It’s Just a Helicopter, Right?

A clip of a UAP captured on video by the author

This became my go-to sarcastic phrase whenever I shared a UAP video or image I’d recently captured.

“It’s just a helicopter, right?”

Yes, there was anger behind those words — and there still is at times. Anger. Frustration. Resentment. Bitterness. All of it.

That was the world I lived in.

I would capture something unusual, spend hours reviewing it, researching it, comparing it against known aircraft, and almost everyone I knew would immediately begin explaining it away.

I’m perfectly content when something is legitimately debunked. In fact, I often find that comforting. The unknown can be unsettling.

What I find offensive is the obvious gaslighting — the dismissal of something without any genuine curiosity or investigation.

Those who know me know that I’m logical first. I value evidence. When I don’t know something, I research it until I understand it.

I’m also familiar with aviation.

I’ve flown and landed small aircraft. I’ve taken the required classes. I have experience with military and public safety operations. I have a solid working knowledge of helicopters, tilt-rotor aircraft, jets, drones, ultralights, gliders, airspace regulations, meteorology, technology, and mechanical systems.

I’ve spent more than thirty years asking questions of pilots, mechanics, military personnel, engineers, and anyone else with expertise in these fields. I live next to an extremely active military installation, and I worked in public safety and law enforcement for nearly twenty years.

In other words, my questions — and my conclusions — come from a respectable foundation of knowledge.

That’s why it’s so insulting to hear, “It’s just a helicopter.”

Recently, the U.S. government released its third batch of declassified UAP files on WAR.GOV. Naturally, I downloaded everything and opened the very first video.

I sat there staring at my screen.

A clip of a UAP captured on video by the author

“Is that…my video?”

“No. Seriously…is it?”

The government’s footage is far clearer than anything I’ve ever captured, so no — it wasn’t mine.

But it looked incredibly familiar.

The emotions that flooded over me were difficult to describe.

Excitement.

Validation.

Disbelief.

Then something I wasn’t expecting…

Betrayal.

I suddenly understood how easy it had been for people to dismiss everything I’d documented over the years simply because I was an ordinary person recording videos in my backyard.

It was easier to dismiss me than to question deeply held assumptions.

The first time I captured something truly unidentifiable on two cameras simultaneously, I wasn’t okay for days.

Days!

I was using two full-spectrum cameras recording at 200 frames per second (which, by the way, I highly recommend trying if you’re interested in this subject). Whatever crossed above me passed directly overhead.

I never saw it.

I never heard it.

I never felt it.

Only later did I discover it in the footage.

That realization genuinely shook me. There is an enormous difference between believing something might exist and realizing you’ve personally witnessed something you cannot explain.

Acceptance took time.

Now the government is releasing footage that, in some cases, closely resembles the kinds of phenomena I’ve documented myself.

Ironically, that has forced me into another round of acceptance.

I hadn’t realized how much comfort I’d taken in telling myself, “It’s probably military testing. They’re experimenting with technology we simply don’t know about yet.”

Even though, deep down, I knew that explanation didn’t fit every case.

So here we are.

The government is now publicly releasing unresolved UAP files. Some of those videos look remarkably similar to things I’ve spent years documenting.

Will that change anyone’s mind?

Or will it still be…

“It’s just a helicopter?”