Two News Helicopters Crash in Phoenix, AZ

[HFD201 0]

Two News Helicopters have collided and crashed in Phoenix, Arizona while covering a high-speed pursuit. Fox News Channel had live coverage. It is unknown at this time how many people were on board. There are at least 2 fatalities at this time, one pilot and one cameraman. Crash occured around 1550 hours. The helicopters crashed into a local Phoenix Park narrowly avoiding crowded areas.

Edited July 27, 2007 by HFD201

[helicopper 1,050]

Two News Helicopters have collided and crashed in Phoenix, Arizona while covering a high-speed pursuit. Fox News Channel had live coverage. It is unknown at this time how many people were on board. There are at least 2 fatalities at this time. Crash occured around 1550 hours. The helicopters crashed into a local Phoenix Park

"Channel 3" and "Channel 15" helicopters collided in flight and crashed into a city park - it appears at this time that nobody survived the crash as both aircraft exploded on impact with the ground. They were covering a vehicle pursuit at the time. Probably two (perhaps 3) people on each aircraft.

A sad day for the media and aviation!

RIP!

Edited July 27, 2007 by Chris192

[DR104 141]

If they get the guy in the car chase can they charge him for the deaths of the people in the Helicopters? His action caused them to crash.

Edited July 27, 2007 by DR104

[SBVFD524 0]

how do u do that with all that space up there something had to go worng

[Bababoosky 24]

I would think that since they were both following the same pursuit, they might have gotten tunnel-vision, and the next thing they knew, it was unavoidable...

**GRAPHIC**

Last moments before helicopter impact

Edited July 27, 2007 by Bababoosky

[RescueKujo 130]

how do u do that with all that space up there something had to go worng

While I'm not 100% sure about Phoenix, which I believe has 3-4 news helos, here in SoCal air space over an incident is tough. LA has 5-6 helos, San Diego has 4, then add whatever law helos are involved. I have heard of pilots getting into trouble when they cut off the law helos. The only time air space generally isn't a problem is over a wildland fire, with all the big boy tankers coming in the helos stay away.

[RWC130 594]

Very sad day.... RIP!

[Guest]

how do u do that with all that space up there something had to go worng

big sky, little plane never works. It is not that much space when they are both competing for the same shot. I do not know how news copters work, and maybe Chris192 can weigh in on this, but I hope the pilot is not controlling the camera as well. In my opinion that would be a grievous distraction for even the most experienced pilot, especially when their job requires them to be in close proximity to other aircraft. I am looking forward to what the NTSB has to say and I will reserve further judgment till then.

God rest their souls. This is the traditional poem that is read at pilots funerals (and was quoted by Ronald Reagan during his famous speech after the challenger).

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings,

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

john magee

[bmfd231 3]

big sky, little plane never works. It is not that much space when they are both competing for the same shot. I do not know how news copters work, and maybe Chris192 can weigh in on this, but I hope the pilot is not controlling the camera as well. In my opinion that would be a grievous distraction for even the most experienced pilot, especially when their job requires them to be in close proximity to other aircraft. I am looking forward to what the NTSB has to say and I will reserve further judgment till then.

God rest their souls. This is the traditional poem that is read at pilots funerals (and was quoted by Ronald Reagan during his famous speech after the challenger).

High Flight

In NY and most other areas, Helo's take positions at different altitudes and use as dedicated frequency so all the pilots can talk to each other with position reports. I was once flying out of HPN and saw about 4 choppers over an accident on 287. They all chose a corner and different altitude about 2000 feet up. Departure also notifed me before takeoff of there location since they knew I was flying in that direction.

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

Chris you would probably be the go to guy on this topic but shouldn't the pilots be looking at something else other than the ground? I know that there are other factors like power lines and probably buildings but I don't think something like this should ever happen. Especially when there are two PILOTS. Isn't there some kind of communication between both helicpoters? I know they are from different NEWS CHANNELS but do they communicate with a TOWER. Also wondering if they knew if one another were in the air.

It is just a tragedy that something like this could happen.

[JohnnyOV 2]

Chris you would probably be the go to guy on this topic but shouldn't the pilots be looking at something else other than the ground? I know that there are other factors like power lines and probably buildings but I don't think something like this should ever happen. Especially when there are two PILOTS. Isn't there some kind of communication between both helicpoters? I know they are from different NEWS CHANNELS but do they communicate with a TOWER. Also wondering if they knew if one another were in the air.

It is just a tragedy that something like this could happen.

"I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said without elaborating.

Chris you would probably be the go to guy on this topic but shouldn't the pilots be looking at something else other than the ground? I know that there are other factors like power lines and probably buildings but I don't think something like this should ever happen. Especially when there are two PILOTS. Isn't there some kind of communication between both helicpoters? I know they are from different NEWS CHANNELS but do they communicate with a TOWER. Also wondering if they knew if one another were in the air.

It is just a tragedy that something like this could happen.

here is a link that lets you see what kind of airspace covers the united states. More then likely the helicopters were flying in what is called "Class E" air space. The only radio communication that is required is if you are flying in "Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) weather", which is visibility less then 3 miles, and a couple hundred feet close to clouds. If the pilot did not file an IFR flight plan, then no radio communication is required. Now if I remember correctly from the pictures that were shown of the crash scene, the day looked pretty clear, so more then likely the pilots had filed a "Visual Flight Rule (VFR)" flight plan, or no flight plan at all, which would require no radio communication at all.

Hope that helped

[helicopper 1,050]

Given where these guys were, there is a chance they were operating in Sky Harbor Airport's class B airspace with the permisison of air traffic control. These guys are all very professional and experienced flight crews and there will be speculation for quite some time about what actually happened. While there is "competition" among the networks, the aircrews work together as other people have already posted. In addition to air traffic control frequencies, there are air-to-air frequencies that allow the news and law enforcement aircraft to coordinate their operations. There was a pilot and reporter/cameraman in each helicopter so the pilot was not doing both jobs.

There's one report of a pilot broadcasting something about a mechanical failure but it's unclear if that was before or after the collision.

Unfortunately, when you put that many aircraft in such close proximity there is a chance (usually a remote chance) that something like this can happen. Just like cars and apparatus, aircraft have blind spots, someone may have been in the sun and not seen - who knows!

I wish I knew exactly what happened but that may never be known.

The airspace around Phoenix is pretty complex - here's a map of it:

[RescueKujo 130]

Chris-Thank you very much for your insight. It is very helpful in trying to understand how something like this may have happened.

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

Thanks Chris. Sounds like something else may have gone wrong.

[helicopper 1,050]

Thanks Chris. Sounds like something else may have gone wrong.

If you watch the video that Bababoosky posted a link to, it seems that the Channel 15 helicopter never saw it coming. That's purely speculation on my part but it fits with what you see.

Something may have gone wrong in the Channel 3 ship.

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

Here is my thing. Do the Helicopters fly at the same altitude? It just seems like the pilots should have seen each other unless 1 copter fell out of the sky and hit the other one.

[helicopper 1,050]

Here is my thing. Do the Helicopters fly at the same altitude? It just seems like the pilots should have seen each other unless 1 copter fell out of the sky and hit the other one.

Usually they'd be at somewhat different altitudes - one at 1000 feet, another at 1200 feet, etc. Air traffic control may have restricted them to a single altitude if they were right near the runways at Sky Harbor but that's pretty unusual.

As pilots, it is our job to see and avoid other aircraft so regardless of mechanical failure or anything else, pilot error will be a contributing factor I'm sure. The FAA almost always finds that in aircraft accidents.