VAN NUYS : Media Urged to Pool Copter News Reports

Consensus appears to be growing among some residents living near Van Nuys Airport, law enforcement and the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council that the media should practice pool coverage when monitoring news and traffic.

The idea would be to improve helicopter safety and reduce noise.

The council could send a letter recommending the pool system to the Board of Airport Commissioners, which could pass on the recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration--the only agency with authority to effect change--said Sandor L. Winger, chairman of the council, in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Neighbors’ complaints about aircraft noise have plagued the airport for years. In the past few months, homeowner activists have proposed altitude minimums for helicopters, and distributed leaflets encouraging people to call in noise complaints to Van Nuys and Burbank airports.

The council could also recommend that the board join with the Los Angeles Police Department to have the media voluntarily accept pool coverage, Winger said.

Under a pool system, one or a small number of news crews would be responsible for getting video, news photos or information and distributing it to other media organizations.

At the council’s meeting last week, members appeared willing to take some action on the issue. If they are successful, there would be large-scale ramifications on media organizations’ news-gathering operations.

Tom Paterson, a member of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn., asked the council to pass a motion recommending a helicopter-pool system, and requested that it ask the City Council to get involved.

“I would love for them to pool,” said Capt. Tim McBride, commander of the LAPD’s air support division. “We are not that far away from a conflagration.”

McBride described a recent incident in which police helicopters were pursuing a suspect. When media choppers took up the chase, an LAPD helicopter had to be deployed just to control air traffic, McBride said.

Media and helicopter companies say they are strongly opposed to the idea.

“We would not be willing to be part of a pool situation,” said Jeff Wald, news director for KCOP Channel 13. “We are all fierce competitors--we are trying to get the best story to our viewers. Even though there may be eight or nine helicopters over a chase, our pilots are very professional. They’re very used to dealing with incidents of this nature.”

Winger said he personally did not believe a pool system would work for traffic reporting--but only during blockbuster news events during which many helicopters could be expected to converge on one site.