VM
Ocean/Power FM's plane had Spencer Kelly as the reporter (Captain Kelly), he now presents Click on BBC News.
Which presumably is this plane, operated by Metro Travel
Metro Networks (which became Trafficlink, and now Inrix) had a number of planes across the country in the mid to late 90s from which they would broadcast several stations’ travel bulletins.
The trouble was, because the different bulletins were often very close together, they regularly weren’t where they said they were. If you tuned around you could often hear the same reporter claiming to be looking down on, say, Bradford, and then three minutes later hear them apparently over York or Doncaster. Given the planes weren’t exactly Concorde, I think it’s safe to say there were some porkie-pies being told.
Having said that, it’s better than the story I was told of one ILR station in the 80s whose travel helicopter was a bloke in the next-door studio shouting into a mic with a helicopter sound effect in the background. Apparently they’d occasionally cut the studio output briefly mid-bulletin to give the impression that live link had dropped, for added authenticity.
I love the contrast of this compared to what they do in the US. You couldn’t get any more British.
Ocean/Power FM's plane had Spencer Kelly as the reporter (Captain Kelly), he now presents Click on BBC News.
Which presumably is this plane, operated by Metro Travel
Metro Networks (which became Trafficlink, and now Inrix) had a number of planes across the country in the mid to late 90s from which they would broadcast several stations’ travel bulletins.
The trouble was, because the different bulletins were often very close together, they regularly weren’t where they said they were. If you tuned around you could often hear the same reporter claiming to be looking down on, say, Bradford, and then three minutes later hear them apparently over York or Doncaster. Given the planes weren’t exactly Concorde, I think it’s safe to say there were some porkie-pies being told.
Having said that, it’s better than the story I was told of one ILR station in the 80s whose travel helicopter was a bloke in the next-door studio shouting into a mic with a helicopter sound effect in the background. Apparently they’d occasionally cut the studio output briefly mid-bulletin to give the impression that live link had dropped, for added authenticity.
I love the contrast of this compared to what they do in the US. You couldn’t get any more British.
MA
I love the contrast of this compared to what they do in the US. You couldn’t get any more British.
You couldn't, though I suspect we're not the only country to have done it !
I love the contrast of this compared to what they do in the US. You couldn’t get any more British.
You couldn't, though I suspect we're not the only country to have done it !
EL
What a great project. I do ADS-B stuff sometimes so this marries perfectly with my love of broadcast stuff.
PS: I'm British but I love watching US chopper coverage - not just chases. And to be brutally honest the amount of times I've seen a chase where it could be charitably described as showing off for the cameras could be counted on less than one hand.
PS: I'm British but I love watching US chopper coverage - not just chases. And to be brutally honest the amount of times I've seen a chase where it could be charitably described as showing off for the cameras could be counted on less than one hand.
SP
I think a lot of radio stations liked having an Eye In The Sky or Flying Eye because they thought it made them sound ‘big’ having ‘their own plane’ and afforded their travel news a certain amount of (misplaced) credibility. Given travel bulletins in ILR are usually sponsored anyway, I don’t think there was much of a commercial advantage, although it might have made it a sexier sell to advertisers.
It was a gimmick that companies would pay to sponsor
I think a lot of radio stations liked having an Eye In The Sky or Flying Eye because they thought it made them sound ‘big’ having ‘their own plane’ and afforded their travel news a certain amount of (misplaced) credibility. Given travel bulletins in ILR are usually sponsored anyway, I don’t think there was much of a commercial advantage, although it might have made it a sexier sell to advertisers.
MO
I was curious as to why there was no chopper coverage during the Deadly Nashville Tornado disaster. WTVF NewsChannel5 touts their chopper prominently on air. But it was notibly absent during their coverage. Well apparently it was destroyed inside its hanger during the tornado when the airport was completely destroyed.
One of the pics you can see the chopper crushed inside the hanger.
One of the pics you can see the chopper crushed inside the hanger.
Heartbreaking view over John C Tune Airport. You can see the burn marks from where the fuel truck explosion happened. And, you can see in the rubble of our hanger Sky 5. We are using a loaner chopper because of this. #NashvilleTornado @NC5 #NC5 pic.twitter.com/Im7YTunhx4
— Henry Rothenberg (@HenryRothenberg) March 4, 2020
RK
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
The completely destroyed NewsChannel5 (Nashville) helicopter.
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
DO
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
The completely destroyed NewsChannel5 (Nashville) helicopter.
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
MA
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
Quite! Although it's common for components from minor aircraft crashes to be reused, (so this would be the same category), after a great deal of assessment.
If you look up the age of many helicopters they are decades old, but of course it's a case of Trigger's Broom
The completely destroyed NewsChannel5 (Nashville) helicopter.
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
Quite! Although it's common for components from minor aircraft crashes to be reused, (so this would be the same category), after a great deal of assessment.
If you look up the age of many helicopters they are decades old, but of course it's a case of Trigger's Broom
RK
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
Quite! Although it's common for components from minor aircraft crashes to be reused, (so this would be the same category), after a great deal of assessment.
If you look up the age of many helicopters they are decades old, but of course it's a case of Trigger's Broom
Well this one was from 1982, so I think most of it’s a write off. Maybe some of the broadcast equipment could be salvageable if it wasn’t exposed to rain. It looks like the main cabin probably was exposed to rain but perhaps were a lot of the broadcast equipment racks were saved.
I’d like to see how much they can salvage? Maybe the equipment inside the helicopter it looks like the central part of the hull withstood damage. It appears the tail and the front seating area was damaged pretty bad.
Why would you bother trying? Just claim it all on insurance. You wouldn't want to trust it not to fail after what's already happened to it.
Quite! Although it's common for components from minor aircraft crashes to be reused, (so this would be the same category), after a great deal of assessment.
If you look up the age of many helicopters they are decades old, but of course it's a case of Trigger's Broom
Well this one was from 1982, so I think most of it’s a write off. Maybe some of the broadcast equipment could be salvageable if it wasn’t exposed to rain. It looks like the main cabin probably was exposed to rain but perhaps were a lot of the broadcast equipment racks were saved.