Help identifying this UFO photo

[Charlie Wiser]

From Center for UFO Studies "On this day in 1987" (Facebook post):

ON THIS DAY IN 1987. May 26, 1987. 9:30–10:15 p.m. More than 100 people around Newtown and Southbury, Connecticut, see a low-flying, silent, circular formation of lights that passes over Interstate 84, causing many cars to pull over for a look and some to lose power. Commercial airline pilot Randy Etting sees the lights as he is driving along I-94[84?]. He pulls off the road and snaps a photo of the formation. He is sure there is a solid object behind the lights.

Several people in the comments report seeing (or hearing about) a similar "UFO" from quite recently to as far back as the 70s, with someone offering the suggestion that it was a

Hughes 500p "quiet" helicopter with circular lights... The light circle suspended below the helicopter could be any width. I saw them use this in 2007.

I can't find any photos of a helicopter carrying a suspended circle of lights and don't know of a reason it might do that.

The case is written up here and here and includes some contradictory info but I'm more interested in the photo and the idea it's something suspended under a helicopter. Details FWIW:

• length of a football field
• altitude 1,000-1300 feet.
• semi-circle or boomerang shape
• 200 witnesses
• "The lights were shimmering like distortion from engine heat, but he could hear no sound."
• Some witnesses said it hovered for several minutes.

Can anyone illuminate the helicopter idea, or offer suggestions for what the photo shows?

 

[NorCal Dave]

The case is written up here

This links to a "Best UFO Pictures" site.

Interesting, if one goes to this link of "Best UFO Pictures" for given years one gets the photo in question from 1987, but also a similar photo from 1982-83 from the former East Germany:

Unfortunately, there is not a bigger version of this photo on the webs and very little detail. Clicking on it just returns a 404 error.

 

[JMartJr]

I can't find any helicopter suspended circular light arrays, either. But the picture being taken by a pilot. I did wonder what sort of things a pilot might see that could be photographed if he wanted to "get in on the act" and do the "T saw it too" game during a UFO moment with a ring of lights reported

Things that are at least vaguely similar and that might be seen by a pilot:

Sports arena

Helipad:

Off-ramp/roundabout:

Carnival rides:

One thing I am aware of from reading older UFO books is the light-array-bearing advertising helicopter/plane bearing a light display. At one time they were fairly common, and resulted in several mass-witness UFO cases. If needed, I can dig back into my stack of books and find a reference to the association of these choppers/planes with UFO reports, but I doubt this is really relevant to this particular case, as the display light seem to have been a rectangular grid that could do a "text crawl" when viewed from below, but just looked like strange lights in the sky from other angles:

But here is an image or two of such a helicopter:

(I suspect that second one is photoshopped)
Sources for chopper pics: https://www.theskywriters.com/aerial-advertising-suggested-events and https://wildonmedia.com/what-we-do/aerial-advertising/sky-nightsigns/

I can't find any examples with a circular sign, and can't think of any reason to have one.

 

[john.phil]

or offer suggestions for what the photo shows?

That is a photo taken during the Hudson Valley 1983-84 sightings. Supposedly created by single engine aircraft fitted with special illumination and flying in formation at night.

The 1984 Hudson Valley UFO Sightings, also called "The Westchester Boomerang",[2] were UFO sightings that stretched throughout 1983–1984[3] in New York and Western Connecticut. Pilots flew Cessna 152s in tight formation with bright lights that could change colors. State police reported that the pilots expressed amusement at the confusion caused by their hoax. Subsequent news stories, books, and other publicity helped make the sightings significant in local history and ufology lore.

Identification

A state police officer of Troop K followed the lights to the small Stormville Airport in Dutchess County and reported back to Sgt. Kenneth V. Spiro: "It was a group of light planes. They fly in formation. The undersides and under the wings are painted black, so they can't be seen from the ground. The planes are rigged with bright lights that they can turn from one color to another. It's the lights that give the shape to the U.F.O." According to the police officer who spoke to a couple of the pilots, "they're getting a big kick out of it. There's no violation of the law here."[4]

(...)

Discover Magazine in 1984 reported that a group of pilots practicing their formation skills, first in the day time, then when they became more confident, at night, "became tight formations of aircraft with as little as 6 inches between wingtips." According to skeptical writer Brian Dunning, "there's no evidence that these pilots ever intended a UFO hoax" but "when local newspapers began printing stories about strange sightings and experiences, and television stations ran tapes of the mysterious lights in the sky, the pilots were incredulous, then amused. The group began calling themselves the Martians.
/EX]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Hudson_Valley_UFO_sightings

The Hudson Valley UFO Mystery

What about reports of the UFO lights suddenly all going off at once? Discover continued:

Flying Cessna 152s and other single engine planes in tight formations, they might all douse their exterior lights at the same time... This will result in reports about UFOs that suddenly disappeared from the sky. They vary their formations, from crescents and circles to crosses that looked from the ground like diamonds or V's, giving rise to reports about different and sometimes startling UFO shapes.

source: https://web.archive.org/web/20231204001230/https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4598