Most of the stuff I saw online ranged from $110-$140 per hour for a Cessna 182 class. Highest was $240. This is all without pilot, so figure over $200 per hour with pilot. Someone recently remarked that something like the jetcopter is around $1000 per hour, but I couldn't verify that. I do know that years ago, a regular chopper was $400 per hour, while a Cessna was about $45. The choppers are more flexible in where they can fly, and the jetcopter is faster, but it's a huge expense for regular traffic. KRON dropped their chopper in the afternoons a few months ago. KCBS has always flown a couple of fixed wing planes, and it looks like KGO has just adapted this model (plus the "Super Commuter" in a car.)
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The Much Storied "KGO JET COPTER 810" NO LONGER as of Friday!
- Thread starter lostinspace
- Start date
calguy said:
The need for airborne reports has decreased since most big cities have traffic sensors and cameras that are much more up to the moment; it takes time for an airborn reporter to even notice a problem. In many cities, events of recent years have caused more airspace restrictions to go into effect, limiting the areas a plane or helicopter can fly. And in most places the cost of liability insurance has increased so much that flying over urban areas for hours and hours a day is prohibitive.
Add to this the decreased need by many listeners for reports... due to real time traffic on GPS devices or smart phones, and this is one place where the need can be fulfilled without the costs and hazards.
J
JEREMIAH
Guest
David Kaye:
Choppers cost more because they cost more to begin with and to maintain them is very costly :ie the rotors need to be replaced after so many hours whether they show wear or not. other stuff, too.
Jet copters are faster...think of turbo jet airplanes.
Jerry Gordon
Choppers cost more because they cost more to begin with and to maintain them is very costly :ie the rotors need to be replaced after so many hours whether they show wear or not. other stuff, too.
Jet copters are faster...think of turbo jet airplanes.
Jerry Gordon
There is value in airborne just as there is value in cameras and sensors. Airbornes rarely "discover" traffic incidents; their value is in the story telling and play by play they provide once over the incident. What ultimately makes radio work in the community is the sense of community it creates. Research shows that 48% of FM listeners now commute in excess of 150 mikes per week, and 22% of FM listeners will leave their station to find traffic somewhere else if that station isn't providing it.
"KGO JET COPTER 810"
I am very late to this discussion but I had the pleasure to be employed by Commodore Helicopters from 1978 to mid 1984. Lu Hurley owned Commodore helicopters, which leased his Bell Jet Ranger helicopter to KGO radio as well as flying tourists from Pier 43/1/2 at Fisherman's Wharf. I was Lu's primary pilot and Director of Operations for about 4 years, and shared the flying duties with Rusty Johnson and Bobby "Z" for the rest of my tenure at Commodore. Lu was a great fellow to work for and had remarkable dedication to doing the traffic. He was an employee of KGO but realized most of his income from his helicopters. During the late 70's he did not fly a "jet copter". He flew a Bell 47J Ranger, which was an enclosed model seating up to 4 passengers of a type similar to the helicopters seen on MASH. Rusty Johnson was Lu's primary pilot during those days and even did some work as a traffic reporter during Lu's absence, when Lu was ill. Rusty left Commodore to fly in Alaska as a bush helicopter pilot, where he was gravely hurt in a crash. After years of rehabilitation, Rusty returned to Commodore only to be killed in a crash flying into power lines in, I believe, Solano county in the late 80's. Lu used his Jet Ranger for much of the time. N647L was the registration. There were up to 3 other helicopters that filled in for 47-Lima. It was noteworthy because it was the only Jet Ranger in the Bay Area with fixed floats, pontoons. Lu bought a brand new Jet Ranger that was originally supposed to go to Dole pineapple in Hawaii. It was tropical colored in yellow, green and orange. Lu had all his helicopters painted to match this one. So in those days the "Hurleybird" or the Jet Copter was not red. Interestingly, Lu always wanted a solid red aircraft but chose to paint his helicopters as pineapples. In those days we did a traffic report from about 6:30 until just before 8:30 and another around the evening commute. Lu was strict that we would never do any other work for other stations on the KGO traffic report. At times we did do TV work for channels 4, 5 and 7. When I left in 1984 we had a 24/7 contract with KPIX TV in another dedicated helicopter. I got to fly with Stan Burford when he was just breaking into the flying traffic reporter role at KGO. He was and is a great guy. Helicopters are expensive to operate. Lu paid nearly 400K for one in the early 80's. We used to time the flight so that the last report was given over the heliport at Mill Valley. This way we didn't have expensive air time--not the radios time but the helicopters time in flight--to get from our final report to the heliport. In the 6 years I flew Lu on these, he always made sure we ended up right over the heliport and every time pointed down as he gave his last report. He was unshakeable. Sometimes I used to dive the helicopter in a very rapid descent to see if I could effect his report. Never happened. Lu was also known to enjoy a drink from time to time. We had gimbal mounted cup holders mounted in the aircraft so that in turns, climbs, descents or rough air his adult beverages wouldn't spill. He would keep open seats in the back of the aircraft, it would hold 3 passengers in kinda of a tight fit. KGO used to put contest winners, sponsors, etc in the aircraft. Lu, although happily married to Sam, used to like an attractive woman in the back. We tried to accommodate him by offering a KGO traffic report flight around the Bay Area to women who arrived at our tourist location at the wharf. In fact I met my wife this way in 1982 on Lu's Hurleybird...
Steve Greene
I am very late to this discussion but I had the pleasure to be employed by Commodore Helicopters from 1978 to mid 1984. Lu Hurley owned Commodore helicopters, which leased his Bell Jet Ranger helicopter to KGO radio as well as flying tourists from Pier 43/1/2 at Fisherman's Wharf. I was Lu's primary pilot and Director of Operations for about 4 years, and shared the flying duties with Rusty Johnson and Bobby "Z" for the rest of my tenure at Commodore. Lu was a great fellow to work for and had remarkable dedication to doing the traffic. He was an employee of KGO but realized most of his income from his helicopters. During the late 70's he did not fly a "jet copter". He flew a Bell 47J Ranger, which was an enclosed model seating up to 4 passengers of a type similar to the helicopters seen on MASH. Rusty Johnson was Lu's primary pilot during those days and even did some work as a traffic reporter during Lu's absence, when Lu was ill. Rusty left Commodore to fly in Alaska as a bush helicopter pilot, where he was gravely hurt in a crash. After years of rehabilitation, Rusty returned to Commodore only to be killed in a crash flying into power lines in, I believe, Solano county in the late 80's. Lu used his Jet Ranger for much of the time. N647L was the registration. There were up to 3 other helicopters that filled in for 47-Lima. It was noteworthy because it was the only Jet Ranger in the Bay Area with fixed floats, pontoons. Lu bought a brand new Jet Ranger that was originally supposed to go to Dole pineapple in Hawaii. It was tropical colored in yellow, green and orange. Lu had all his helicopters painted to match this one. So in those days the "Hurleybird" or the Jet Copter was not red. Interestingly, Lu always wanted a solid red aircraft but chose to paint his helicopters as pineapples. In those days we did a traffic report from about 6:30 until just before 8:30 and another around the evening commute. Lu was strict that we would never do any other work for other stations on the KGO traffic report. At times we did do TV work for channels 4, 5 and 7. When I left in 1984 we had a 24/7 contract with KPIX TV in another dedicated helicopter. I got to fly with Stan Burford when he was just breaking into the flying traffic reporter role at KGO. He was and is a great guy. Helicopters are expensive to operate. Lu paid nearly 400K for one in the early 80's. We used to time the flight so that the last report was given over the heliport at Mill Valley. This way we didn't have expensive air time--not the radios time but the helicopters time in flight--to get from our final report to the heliport. In the 6 years I flew Lu on these, he always made sure we ended up right over the heliport and every time pointed down as he gave his last report. He was unshakeable. Sometimes I used to dive the helicopter in a very rapid descent to see if I could effect his report. Never happened. Lu was also known to enjoy a drink from time to time. We had gimbal mounted cup holders mounted in the aircraft so that in turns, climbs, descents or rough air his adult beverages wouldn't spill. He would keep open seats in the back of the aircraft, it would hold 3 passengers in kinda of a tight fit. KGO used to put contest winners, sponsors, etc in the aircraft. Lu, although happily married to Sam, used to like an attractive woman in the back. We tried to accommodate him by offering a KGO traffic report flight around the Bay Area to women who arrived at our tourist location at the wharf. In fact I met my wife this way in 1982 on Lu's Hurleybird...
Steve Greene
Re: "KGO JET COPTER 810"
Steve, thanks for a great history!
As I remembrer, the Rusty Johnson crash was the one that killed rock impresario Bill Graham and staffers on flight from the Concord Pavilion. It was raining badly and windy when the copter ran into a high voltage tower.
greenaire said:
Steve, thanks for a great history!
As I remembrer, the Rusty Johnson crash was the one that killed rock impresario Bill Graham and staffers on flight from the Concord Pavilion. It was raining badly and windy when the copter ran into a high voltage tower.
Graham had visited Huey Lewis and the News backstage at a show at the Concord Pavilion and was trying to get back to his home in Marin County in a terrible rainstorm. There was some debate as to who (Graham or his pilot) was most intent on flying thru the bad weather. Forgot the whole story.
Unless Rusty Johnson's real name was Steve Kahn, then Rusty wasn't Bill Graham's pilot that night in October 1991. There were no "staffers" on the flight; only Graham, his girlfriend Melissa Gold, and the pilot (Steve Kahn) were on board.
Rusty never flew Bill Graham. Steve Kahn was Bill Graham's airplane guy amongst other things. Rusty was killed doing a power line patrol. The other crash you may be referring to was in 1992 when Pat Walters hit wires near the Carquinez Straits. Pat never worked for Lu or KGO radio but did take some flight training in one of Lu's helicopters. Pat was a business partner of Bob Bondurant. Lu had traded some flight time on one of his Jet Rangers when Bondurant still ran the high performance driving school at Sears point. Lu got two high speed driving courses from Bob in exchange for a few hours in Lu's "Jet Copter". Bob couldn't do the flying so he let Pat. Pat showed up at the heliport at Mill Valley, by the houseboats, driving a souped up blue Ferrari. I put Pat up with one of our instructor pilots and mentioned to him that it was only fair that since he was taking my helicopter that I should get his Ferrari. Pat flipped me the keys and for the next 3 days while he flew in Lu's helicopter, I drove the very high performance Ferrari around Marin and San Francisco. Lu didn't mind because he had a one-of-a-kind custom made Porshe 928 convertible, which Lu also let me drive.
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