Name calling doesn't do anyone any good. Have you read the NTSB report on the crash and determined in the absence of any other information decided that both dead pilots were idiots? Do you know that there was not a malfunction in one of the copters?Those guys were friggin idiots! So worried about TV ratings. What if the pieces of those copters landed on a school! If anything, the FAA should be cracking down on those types of idiot pilots.
Because the location was very close to the Phoenix Airport, the pilots had to get permission from the Phoenix tower.
At 12:23 p.m. a police helicopter gained permission to enter air space at 1,800 feet over the downtown Phoenix area in response to the car jacking and the ensuing police car chase.
Three minutes later, Channel 15 [one of the crashed copters] obtained permission to enter the same air space – at 2,000 feet. Within 30 seconds, Channel 12’s helicopter came in at 2,500 feet.
At 12:34, a new controller came on duty at the Sky Harbor control tower. Less than a minute later, the Channel 5 chopper joined the media frenzy at 2,200 feet. Channel 3 [the other copter in the crash] was also en route, just 70 seconds behind.
At 12:44, the Channel 10 helicopter joined the chopper swarm and less than two minutes later reported a mid-air collision.
Five news helicopters were covering the story. Some were on air at the time. They were all using Sharp Echo, a system that required them to use one frequency, to communicate changes in position or intentions.
Could the ATC controller change 2-minutes and 10 seconds before the collision be a factor?
There's a lot of factors to be considered before you call both pilots "friggin idiots". So, just what is the FAA supposed to crack down on?