Black helicopters buzzing town were part of U.S. Army training

“Those things ruined my sleep”

No need to hide in the basement—those black helicopters seen making passes through the valley last week were part of a U.S. Army special operations high altitude training program.

The helicopters, which are MH-60 Black Hawks, were seen by many Crested Butte and Gunnison County residents between Wednesday and Saturday. Some of the sightings occurred in the nighttime or evening hours.
Major Brandon Bissell of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Airborne Regiment (SOAR) says, “The 160th continues to conduct training for its aircrews, specifically in this case, environmental training for its pilots and crewmembers that they cannot replicate at its home base. Units have coordinated all training with the local governments and organizations to ensure that the safety of the community and crews are maintained throughout.”
The 160th SOAR is based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Bissell did not indicate whether the helicopters were refueling at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs before heading higher into the mountains.
Gunnison/Crested Butte Regional Airport manager John DeVore says he hasn’t seen any of the helicopters and the airport has no information about the training exercises. The Army helicopters have not been landing at the airport.
The local airport, however, is currently stationing an aircraft called the Osprey, which is a plane with massive propellers that can land and take off vertically, without a runway.
The company that makes the Osprey is also conducting high altitude testing.
Local resident Denis Hall says he saw a strange looking helicopter flying at very high altitude while he was climbing Mt. Agusta on Wednesday. Hall says he also heard helicopters passing overhead in town on Thursday and Friday night. “It seemed like there were a bunch of them,” Hall says.
“Those things ruined my sleep,” quips local resident Chad Reich.
Crested Butte chief marshal Tom Martin says he saw the helicopters flying on occasion last week. “One evening I saw one at about 6 p.m. flying over town, and then at about 8:30 I heard one go back and forth. We had a couple calls about them,” Martin says. Martin says the few concerned citizens who called were wondering if there was a rescue operation or if a fugitive was on the loose. Martin says he encourages anyone to contact the marshal’s office if they have concerns about strange aircraft.
The 160th SOAR call themselves the Nightstalkers because of their specialization in nighttime operations and infiltration missions. The unit is currently active in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The helicopters have also been seen around Summit County and Leadville. A Black Hawk helicopter with the 160th crashed near the top of Mt. Massive approximately three weeks ago. The crew of four was killed.
The Black Hawk helicopter is most commonly used for infiltration and insertion missions, troop extraction and medical evacuations according to the 160th website. The helicopters have been popularized in movies such as Black Hawk Down and Tropic Thunder.