This first set of ground witnesses described the same sighting from a distance that was initially reported by the choppers crew when they first sighted the object in the distance.

Approximately five minutes later, now driving east on Route 430, approaching the Charles Mill Reservoir, the family became aware of two bright lights - red and green - descending rapidly toward them from the southeast. When first seen, the angular distance between the lights was about 2 degrees; the red light appeared to be leading. Mrs. C. pulled over to the shoulder of the deserted road and kept the engine and car lights running. The lights - bigger than point sources - slowed and moved as a unit to the right of the car and the family became aware of yet another group of lights - some of these flashing - and "a beating sound, a lot of racket" approaching from the southwest. Two of the children (cousins, both age thirteen) jumped from the car and observed both a helicopter and the object, which they described as "like a blimp," "as big as a school bus," "sort of pear shaped." The object at that point subtended an angle equivalent to "a 100-mm cigarette box held at arm's length." The object assumed a hovering position over the helicopter, an estimated 500 feet back from the road and 500 feet above the trees. (The ground elevation at the site is almost exactly 1,000 feet above sea level; thus at the noted 1,700-foot altimeter reading, the helicopter was actually about 650 feet above the trees.) The object's green light then flared up. "It was like rays coming down," the witnesses said. The helicopter, the trees, the road, the car - everything turned green." The kids scrambled with fright back into the car and Mrs. C. proceeded apace. Their estimated total time outside the car was "about a minute." Neither ground witnesses nor aircrew are sure at what point the two aircraft disengaged; the ground witnesses reported that the unidentified object crossed to the north side of the road behind the car, appeared to move eastward for a few seconds, then reversed its direction and climbed toward the northwest towards Mansfield - a flight path which correlates perfectly the motion of the object established through analysis of the aircrew's report.

The witnesses were describing exactly what the helicopter crew had reported, except from a ground perspective. Their descriptions matched perfectly, down to the very bizzare shade of green that the light from the object was emmitting. They also reported seeing the helicopter right next to the object, descending as Major Coyne had reported. With this testimony, we have corroberative evidence supporting what the chopper crew witnessed from a different persepctive on the ground, ruling out many things like meteors (meteors are only in view for a few seconds, the incident in question lasted for over 5 minutes), planets (planets do not shine bright green lights down on the surrounding countryside, lighting it up) or a plane ( the maneuvers plus description of the competant, experienced flight crew ruked out known aircraft, even today no such object has emerged from America's black projects capable of performing these feats). And of course, it sure as hell wasnt a weather balloon.

Another group of witnesses was also located, not mentioned in this article, but mentioned in Jerome Clark's UFO book. A woman who was watching late night TV with her husband suddenly heard the rush of a low flying helicopter, which sounded to her like it was close enough to crash. She insticntively buried her head under her pillow in a futile but understandable gesture. As the sound faded away, her son came into the room and asked her if she had seen the bright green light. She told him no, that she was hiding under the pullow and saw nothing. Later, when the boy reported this to investigators, though he did not see the object or the helicoper, he did see his whole room and the entire outside light up by a strange green glow. The shade of green he described was identical to what was reported by both the helicopter crew and ground witnesses, and details of the report had not yet been published and thus were not common knowldge.


Now, skeptic Philip J. Klass would have us believe that the crew had seen nothing more than a meteor from an Orinid shower. For reasons obvious, this is not even a feasable solution. True to his form, Klass completely rejects the testimony of all witnesses involved and fits his own ill thought out theory, regardless of whether it fits. According to Klass as well, the strange behavior of the helicopter controls was due to the fact that Coyne had panicked when he thought collision was imminent, and threw the pitch downward, putting the helicopter into a 4000 feet per minute dive. after realizing the danger, Cpyne unconciously threw the pitch back into ascend. This of course is nonsense, and Philip Klass, supposedly a knowldgeable aviation writer, obviously hasnt a clue about helicopter dynamics. Coyne, at hearing this explaination, laughed. According to Coyne, "If we had been diving at 4000 feet per minute, I would have never been able to recover." Given the helicopter's elevation and the elsapsed time of the sighting, the helicopter would have crashed and burned within seconds had Coyne performed the alleged action by Klass. At no time during the sighting were the crew in any danger of an out of control high speed dive, and all members insisted this worry did not enter thier minds at all during the entire episode.

Any theory of the object's being a meteor (UFO skeptic Philip Klass maintains that the object was a "fireball of the Orionid meteor shower") can readily be rejected on the basis of: (1) the duration of the event (an estimated 300 seconds); (2) the marked deceleration and hard-angle maneuver of the object at closest approach; (3) the precisely defined shape of the object; and (4) the horizon-to-horizon flight path

Klass "investigation of this incident, true to his style, was limited to a few phone conversations and dinner with one witness. He obviously put the same half-assed effort into this case as he does all others.

The possibility of a high-performance aircraft likewise is untenable when one examines the positions and colors of the lights with respect to the flight path of the object. To have presented the reported configurations, and been in accordance with FAA regulations, an aircraft would have had to be flying sideways, either standing on its tail, tail-to to the helicopter, or upside-down head-on. Other arguments against aircraft hypothesis are: (1) a fixed-wing aircraft moving across the line of sight would appear to move most rapidly when passing directly in front of the observer; (2) a fixed-wing aircraft would not have the capability of decelerating from high velocity to "hover" within a few seconds time; (3) a helicopter would have the capability of hovering, but would not be capable of the high forward speeds reported; (4) a conventional aircraft, if within 500 to 1,000 feet, would have produced noise audible inside the helicopter; (5) the FAA requires either a strobe or a rotating beacon on either the top or bottom of the fuselage, (6) FAA requires that no aircraft shall fly below 10,000 feet msl at speeds above 250 knots; (7) some of the features of a conventional aircraft would have been seen, e.g., wings, engine pods, windows, empennage, numbers, logo.

Here we also see why it is highly unlikely that this was any sort of a convention aircraft, and also, why it was unlikely, given the date, to be a secret one.

Coyne reported that the Magnaflux/Zygio method of nondestructive testing was applied to the rotors the following day and that there was no indication that they had been subjected to fatigue-producing stresses. Comparable times/distances/directions support the possibility that the red light first seen by the C. family, Healey's red light, and the object of the encounter were all one and the same. Yanacsek's red light on the eastern horizon was under continuous observation and was unequivocally the object of the encounter.

The helicopter was tested afterwords and shown to be working just fine, ruling out mechanical failure for the problems with the radio and strange behavior of the controls.

Case description and witnes drawings.

The above link has graphics of the incident, since no photos were taken, and also provides the priginal drawing made by coin in his report after the incident, describing the object in great detail.


The Coyne case was investigated thoroughly by CUFOS, and J. Allen Hynek himself was highly impressed with the case, even taking personal interest and investigative role in it.

Thirty years later, this case remains as puzzling as it did back then. No logical explaination has been produced.

No responses? I find it rather troubling that a thread about KKK wearing hoods because they are reptiles garner's more attention and "discussion" than a thread about an honest, real live solid UFO case.

Shame shame!

Its a convincing case. Heres the FOIA file about it:
www.cufon.org...

I wonder what the green light was for.

The green light seemed like some sort of scanning device.

The debunker's "solutions" for this case are more ridiculous than the idea of aliens from space. Pure nonsense, especially from Klass, true to his style.

That's a really interesting case, I haven't heard of that one before. Thank you!

I'd love to add to the theory but I am completely stumped, it is indeed a mystery.

Interesting case! Wow ... I am very impressed by the detailed information that the pilots provided and that the witnesses on the ground could provide.

They (whoever "they" are) actually stopped and saw the helicopter and maybe thought to themselves, "Hmm...maybe we should check it out" ...

Really amazing ... the green light was some sort of scanning device, but for what? It's occupants? electronic devices? maybe both and more? ... what was the white light? Some sort of propulsion? By the way, if this helps at all, every time that some person reports their sighting of a cigar-shaped object ... they always describe some sort of rows of windows ... how's that for interesting? There might be people inside, but who? Who could they be?

I have some interesting assumptions:

1) Time-travellers from the future ...
2) Extraterrestrials ...

Aside from that, I have no clue and I am just as impressed about this case as any of you. Great thread, Skadi. I hope we make this thread more popular ... I'd really like to find out more about this case.

And just out of curiousity ... why would they scan a helicopter? ... that would just mean they don't know how it works or they want to find out if anyone's inside, right?

Really strange ... really weird.

Its hard to say, Zeta, why "they" would scan the helicopter. Perhaps they wanted to investigate to see if it was a possible threat, or just curious about its operation.

The Coyne case hasnt gotten the kind of attention it deserves, I agree. I imagine Gazrok would know about it, and so would anyone who is well read in the field of UFOs. It was one of the classic physical evidence cases, and the witnesses are of the highest rating in both professional and technical knowldge, as well as credibility and reliability.

My theory is of course, it was most likely some sort of ET space craft, on a quiet scouting mission. What I found really interesting was the strange physical effects it had on the helicopter's control system. I have no idea what could have caused such weird behavior, but perhaps it was some sort of gravity field or gravity control device?

Originally posted by Zeta_101
And just out of curiousity ... why would they scan a helicopter? ... that would just mean they don't know how it works or they want to find out if anyone's inside, right?

Yea, it seems to imply they didn't know what a helicopter was. Just your
random space travelers stopping by for a looksee.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
My theory is of course, it was most likely some sort of ET space craft, on a quiet scouting mission. What I found really interesting was the strange physical effects it had on the helicopter's control system. I have no idea what could have caused such weird behavior, but perhaps it was some sort of gravity field or gravity control device?

Or perhaps a tractor beam. Funny how programs like Star Trek had these
concepts so long ago and perhaps turn out to be accurate.

The beams of light they use I would expect to have qualities far beyond
visable light. I wonder what wavelengths they use for the various beam
functions and what kind of power levels are present.

I've known of the case for some time. Not as interesting as others, IMO, but still good for the amount and quality of witnesses.

Corroborating testimonies created what would have otherwise been a hearsay account if given by a single individual into bonafide evidence.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
No responses? I find it rather troubling that a thread about KKK wearing hoods because they are reptiles garner's more attention and "discussion" than a thread about an honest, real live solid UFO case.

Shame shame!

I couldn't agree more. It doesn't seem possible, does it.

But back to the topic. This is and always has been a very credible and unusual case. There are many points of coroberation and verifiable detail.
The witnesses are still living and have told their story publically, in the media, more than once.
It is remarkable that a helicopter was involved . By that I mean that for what ever reason, sightings by helicopters are either more rare, or at least reported less often.
That being said, I'm sure there are some helicopter crewman, such as those with 160th SOAR, that have had classified contact with UFO investigation. Those boys do an extremely varied job within the military.
Whenever there is a special operations need for hellicopters it's usually those boys that get called out. Their clearance is already at a high level. As well as their oaths.
I've always thought that it was the helicopter crews that had the real nerves of steel, JMHO. Alot is said for the jet pilots and crews but the chopper crews see everything upclose and personal. Those boys have to learn how to control the adrenaline flow. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

First the craft was seen as a red dot? Am I correct?

And ... it went from one side of the horizon to where the helicopter was ... anybody know how long it took for the craft to reach the helicopter? By the information provided, I'm guessing it kind of took several minutes before it reached the chopper. (The guy told the sightseer to "keep an eye" on it before it started heading towards them)

So anyone have any idea of how long the craft took to reach the chopper?

Also ... Tractor beam ... think about it, if we ever master interstellar travel, we would need some sort of gravity manipulation device to "grapple" an object in space.

So yeah, it's not a new concept ... for us, maybe ... but imagine a race that has lived for millions of years and has already mastered such technology ... we're new to this ... so we can't possibly imagine or judge how their devices might work ... all we can see is how their stuff reacts ... to OUR technology ... like the UFO with the chopper.

Interesting concept

Anyone have any other ideas?

"I find it rather troubling that a thread about KKK wearing hoods because they are reptiles garner's more attention and "discussion" than a thread about an honest, real live solid UFO case. " == Skadi

Would it not be expected, however, on a board where the current number six (was five) most viewed thread is the Prophet Yowhew thing ?
I expect serious UFO investigators are gonna have to veer off soon from the Reptilicus crowd, or the Ufology efforts will descend into the
Kukoo's nest.

"The debunker's "solutions" for this case are more ridiculous than the idea of aliens from space. Pure nonsense, especially from Klass, true to his style." == Skadi

At least you can argue with the debunker types. A debate is still a form of credible communication. What do you say when one of the KKK hood wearing
lizards drops in here to tell you that your case was simply a sighting of an old Epsilon class drone ship, or some such. If you had to point out a disinfo
type, and your only choice was Klass OR the reptile in the KKK hood, which one would you pick ?

"Anyone have any other ideas?" == Zeta

Sure. Several. But as best stated in the first quote above, this subject area for forum topics is probably not the best choice.

Originally posted by nightwing
"I find it rather troubling that a thread about KKK wearing hoods because they are reptiles garner's more attention and "discussion" than a thread about an honest, real live solid UFO case. " == Skadi

Would it not be expected, however, on a board where the current number six (was five) most viewed thread is the Prophet Yowhew thing ?
I expect serious UFO investigators are gonna have to veer off soon from the Reptilicus crowd, or the Ufology efforts will descend into the
Kukoo's nest.

"The debunker's "solutions" for this case are more ridiculous than the idea of aliens from space. Pure nonsense, especially from Klass, true to his style." == Skadi

At least you can argue with the debunker types. A debate is still a form of credible communication. What do you say when one of the KKK hood wearing
lizards drops in here to tell you that your case was simply a sighting of an old Epsilon class drone ship, or some such. If you had to point out a disinfo
type, and your only choice was Klass OR the reptile in the KKK hood, which one would you pick ?

"Anyone have any other ideas?" == Zeta

Sure. Several. But as best stated in the first quote above, this subject area for forum topics is probably not the best choice.

Well, not always. I find that the debunker crowd is as irrational and rabid as the fringe believers and cultists. Debunkers are different from skeptics. Skeptics will at least try and use the information in the report as it was reported to argue for a more mundane explaination. Debunkers ignore the facts of a report and pick and choose little pieces of data to form their far out "explainations". Klass is notorious for ignoring the facts of a case, and instead, either attacking the witness and accusing them of every mental disorder and social crime, often without a single shred of evidence to support his attacks, or sdimply ignoring the majority of information in a report and instead picking one single tidbit and forming a bizarre and ridiculous "solution". Debunkers and fringe believers are really the same person, the only difference being at which extreme of the belief spectrum they sit at.

Freddieb:

Its interesting you should point out the relative rarity of UFO-helicopter encounters. While that was true for the first three decades of the modern UFO era, there has been a slow increase in UFO-helicopter encounters. Perhaps this is because UFOs are flying lower and closer to the ground than in the past. During the 40's, 50's, and 60's, UFOs were mostly encountered at high altitudes at high speeds by jets and planes. They were rarely encountered flying low or landing on the ground. But during the 70's, we see a masive change, as the number of close encounters during that decade skyrocketed. And thus, helicopters and low flying planes began reporting them more. Like the Valentich disappearance over Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania. Though Valentich was in a Cessna, he was flying relatively lowm at about 4500 feet when he encountered whatever it was. In 1980, we have the Cash-Lundrum Case, where all three witnesses, plus many others, witnessed the strange ufo suddenly swarmed by military helicopters.

If you look into more recent sightings, Im sure youll find more cases involving choppers or low flying aircraft. It seems that the UFOs are becoming more and more brazen and are getting pretty bold!