Phoenix News Choppers Collide

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 28, 2007 11:23 AM CDT
Phoenix News Choppers Collide
Two news helicopters fall after colliding in midair while covering a police pursuit in central Phoenix, Friday, July 27, 2007, killing everyone on both aircraft, police said. Both helicopters were from local television stations. KNXV-TV Channel 15 reported that one of the choppers belonged to its station....   (Associated Press)

Television reporters had to focus on their own yesterday, after a pair of news choppers from different stations collided over a Phoenix park, killing two pilots and two photographers. Both choppers were sending live footage of a police chase involving a stolen truck. "There was a huge boom," said one eyewitness who was almost directly below.

Colleagues on the ground were shocked. Jeff Cochran, one of the first cameramen to capture the tragedy, was a friend of one of the victims. Though accustomed to covering  tragedies, this time it hit "too close to home...Now I know how everybody else feels," he told the AP. Other reporters wiped away tears as they covered the catastrophe. (More journalist stories.)

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