helicopter collision phoenix

Doug Semler writes:

I was reading one of the stories and it said the reporter was the
pilot? I would think that would make it even MORE difficult to "see
and avoid..."

There was a crew of two in each aircraft, pilot and journalist. However, some
news helicopter pilots do double as journalists; I don't know to what extent
that may have been true here. Clearly, the pilots were not spending enough
time on the piloting task in any case.

C J Campbell writes:

Some news reports are saying the carjacker will be charged with the
deaths of the people killed in the crash.

Typical emotional overreaction. The pilots were the only people at fault.

I am not sure how they would get a conviction, though.

By using the same irrational emotional basis for a verdict in the trial that
was used to file the charges in the first place.

Jay Beckman writes:

Entertainment value has nothing to do with it.

Entertainment has everything to do with the news today.

The ability to get on top of, and stay on top of a breaking story
insert your own worthy definition here is the coal that fires the
sales department. Wanting to be top dog and be able to proclaim that
"When News Breaks, We Fix It..! *" equates to more advertising
dollars. Cash is King.

Same thing. See above.

Unfortunately, there is a rampant sense of "If It Bleeds, It Leads" in
many newsrooms now days and the Phoenix market (being relatively close
to Los Angeles both physically and in attitude) tends to follow that
trend to a fault.

It has been a vice of the news media since time immemorial, or at least since
they had to to depend on circulation or viewership to generate revenue.

"Morgans" wrote in message ...

It is FAR past time for the media to stop covering these chases by chasing and filming them in their helicopters. The
public can do without it. It does no good to stop the criminal behavior.

As a matter of fact, there is good evidence that some of the chases happen, so the runner will have a chance to get on
TV.

Don't get me wrong. I feel for the people and friends of those that crashed.

This is one circus we can do without. There is no benefit, only risk; needless risk - it was bound to happen sooner
or later. Media and police need to make an agreement that they will not film these chases anymore.

soapbox off
--
Jim in NC

So I suppose you could say the same thing about the P-51 accident at OSH. Why did they do a formation landing? Any
number of things could happen that could lead to a similar accident. The formation landing was only for expediency,
showmanship, and entertainment value.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
C J Campbell writes:

Some news reports are saying the carjacker will be charged with the
deaths of the people killed in the crash.

Typical emotional overreaction. The pilots were the only people at fault.


The helicoptors wouldn't have been following the asshole if he hadn't been
running, but typical MX non-medicated response.

--------------------------------------------
DW

"Blueskies" wrote in message
.. .

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

It is FAR past time for the media to stop covering these chases by
chasing and filming them in their helicopters. The public can do without
it. It does no good to stop the criminal behavior.

As a matter of fact, there is good evidence that some of the chases
happen, so the runner will have a chance to get on TV.

Don't get me wrong. I feel for the people and friends of those that
crashed.

This is one circus we can do without. There is no benefit, only risk;
needless risk - it was bound to happen sooner or later. Media and police
need to make an agreement that they will not film these chases anymore.

soapbox off
--
Jim in NC

So I suppose you could say the same thing about the P-51 accident at OSH.
Why did they do a formation landing? Any number of things could happen
that could lead to a similar accident. The formation landing was only for
expediency, showmanship, and entertainment value.



The very reason people go to OSH.

-------------------------------------------------
DW

"Blueskies" wrote

So I suppose you could say the same thing about the P-51 accident at OSH.
Why did they do a formation landing? Any number of things could happen
that could lead to a similar accident. The formation landing was only for
expediency, showmanship, and entertainment value.

You know, I thought it was very strange, when I heard it happened in a
formation landing.

I can't recall ever seeing a formation landing, of ANY type of plane at OSH,
the 5 years I have been there.

Unnecessary risk? Yep, I think so. Look what happened. In BOTH cases. At
least at OSH, there is showmanship happening. The only thing show in
covering a car chase is showing how stupid a perp. can be.

It would need to come down as a moral agreement among the stations in a
market, saying, "we will not cover car chases."

A similar type of thing is the governments stand that they will not
negotiate with kidnapers or terrorists.

You just have to decide it is wrong, and say no.
--
Jim in NC

"Darkwing" theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote in message
...

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
C J Campbell writes:

Some news reports are saying the carjacker will be charged with the
deaths of the people killed in the crash.

Typical emotional overreaction. The pilots were the only people at
fault.


The helicoptors wouldn't have been following the asshole if he hadn't been
running, but typical MX non-medicated response.

I see his legal knowledge equals his aviation knowledge.

Mxsmanic wrote:

C J Campbell writes:

Some news reports are saying the carjacker will be charged with the
deaths of the people killed in the crash.

Typical emotional overreaction. The pilots were the only people at
fault.

I am not sure how they would get a conviction, though.

By using the same irrational emotional basis for a verdict in the
trial that was used to file the charges in the first place.

Nothing emotional or irrational about it. Most states have laws that
allow people who commit crimes to be charged with murder, if a death of
any kind is a result of the crime. It doesn't matter if the person
intended to cause death, or even if they had a direct hand in it.

As examples, a group of men committed a robbery in Florida, and fled in a
car. The police chased the car, which ran off the road and hit a tree,
resulting in the death of one of the occupants. All of the rest of the
group were charged with murder even though only one was driving, and even
though the person who died was one of their accomplices.

In another case, two people drove to a house with the intention of
robbing it. One stayed in the car, while the other entered the house. A
struggle ensued with the occupant of the house, who died in the struggle.
The person who remained in the car was charged with murder, even though
he did not have a hand in it, did not have a weapon, and was not
expecting that there would be violence.

Thus, expect to see the person in Phoenix charged with murder, and likely
be convicted.

On Jul 27, 7:35 pm, Doug Semler wrote:
On Jul 27, 4:53 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:





Gattman wrote:
This sucks. Bad guy 2, police 0, media -2+

Jul 27 04:03 PM US/Eastern (AP)

Two television news helicopters collided Friday and crashed while
covering a police pursuit. Both helicopters went down in a park and
were on fire. There was no immediate word on the fate of those aboard.

When I was with a TV station that had a helicopter (I only worked in the
helicopter on one story) there was an agreement that one station would do
this sort of stuff at x altitude, the other would be at x-200 and x+200. I
think the police were even in on this little agreement and they stayed at
their altitude.

When they had to leave the set altitude radio calls were made and eyes were
looking even more than normal.

I was reading one of the stories and it said the reporter was the
pilot? I would think that would make it even MORE difficult to "see
and avoid..."- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The pilot/reporter gig is pretty typical. In the 80's it was mostly
reporters with pilots (and camera crew/s) but the trend started to be
to have someone who could fly, talk and do PR...I dont know what the
mix is now, but by the time I left grad school in ATL...all the tv
chopper people were "Action reporter/pilot" nonesense. And that
seemed to be the industry trend.

Robert