We just had 2 news helicopters crash mid-air over central Phoenix. Everybody's (5 stations') news helicopters were following a chase through the city, & somehow two of them managed to crash mid-air.
If/when y'all see the coverage, it looks like it's a big open area. In fact, they did happen to be over a park area, but the park ain't all that big, & it's in the middle of a dense office & residential area. Yeesh -- freaky. Here's a map of the immediate area -- you can pull up the arial image. The crash was by those 2 little lakes on the south side of the big circle drive in the middle of the park. The buildings on the immediate northwest corner of the park is my old high school. The buildings on the immediate east & southeast of the park are the Veteran's Hospital.
I work a little more than a mile south of there (Central & Thomas), I drive up that way for lunch sometimes. From what I am hearing on the radio, they just got too close and touched. Sounds like they did a good job of getting down in the park (all 4 on board both helicopters were killed),as there is a hospital next door, and many businesses in the immediate area.
Sounds like there should be plenty of information for NTSB to sort out whether it was mechanical failure or pilot error. From the eyewitness accounts, it might be either.
Meanwhile, the police got the suspect being chased when all this happened. Apparently we have legislation in place that makes him liable for ancilliary accidents that occur as a result of his chase.
Originally posted by emmaApparently we have legislation in place that makes him liable for ancilliary accidents that occur as a result of his chase.
Without knowing the specific law in this case, I find it hard to believe that the statute would apply for two asshat newschopper pilots who were trying to get the best angle for what they undoubtedly hoped would be a fiery crash. Making another motorist swerve into a bus, sure - rubbernecking media, not so much I would think?
Could this nimrod driver potentially get to go live with that crazy sheriff that passes out the pink undies?
Originally posted by TheOldManThank god no one on the ground was hit by debris.
Yeah -- middle of the day, middle of the summer. Not much of anybody around in the park itself. That's a good thing. It sounded like there were a few blade parts that got flung a long way, but most of the parts seemed to go pretty straight down in flames.
Originally posted by TheOldMan
Originally posted by emmaApparently we have legislation in place that makes him liable for ancilliary accidents that occur as a result of his chase.
Without knowing the specific law in this case, I find it hard to believe that the statute would apply for two asshat newschopper pilots who were trying to get the best angle for what they undoubtedly hoped would be a fiery crash. Making another motorist swerve into a bus, sure - rubbernecking media, not so much I would think?
Reporting is that the pusrsuit was in a lull at the time of the crash. Police cars *almost* had the guy surrounded when he jacked another car. So the police & media helicopters had been hanging out in a stable "formation" talking pictures. There's some audio from one of the other station's copters calling "helicopter down" & telling her camera operator to swing around north.
We'll have to see. The news people have been asking all the city officials about this, & the typical answer is that it'll be up to the [city/county/state] attorney, but basically, yes. My impression is that the news helicoptors are pretty tight with the police here -- you hear a lot more about the news pilots being helpful with search & rescue, & pursuits & such. I never hear at all about anything cranky or adversarial with the pilots. If it wasn't mechanical failure, it was something pretty weird.
Originally posted by TheOldManCould this nimrod driver potentially get to go live with that crazy sheriff that passes out the pink undies?
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Given the dark cloud gathering over Syria, I thought this was an intriguing piece of gamesmanship: Syria proposes Mideast free of WMD (CNN) This UN resolution and suggested treaty have interesting implications.
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