News helicopters collide

[DolphinChicaDDD]

The whole thing was terrible. I had just been driving around to pick up lunch for the office, and saw the police chase. 10 minutes later, I'm up in my office eating lunch with my coworkers and watching all the helicopters and we saw the two collide. My office is a few blocks away, but it was still difficult to see. It did look like the blue one t boned the other helicopter. Not much at work got done after that...a few coworkers talked to the police, but yeah, it was pretty scary to see. And right before they hit, we were all talking about how many helicopters were up there and how it didn't look safe at all.

They had mentioned on the news that the police we thinking of charging the guy who started the chase with the deaths of the news people...that I'm not sure how I feel about.

[DeltAlum]

Police forces all over the country have adopted policies about when to abort a high speed chase for the safety of not only the officers involved, but also the general public.

Even though this is the first time I'm aware of that two news helicopters have collided, it may be time for news organizations to put competition aside and figure out a way for one station/copter to "pool" video. It shouldn't be too hard for several stations to receive anothers microwave signals simultaneously since many use the same frequency range, and simply tune to different channels within that range.

I know how careful these pilots are having flown with them, but when the pilot is also the reporter, it may be too much for one person.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

An eyewitness said, on camera, that he was eating lunch at Steele Park (he is a construction worker, working on Light Rail I believe) and he said that the blue chopter (ABC 15) was coming around and hit the channel 3 chopter that was stationary. Who knows though. Basically, the AZ republic said that when they (the pilots) are given clearance by the tower to be in the area, the tower then backs off and the pilots communicate with each other. A former pilot said that it is crazy up there because they are 1) communicating with the other pilots 2) communicating with their station 3) listening to the police scanner 4) giving live reports all at the same time. It can be pretty chaotic.

My heart goes out to everyone.

I heard, maybe from the same guy you saw, that the one helicopter got too close and got sucked into the other one. A horrible story though.

[AlphaSigOU]

The main rule - and one rammed into us who's ever taken flying lessons - is to 'see and avoid'. Fly the airplane and keep an eye out for traffic and an ear open for traffic calls from ATC.

As an observer and scanner with CAP, I'm trained to keep my head on a swivel looking for traffic on the right side of the aircraft if I'm occupying the observer seat or the left side if I'm in the scanner seat.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by AlphaSigOU

The main rule - and one rammed into us who's ever taken flying lessons - is to 'see and avoid'. Fly the airplane and keep an eye out for traffic and an ear open for traffic calls from ATC.

As an observer and scanner with CAP, I'm trained to keep my head on a swivel looking for traffic on the right side of the aircraft if I'm occupying the observer seat or the left side if I'm in the scanner seat.

Take that and add to it watching what's on your station's air, what your cameraperson is shooting, the event happening on the ground AND keeping a verbal description of everything else on the air and answering questions from the anchors.

I feel a lot better when there is a separate reporter onboard to handle those last items. It goes both ways, depending on whether the pilot can talk or not.

There are enough distractions for the pilot when they're in heavy traffic such as a situation like this one.

[Tom Earp]

We have one Chopper Pilot who does the reports and loves to get involved in chases if need be. But he has been doing for a very long time. The other three are Pilot driven and spotters/reporters on board.


Having flown in a small plane one time I agree with AlphaSigOU, boy was my head on the move alot!

While the sky is big in SE Ks. it only takes a moment to have a problem, it can happen.

While I never flew in one of our P D Choppers, I rode where they were parked and they were very little, not like on TV! Scarry!

One thing to remember, the choppers are on radar, I have heard Johnny talking to them in the middle of a report! That comes first of course.

No glide path on a chopper!

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by DolphinChicaDDD

The whole thing was terrible. I had just been driving around to pick up lunch for the office, and saw the police chase. 10 minutes later, I'm up in my office eating lunch with my coworkers and watching all the helicopters and we saw the two collide. My office is a few blocks away, but it was still difficult to see. It did look like the blue one t boned the other helicopter. Not much at work got done after that...a few coworkers talked to the police, but yeah, it was pretty scary to see. And right before they hit, we were all talking about how many helicopters were up there and how it didn't look safe at all.

They had mentioned on the news that the police we thinking of charging the guy who started the chase with the deaths of the news people...that I'm not sure how I feel about.

Okay I thought it was bad just watching what they showed on the news, but to be as close as you were. I just can't even imagine.

As for the man, they can charge because he was in the process of committing multiple felonies and if something occurs as a result of what he is doing he can be charged. So if instead when he ran the red light he caused a crash that killed two people, he could be charged with Vehicular manslaughter or higher because he was committing a felony at the time. Does that make sense?

It's almost the same as the people charged with the cop being killed. A cop was killed Friday night (Friday sucked in Phoenix) by a man who with his girlfriend went to a check cashing place with a bad check. The man shot and killed the officer but the girlfriend was charged with 1st degree murder as well, because AZ allows her to charged because she was committing a felony when the shooting occured.

I say this to give another example of how they can and will charge this man.

I actually feel bad for the county ADA. People are going to want "blood" (so to speak), so they are essentially put in a rock in a hard place. If they don't charge the guy, the community will be outraged.

But I also have to think that he deserves to be charged. If he had not stolen a car and committed a felony, those helicopters wouldn't have been up there following him. I very much believe their collision is his fault. I get that not everyone is going to feel the same way I feel though.