On Jul 31, 4:00 pm, john smith wrote:
This is not a new problem. I remember 25 years ago an article in Rotor &
Wing about a local group of helicopter pilots somewhere (news gathering,
police, air evac) sitting down and formalizing the priorities,
altitudes, direction of orbit, etc. for arrival on the scene of whatever
they were covering. To the best of my knowledge, they were the only ones
who did it. I ask one of the local news pilots where I live if the local
pilots were going to get together and for such a pact. His response was
that his station wouldn't agree to anything like that.

Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:



Seems to be some hysteria about the recent collision in Phoenix. It
was a pure and simple see and avoid problem. Doesn't matter who had
right of way, if they were adhering to FAR's or not, bottom line is
two helicopters tried to inhabit the same airspace with the fatal
results of four dead simply to cover a news story that was not all
that newsworthy.
SEE AND AVOID.
Someone screwed up. Let the lawsuits begin....................- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

My experience is pretty old so I dont know how current it is...butwhen
I was in grad school I helped install the avionics on the helo of a
major news channel in ATL. They started out flying with a helo pilot,
a camera tech, Heather the Helicopter Bunny and an engineer. I was
trying to bum rotor wing time so sometimes I did that and babysat the
equipment that was still (then) pretty new.

That worked pretty good, but there was absolutly no coordination
between the three news choppers. The news choppers could and would
coordinate with all the official vehicles and of course ATC, but the
only coordination was between the pilots and it was essentially off
the record.

Eventually I moved on to something else and Heather the Helo babe was
replaced with a "Pilot reporter" and a camera person. The PR "Bruce
the sky pilot" also like to think he was an engineer so eventually
even the station engineer left the helo.

I think that they are now all essentially two people flights.

That was actually (when Iwas riding) some fun. Heather the helo babe
was quite cool and we use to have all sorts of fun for the hour and
one half that we were "up and on call"...nothing like stopping at the
Varsity for some chili cheese dogs...

Robert