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KTVK and NTSB Report

F

formeraa

I was impressed that KTVK brought in an aviation specialist from their sister station in Seattle to report on the preliminary NTSB report on the chopper crash. Glen Farley, from KING 5 in Seattle, has been an aviation reporter for a number of years now. Patti K. said that Glen was brought in to maintain a level of objectivity and as an aviation specialist.

Kudos to Belo and KTVK management for attempting to maintain a level of objectivity on this story. Also, I'm sure that it would be very difficult emotionally for a KTVK reporter to cover this story.
 
formeraa said:
Kudos to Belo and KTVK management for attempting to maintain a level of objectivity on this story. Also, I'm sure that it would be very difficult emotionally for a KTVK reporter to cover this story.
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I think probably KTVK and KNXV's lawyers have also told them, respectively, to be careful what they say on air about this event, particularly regarding cause. If they cover the story themselves at this stage it is better to have an outside party doing it.

This is just beginning for these stations...you have four deaths of men with families and two very expensive pieces of equipment destroyed. There will be an insurance investigation and lawyers will be looking to place the blame.

It could get pretty ugly before it's over.
 
Teddyo, you're quite right on the legal aspect. If there was a positive note about the chopper crash, it has to be that nobody on the ground was killed or injured. I can only imagine the legal issues if someone on the ground had been hurt or worse...

Sadly, this is probably going to get messy. :'(
 
I saw the report and thought it was outstanding. Belo is known for doing this kind of thing. At WFAA in Dallas, they brought in a reporter from their station in Houston to report on a circulation scandal at the Belo-owned Dallas Morning News (which also has a news-sharing agreement with WFAA.)

I know that no one wants to go into finding fault in this incident, but it's pretty clear now what happened:

Minutes before the crash the channel 15 pilot was heard saying he was right over the top of the channel 3 helicopter. The NTSB report showed that perception was a mistake and in reality he was underneath and slightly behind channel 3. I read somewhere else that the chatter in the channel 15 chopper was related to the pilot talking to his photographer trying to figure out where channel 3 was. If the photog was unclear in his communication or mistaken in what he saw, it could explain why the channel 15 pilot thought he was over channel 3 instead of under. If the channel 15 pilot thought he was over channel 3, the logical thing to do would be to go up. This would explain exactly what happened. 15 moved up and at the last second realized his mistake but hit 3 anyway. This would have likely cut off transmission from 3's chopper immediately as 15's blades chopped up the transmission equipment on the underside of 3's chopper. It would also explain why 15's signal stayed on all the way down since the only parts of his chopper damaged in the collision were the blades. (I'd be that somewhere in 15's building there's a tape with the full video all the way down - but it likely includes audio no one should ever hear)

If the 15 pilot was mistaken on where 3 was and was looking down at the action on the ground, it's easy to understand why they hit.

To me, the solution from here on out is to get the pilots off the air and make the photojournalists the ones responsible for talking to the anchors on the ground. If 15's pilot wasn't worried about what to say next or on looking at what was on the ground, he migh not have had the wrong perception.

The fact that this is the first such accident in the US is amazing to me. These guys do an amazing job flying every day. I am so sorry for the loss of these 4 guys. I hope that lessons learned here will prevent future accidents of this type.
 
tested said:
(I'd be that somewhere in 15's building there's a tape with the full video all the way down - but it likely includes audio no one should ever hear)

If the 15 pilot was mistaken on where 3 was and was looking down at the action on the ground, it's easy to understand why they hit.

To me, the solution from here on out is to get the pilots off the air and make the photojournalists the ones responsible for talking to the anchors on the ground. If 15's pilot wasn't worried about what to say next or on looking at what was on the ground, he migh not have had the wrong perception.

The fact that this is the first such accident in the US is amazing to me. These guys do an amazing job flying every day. I am so sorry for the loss of these 4 guys. I hope that lessons learned here will prevent future accidents of this type.
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You definitely would not want to hear that last piece of audio from Chopper 15. As the anchor quickly broke away from the live chopper feed, I heard something that really upset me for many days thereafter. If you've seen the video you'll know what I'm talking about. Horrible, just horrible. Definitely gave me a nightmare.
 
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
You definitely would not want to hear that last piece of audio from Chopper 15. As the anchor quickly broke away from the live chopper feed, I heard something that really upset me for many days thereafter. If you've seen the video you'll know what I'm talking about. Horrible, just horrible. Definitely gave me a nightmare.
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I heard the same thing too. It's bothered me ever since I heard it. I also know that no one has really discussed it because they don't want to admit what did get on the air. The whole thing makes me sick because it just seems to me that somehow it could have been avoided.
 
It's called a delay. Many stations around the country use them on live aerial coverage. This way "you" have editorial control over what ends up on air.
 
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