Message posted by Norio Hayakawa on March 09, 2001 at 23:20:09 EST:
Hello, Jose. I take it that a question was emailed to you from Vladmir inquiring about my May, 1991 harassment encounter with a military helicopter on Groom Lake Rd. Yes, this incident did take place in May of 1991 when I was leading a group of 7 vehicles eastbound, just coming back from the boundary line on Groom Lake Rd.
After witnessing the passing of the workers' bus through the boundary line going towards Groom Lake at around 5:30 a.m. or so, we did see a couple of white regular pickup trucks (with government plates) also going past the boundary line towards the base, dashing past us and creating a dust "storm" near our cars as we were parked on the side of the road.
Then, we decided to head back to Highway 375.
We started heading back, eastbound on Groom Lake Rd. Within a minute, we suddenly began to hear an explosive, thunderous sound above, as if a railroad train were passing over our cars. All of us, as we looked out the windows while driving, were astonished to see a large military helicopter (later on we found out that it was a CH-53, if I am not mistaken) flying over our cars and dangerously close to our cars. The chopper was no more than 35 feet above our cars.
We were terribly frightened and began to speed up on the dirt road........trying frantically to get out of the situation to reach Hwy 375. The chopper continued to buzz us, circling over our cars, coming towards the front of our cars and following us, defying all Aviation regulations on public dirt roads........all the way to the Stop sign on Hwy 375, where the Lincoln County Sheriff patrol was blocking our entry to Hwy 375. The chopper then made a turn and went back towards Groom Lake.
We were all told to get out of our cars and it was then that the Lincoln County Sheriff Deputies demanded me to give out my Social Security Number and driver's license. We were all interrogated for about an hour or so right on Hwy 375 and Groom Lake Rd. It was my mistake to give him my SS number, because I learned later that I did not have to give out my SS number to a public official. Anyway, those were the days of my ignorance.
A gentleman by the name of Michael Bangs took some of the footages of the chase from inside his vehicle as he was following our car. Gary Schultz was also in another car. Another person was Louis Majas and also there was a gentleman by the name of Fred Isles. A reporter from a local Japanese newspaer in Los Angeles also took some photos while driving in the seven-car caravan.
In Reply to: Question for Norio Hayakawa posted by Jose on March 09, 2001 at 18:16:19 EST:
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