Coyne helicopter incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 7
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Coyne incident, Mansfield helicopter incident, Coyne helicopter |
The Coyne helicopter incident, also called the Mansfield encounter, took place on the night of 18 October 1973, when the four-man crew of a U.S. Army Reserve UH-1H helicopter reported a near collision with an unidentified object near Mansfield, Ohio. It is often described as one of the best-documented UFO encounters in the United States, mainly because of the crew's military background and because people on the ground said they saw it too.[1][2]
The crew and the flight
The helicopter, serial number 68-15444, belonged to the Army Reserve flight facility at Cleveland Hopkins Airport and was returning from Columbus to Cleveland. Its four crewmen were members of the 316th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance): Capt. Lawrence J. Coyne, the pilot in command; 1st Lt. Arrigo Jezzi, the copilot; Sgt. Robert Yanacsek, the crew chief; and Sgt. John Healey, the flight medic.[1][2] According to a later summary of the case, the night was clear with no moon, and the helicopter was cruising at about 2,500 feet with Jezzi at the controls.[3]
The encounter
The crew's official report, signed by all four men and dated 23 November 1973, says that at 11:05 p.m., east-southeast of Mansfield Airport, Yanacsek saw a red light on the eastern horizon. About 30 seconds later he said it was heading straight for them at the same altitude, at more than 600 knots. Coyne took over the controls and put the helicopter into a powered descent from 2,500 to 1,700 feet. He radioed Mansfield tower to ask whether any high-performance aircraft were nearby, but got no answer.[1]
Instead of the expected collision, the report says, the object paused briefly over the helicopter, then moved slowly off to the west, sped up, passed west of Mansfield Airport and turned 45 degrees to the northwest. Coyne then noticed that the altimeter read 3,500 feet and that the helicopter was climbing at 1,000 feet per minute, even though the collective control was still fully down. He brought the aircraft back to 2,500 feet and flew on to Cleveland, where the incident was reported to the Federal Aviation Administration.[1]
Accounts based on later interviews add more detail. The crew described a grey, metallic-looking, cigar-shaped object that filled the windshield, with a red light at the front, a white light at the back and a green beam that swept over the helicopter and lit the cockpit green. They said they heard no noise and felt no turbulence.[2][3]
Ground witnesses
Several people on the ground later said they had seen the event. A woman driving home with four children near the Charles Mill Reservoir said she saw a red light and a green light come down toward a helicopter. When they got out of the car, she said, the helicopter and everything around them were lit up green. A teenager southeast of Mansfield said a loud helicopter passed over his house and a bright green light filled his bedroom.[3] Investigator Jennie Zeidman, who had been an assistant to astronomer J. Allen Hynek, reported on the case for the Center for UFO Studies in 1979 and calculated that the crew had the object in view for at least five minutes.[3][4]
Publicity
The crew's report was later reproduced in Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood's 1984 book Clear Intent.[3] In June 1974 the tabloid National Enquirer awarded the four men a $5,000 prize for the year's best UFO story.[4]
Explanations
Aviation journalist and skeptic Philip J. Klass devoted two chapters of his 1983 book UFOs: The Public Deceived to the case. He argued that the first red light might have been an ordinary aircraft and that the crew then saw a bright fireball from the Orionid meteor shower, which was active that month. Klass noted that no fireballs had been reported to the American Meteor Society from Ohio that night.[4] Supporters of the case reply that a meteor could not have stayed in view for several minutes or explain the ground witnesses' accounts.[3]
In 2018 a blogger writing as "Parabunk" suggested that the light was an aerial refuelling tanker making a standard rendezvous manoeuvre and switching on a spotlight. Podcaster Brian Dunning of Skeptoid called this a sound idea, though without direct evidence.[4] Dunning also pointed out that Jezzi later told Zeidman that a helicopter can climb easily without the pilot noticing, which could account for the unexpected gain in altitude.[4]
Assessment
No official explanation was ever given. The case rests on the testimony of the crew and a few ground witnesses, and it remains disputed whether a meteor, an aircraft or something else was behind it.[1][3][4]
References
- Army Disposition Form, "Near Midair Collision with UFO Report" (23 Nov 1973), transcribed by Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Taylor Perry, "Out of this world: Coyne Incident focused UFO attention on north central Ohio in 1973", Richland Source (29 April 2022) · richlandsource.com · archived copy
- Patrick Gross, "The Coyne case, Mansfield, Ohio, 1973", UFOs at close sight · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Brian Dunning, "The 1973 Mansfield UFO Encounter", Skeptoid #1057 (Sept 2026) · skeptoid.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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