Press: Pilot Error?

A TV chopper reporter dies

In the gizmo-fancying world of local TV news, the helicopter rivals the minicam as the novelty of the moment. Choppers can cost $300,000 or more, but they give some 250 TV station news crews speed and mobility, and serve as remote transmitters for pictures ranging from traffic to catastrophes. But the ratings race can tempt copter reporters to chase sensation, making aerial derring-do part of the story, and to take needless risks.

Within the past few years, broadcast crews have died in helicopter crashes near Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston...

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