On-Air death
Jonathan
radio station in New York or some other large U.S. city, who died on the air
reporting the scene when his helicopter lost power and crashed. I couldn't
find anything in the FAQ, snopes, or dejanews. Anybody ever hear this one?
Jonathan
Guarnot
Your friend is probably thinking of Jane Dornacker, who died on-air when her
helicopter crashed in Oct., 1986. She had moved to NYC and started work as a
traffic reporter after becoming well-known in San Francisco as a comedian,
radio personality and (this part I didn't remember; I just saw it on the Web,
which means: it might be wrong) songwriter for "Don't Touch Me There,"
recorded by The Tubes. (Maybe you have to be really old to remember this
anyway.)
I just did a web search under her name to confirm my faulty memory, and
discovered that you can find some discussion of this sad incident by going to:
http://musicradio.computer.net/wwwboard
/messages/1720.html
*and* even find the official NTSB report by going to:
http://www.ntsb.gov/Aviation/NYC/
87A024.htm
Stephen Suffet
>
> A friend told me the other day that there once was a traffic reporter for a
> radio station in New York or some other large U.S. city, who died on the air
> reporting the scene when his helicopter lost power and crashed. I couldn't
> find anything in the FAQ, snopes, or dejanews. Anybody ever hear this one?
>
> Jonathan
Jane Dornacker (spelling)
WNBC in New York City
John Foote
few years ago, possibly three, a radio traffic 'copter crashed (I think it
crashed with a tourist 'copter) and at least one person, the radio
announcer, was killed. You can search one of the local news websites, try
www.wivb.com
Jonathan wrote in message <74kkbk$l...@news.service.uci.edu>...
Fireball Snedeker
>Your friend is probably thinking of Jane Dornacker, who died on-air when her
>helicopter crashed in Oct., 1986. She had moved to NYC and started work as a
>traffic reporter after becoming well-known in San Francisco as a comedian,
Great signal, Guarnot.
I was living in Trumbull, Connecticut at the time this accident occured
and listened to the NYC radio stations and traffic reports every day.
They used to call her "Jane-in-a-plane", and she'd give bulletins based on
aerial views of city streets. One afternoon I was driving home, and
I heard that there was a bad traffic jam in one area of NYC. As more
and more details came out, the reporter read them over the radio.
In one report they explained that it was caused by a helicopter crash.
Alert listeners noted that they didn't have their regular aerial
bulletins. Pretty soon the news came out that it was the traffic copter
that had crashed. That felt pretty weird, like watching a fire station
on fire or something.
The crash was caused by a maintenance worker who did a very poor job
of replacing the clutch on the helicopter. He "mixed'n'matched" parts.
He was eventually tried, and I believe sentenced to time in the Big House.
Other listeners started a college fund for Jane (a single parent)
Dornacker's daughter who was aged 14 when her mother died. She must
have long ago been through college and graduated. Jane Dornacker had
a distinctive, raspy voice, and it shook at lot of people at the time.
It was like Lady Di's death -- if someone that well known can just up
and die, then anyone can, it seemed to say.
Brian B. Rodenborn
Guarnot <gua...@aol.com> wrote:
>>A friend told me the other day that there once was a traffic reporter for a
>>radio station in New York or some other large U.S. city, who died on the air
>>reporting the scene when his helicopter lost power and crashed. I couldn't
>>find anything in the FAQ, snopes, or dejanews. Anybody ever hear this one?
>>
>
>helicopter crashed in Oct., 1986.
[snipped due to trn's firm resolve in requiring more new than quoted]
In searching around on the web, I turned up a page with a brief recap,
plus a .wav file of her final report. Some may think it morbid, but yes
I had to listen to it. I'll let each individual make up their own mind
by posting the web site:
Richard Brandt
> Your friend is probably thinking of Jane Dornacker, who died on-air when her
> traffic reporter after becoming well-known in San Francisco as a comedian,
> which means: it might be wrong) songwriter for "Don't Touch Me There,"
> recorded by The Tubes. (Maybe you have to be really old to remember this
> anyway.)
According to http://www.pacificnet.net/~datalus/tubes/dtmtlyr.htm,
which is a fan-run archives of Tubes lyrics, "Don't Touch Me
There" is credited to "Nagle/Doornacker", so it's possible.
Can't explain the variant spelling however.
Another search told me that "Jan Dornacker" played the formidable
Nurse Murch in THE RIGHT STUFF. Director Philip Kaufman recruited
some San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers for that film so it's another
distinct possibility.
--
==Richard Brandt is at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8720==
"People have been known to learn to fly these machines with no
assistance from commercial airlines, and could in fact fly a
cooler of motel chitlin's anywhere in the country." -- Philo
JB
>
> A friend told me the other day that there once was a traffic reporter for a
> radio station in New York or some other large U.S. city, who died on the air
> reporting the scene when his helicopter lost power and crashed. I couldn't
> find anything in the FAQ, snopes, or dejanews. Anybody ever hear this one?
>
Francis Gary Powers died flying a news/traffic helicopter in Los Angeles
in 1977. Powers was the spy-in-the-sky U-2 pilot who was shot down over
the USSR, publicly tried and imprisoned there, later released. --JB
Stephen Suffet
Greetings:
Jane Dornacker died on air when her WNBC (AM Radio Station) N-
Copter's transmission froze and the chopper fell into the East River
in New York City. I believe the year was 1986, but I might be off by a
year or two.
Shock-Jock Howard Stern was working on WNBC at the time, and he
used to give Jane a really hard time by making stupid jokes about her
last name. I don't recall Stern ever making any comments whatsoever
after Jane died.
Regards,
Steve
Andy Walton
("Fireball" Snedeker) wrote:
:if someone that well known can just up and die
It's not the down that's the problem, not the up.
--
"I have the heart of a small boy -- and I keep it in a jar on my desk."
-- Stephen King
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Walton * att...@mindspring.com * http://atticus.home.mindspring.com/
Brian B. Rodenborn
Richard Brandt <af...@rgfn.epcc.edu> wrote:
>
>Another search told me that "Jan Dornacker" played the formidable
>Nurse Murch in THE RIGHT STUFF. Director Philip Kaufman recruited
>some San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers for that film so it's another
>distinct possibility.
>--
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Dornacker,+Jane
JoAnne Schmitz
> Jane Dornacker died on air when her WNBC (AM Radio Station) N-
>Copter's transmission froze and the chopper fell into the East River
>in New York City. I believe the year was 1986, but I might be off by a
>year or two.
>
> Shock-Jock Howard Stern was working on WNBC at the time, and he
>used to give Jane a really hard time by making stupid jokes about her
>last name. I don't recall Stern ever making any comments whatsoever
>after Jane died.
According to several reports I see in DejaNews, Stern was no longer at WNBC when
this happened; he had just left. And whether he made fun of Dornacker's name I
don't know, but the previous helicopter traffic woman, Donna Fiducia, was
treated to the name "Donna Fa-douchebag." Again, all reportedly; I've never
lived in New York.
JoAnne "bababooey" Schmitz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Stephen Suffet
>
> According to several reports I see in DejaNews, Stern was no longer
> at WNBC when this happened; he had just left. And whether he made
> fun of Dornacker's name I don't know, but the previous helicopter
> traffic woman, Donna Fiducia, was treated to the name "Donna
> Fa-douchebag." Again, all reportedly; I've never lived in New York.
>
> JoAnne "bababooey" Schmitz
>
Greetings:
JoAnne might be right that Stern had already left WNBC by the
time of Jane Dornacker's fatal crash. I don't recall his having made
any remarks after the accident.
I do remember Stern giving both Jane and Donna a really hard time
about their names. And JoAnne is certainly correct about Stern's
"Donna Fa-Douchebag" remarks. (I did, and still do, live in New York
City.)
----Steve