Veteran NYC Pilot/Reporter Leaves Station
Rotorhead
He was actually on the air broadcasting when he
> went down as was the reporter on the Spectrum Enstrom (Oct. 22, 1986). In the
> middle of a traffic report during evening rush hour you can hear in the
> background the sickening sound of a mechanical failure and the reporter
> screaming "Hit the water! Hit the water". Unfortunately they hit a chain link
> fence before flipping into the river. It was later found a faulty clutch had
> been installed in the F-28.
The traffic reporter was Jane Dornacker. She went to NY after a very
successful stint at KFRC in San Francisco. She also had a part in the
movie "The Right Stuff." She played the nurse who was putting the
astronaut candidates through all the strange tests.
BTW, the ranks of the personality based radio traffic pilot reporters
are becoming less and less with Metro/Shadow becoming more dominant. In
the market where I previously worked, you'd hear the same voices with
different names on several stations. Ironically, the top station
employs two pilot reporters with their own planes and is head and
shoulders above the competition in the ratings. With so few companies
owning so many radio stations, the bottom line becomes ever more
important, sometimes at the cost of good people and programing.
Dann
Micbloo
Veteran radio traffic reporter Neil Busch has left WCBS/880AM after he and
the station failed to reach agreement on a new contract. Busch, who has been
providing helicopter coverage for the station since 1967 was the last
independant traffic reporter in the NY area. He owned his own aircraft (N880AM)
and had an exclusive agreement with WCBS.
Buschs departure is the latest chapter in which local stations have
relinquished their own news staff in exchange for services provided by outside
firms such as Shadow Traffic and Metro Traffic. Both Shadow and Metro do not
charge stations for their work; their revenue comes from commercials sold
during the traffic or weather reports.
Buschs contract, which included the use of the helicopter and a co-pilot cost
nearly $1 million annually. Busch will be replaced by another veteran copter
pilot, Tom Kaminsky who flew afternoon for the station. Kaminsky, a CBS
employee, will fly a helicopter provided by Shadow Traffic. WCBS offered to let
Busch continue to work, flying in the Shadow helicopter but he declined. A
spokesperson for WCBS said, "the bottom line is, we are moving from Neils
chopper to our own companys chopper to save a huge amount of money, and sadly,
Neil goes with his chopper".
Busch could not be reached for comment as of last Friday.
(Thanks to NY Newsday Peter Goodman who wrote this article).
From my own experience (late 70s, early 80s), I remember the WCBS newscopter
being hangared at the East 60st Heliport and every morning he would go
airborne quite early for his reports. The heliport didnt open until 8AM but
Neil was allowed to take-off earlier. Those were the days before NIMBY and
noise coalitions.Neil shared flying time with another veteran pilot, now
retired from WCBS-Am, Lou Timalot. They had a number of Bell 47s they used
over the years. Eventually they went turbine to a Hughes 500 and then moved the
operations to the Ridgefield Park Heliport in NJ (probably because the
neighbors NOW didnt appreciate the early morning departures). Back in those
days there were no sophisticated ENG ships. If a big story broke the TV
stations would call a local charter company, rush a film crew to one of the
heliports, take off a door, strap in the camerman and off they go. The good 'ol
days of shaky cam.
CBS with the 47s, WOR-AM with a JetRanger and WNBC-AM with their Enstroms
were the only game in town back then. Eventually a series of accidents, one
fatal to a reporter when the Enstrom plunged into the Hudson River, caused WNBC
to forgo its news/traffic copter. Spectrum Helicopters, who flew the Enstroms,
were later accused of faulty maintenance procedures amongst other things and
eventually went out of business after the FAA shut them down. WOR-AM some
years back decided their copter was too expensive to operate and they disbanded
their operation. They went the Metro/Shadow route. WCBS then started using that
copter, a JetRanger, and stop using the 500, though up until now I didnt know
that Neil Busch had bought the ship himself. WOR had been flying traffic
copters for as long as WCBS, maybe longer. They had some pilots with them that
flew for YEARS, I only wish I can remember their names (help). In fact I think
one of them left WOR to start Shadow Traffic.
Sadly I remember they had a fatal accident in one of their Bell 47s. A rainy
Friday night, sometime in the 60s, and the copter went down in the Astoria
section of Queens by the East River. Crashed into a building killing the pilot
aboard but the pilot was a hero to the end steering the wounded helo away from
huge gas tanks in the area. He was actually on the air broadcasting when he
went down as was the reporter on the Spectrum Enstrom (Oct. 22, 1986). In the
middle of a traffic report during evening rush hour you can hear in the
background the sickening sound of a mechanical failure and the reporter
screaming "Hit the water! Hit the water". Unfortunately they hit a chain link
fence before flipping into the river. It was later found a faulty clutch had
been installed in the F-28.
Nowadays we have zoom lens, 360 rotating, FLIR equipped, microwave linked
super ENG ships. Here in NY we have three AStars and two LongRangers so
equipped. But sometimes I miss the sound of the bubble-top Bell 47s prowling
the sky at day break.
Gerard
Staats
snipped...
..a lot of nice stuff about Lou Timalot, whom i listened to for years,
as well...
...but, the devil is in the details...
> Unfortunately they hit a chain link fence before flipping into the river.
>It was later found a faulty clutch had been installed in the F-28.
..it was actually the WRONG clutch, one intended for the lower powered
(i believe the non-turbocharged) version of the Enstrom, which was
installed, and which failed 26 flight hours after the installation.
al staats
Micbloo
Yup.
According to the NTSB report, an unauthorized overhauled clutch!!
Yikes!!!!
Gerard
Micbloo
>are becoming less and less
Yeah, like I mentioned, the WOR-AM station had a few pilots and everyone knew
them. Ah, George Meade was one (just came to me).
Nowadays, the only people getting the credit in the TV ENGS are the "talking
head" reporters. The pilots name is given as almost an after-thought. At least
in NYC.
Gerard