Status. True.
Check out Wikipedia's assessment:
Black helicopter factsWere they flying over your house?At least some sightings of black helicopters are very likely to have been helicopters on exercises and/or missions. The American military does in fact operate helicopters painted in black or dark colors, particularly the Pave Low which is optimized for long-range stealthy insertion and extraction of personnel, including combat search and rescue.
U.S. Army and National Guard helicopters painted olive drab will appear to be black in the reddish light of dawn or dusk, or under other low light conditions during the day when their shadow side is viewed against the sky with the naked eye.
Real black helicopters do exist. Some of them are flown by units of the Army National Guard and are actually black (not dark olive or chocolate brown) when seen in ordinary light.
The U.S. Army regularly conducts both exercises and operational missions in United States airspace. Some of these exercises have taken place in densely populated areas, including Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and Washington, D.C. Most operational missions are tasked in narcotics interdiction in the American Southwest and out of Florida. By extensive use of GPS and night vision equipment, as well as other classified means, they are able to fly in zero visibility conditions with no running lights. At this high intensity level of operation, training is necessarily almost as dangerous to pilots, other air traffic, and the public as actual combat. Frequent practice is necessary to retain proficiency.
Many defense contractors and helicopter manufacturers also conduct public flight testing of aircraft and components or fly aircraft in public view to test ranges or other corporate airfields for training or demonstrations. Occasionally, some of these aircraft will be made for military clients and are painted in black or dark colors.
Nope. Yours?
But I do get to see some cool C-130s and the local Minnesota Air National Guard do their air-drop trainings in our vicinity...and then they fly in tandem right over my house.