NTSB starts probe into helicopters’ crash

PHOENIX—A National Transportation Safety Board team began its investigation Saturday of a collision of two news helicopters that killed four people, combing the debris field and beginning its search for witnesses.

Investigators will spend several days reviewing the scene maintenance records for the helicopters and will look at whether the pilots followed Federal Aviation Administration regulations, said NTSB board member Steve R. Chealander.

“Aviation accidents are very complex and we have to look into every aspect of it, and it is never quite what it seems,” said Chealander.

Both helicopters from local TV stations went down in a grassy park in central Phoenix on Friday while covering a police chase on live television. No one on the ground was hurt.

TV viewers did not witness the accident because cameras aboard both aircraft were pointed at the ground, but they saw video from one of the helicopters break up and begin to spin before the station abruptly switched to the studio.

Killed on board the KTVK helicopter were pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox. On board the KNXV aircraft were reporter-pilot Craig Smith and photographer Rick Krolak. No one on the ground was injured.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilots of the five news helicopters and one police chopper over the chase were not talking to air traffic controllers at the time, which is normal.

Chealander said investigators will move as quickly as possible “but we don’t want to miss anything.”