Mystery choppers stir up speculation

The cry of "incoming choppers" was heard throughout coastal Washington County the weekend of March 24. But it wasn't Radar O'Reilly alerting his MASH unit C it was local citizens pointing to two, or maybe more, helicopters flying at treetop levels, or maybe 40 feet above. Most agreed that at least one of the copters was equipped with a large (one called it "the size of a football field") metallic, octagonal device that several called a "magnetometer" and others described as an "electronic mapping device."

The county sheriff's office was bombarded with callers reporting sightings in Lubec, Whiting, Dennysville, Edmunds, Charlotte, Pembroke and elsewhere but had no answers to provide the curious aircraft spotters. Dispatcher Richard Moore says he was on duty when some of the sightings were reported. The department contacted the Federal Aviation Administration in Boston, he says, but that agency had no knowledge of the copters' mission. Several of the callers asked if they shouldn't have a special permit "to fly so low," or have a flight plan on file with the FAA. The answer to both questions is no, Moore said he was told by the FAA official with whom he spoke.

Despite the lack of information, theories and speculations abound. Many who saw and heard the helicopters were convinced they had some connection to one of the two LNG companies seeking to establish terminals in the county -- maybe the "magnetometer" is mapping out pipeline routes or suchlike. Calls to Rob Wyatt at Downeast LNG and Andrea Barstow at Quoddy Bay LNG produced the same response: "It wasn't us!" And Rob added, between guffaws, "If they were ours, I'd of been on one -- I love helicopters!"

Petty Officer Jana Miller at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Eastport said the service knew nothing about the sightings, likewise staff at the Eastport Port Authority. A theory the copters were part of a Canadian homeland security operation was greeted with mystified bemusement by one or two New Brunswick agencies who might be expected to know if such were the case.

And there was a final conjecture, popular among Pembroke and Charlotte residents who know the long history of silver and gold mining near Silvermine Road. It could be neither verified nor discounted because no one had any idea how to reach any modern day miners in the area. But some are sure the device attached to the lead chopper was a precious metal sensor, that it detected both gold and silver veins in the area, and that the next Gold Rush may be located in Downeast Maine!