"The Nicaraguan Air Force was celebrating it's 20th anniversary. The
usual fly by of all their helicopters. Huge crowd including family and
friends of the pilots. The Nicaraguans fly these big Russian choppers.
A flight of eight are coming in front of the grandstands in tight formation.
The first pair go by and the remaining group makes a great wide shot
so I pan over and frame up. A split second later over the roar of the
choppers, we hear a loud popping sound. The plan was for the choppers
to split in different directions after passing the grand stands. One
heads right, the other left. The two lead choppers somehow ended up
hitting each others main rotor blades.
Chopper on the left makes the fastest emergency landing I've ever seen.
The one on the right cranks up his engine and gains altitude. I'd never
seen a chopper climb so fast that it actually forced it's main rotor
into the tail section. He got to about a thousand feet and his tail
is cut off and the chopper starts a death spiral. At one point the crew
is able to see their seperated rotor section in front of their chopper
as the main body twists over and spins toward the ground. Leaking fuel
and hydraulic fluid ignite in a matter of seconds turning the whole
mess into a fireball. The whole thing craters into the ground with a
loud whump. People in the stands are in shock for a moment and then
the whole crowd takes off for the crash site.
Family and friends have gone from feelings of pride and happiness to
horror. Reminded me of the stuff I saw from the Challenger disaster.
In a matter of minutes the crash site is crawling with military, civilians
and camera crews. None of the three man crew survived. I'm kicking myself
for missing the initial impact. One of those times you try not to let
your emotions run wild. Just focus on shooting tape. Those of us in
the international media know we've got satellite material. We can get
dubs of the search activity from the locals. Only my buddy from Reuters
and I make it out of the airport before they seal it up. No entrance
or exit for anyone. We are busting to get to the feed point. Cell phone
is burning up as we race through the streets of Managua to reach the
one and only earth station.
To shorten the story, we make our feeds. All the stations here are wall
to wall with coverage of the crash. Only one shooter got the shot of
the two choppers hitting blades. The station had an exclusive and everyone
was dying for the tape. We all had the tail seperation and death spiral
but no one had stayed with the two lead choppers except for one guy.
He got great stuff but the moment his station aired it, a competing
station in town shot the video off the tv screen and started airing
it themselves! What a bunch of thieves! Then they had the gall to say
they had every right to use the video becuase it was a big story. Copyright
laws in this country don't exist yet. The papers have been slamming
the station that stole the video. I can just imagine the lawsuits it
would have generated in the states. Got to go. We've got volcanoes erupting
and they've started evacuating 35 villages. Just another day shooting
news tape in the Third World."
More
Photog "Whatchashoot" Stories
-"Would
you ever stop shooting video to help at a scene"
"I had been on scene for 10 mins when a fireman
yells: "There's someone under this van! We gotta move this thing!"
There was no tow truck around. I was standing about 10 feet from the
van" More...
-My
Nightmare
"Come to find out a cop had been shot as well,
they killed a guy, and MY CAMERA ISN'T WORKING!!!"
-Aussie Gunplay
"The gunman turned away from us and walked
the other way up the street. PUT THE GUN DOWN! He started to raise
one of the guns he had and... CRACK CRACK CRACK......"
-Flooded Fido
"It was weird doing the breast stroke and
occassionally feeling your foot hit a car's roof or antenna."
-Deer Me
"Just as I pass the deer, it is coming back
into my headlights, WHOOOOAAAA! "
-"I watched a guy die today"
"I see a head move, then a hand. Both slightly
stained with blood, but not much. I figure the guy is coming too and
basically waking up from his drunk. Not the case.. he was gasping
for air."
