Airborne Support Indispensable to Keep You Moving

I would like to give you another point of view on media helicopters at Van Nuys Airport from that expressed in “Noise, Not Information, Is the Target” by Gerald A. Silver and Myrna L. Silver (Valley Perspective, July 2).

Airborne support (helicopter and fixed-wing) is indispensable. Without it, there is no accuracy and, more importantly, no way of giving you--the person who is about to go to work or take your child to school--a viable alternate around traffic problems and keep you moving.

The Silvers write about “50 or more” helicopters taking flight at 5 a.m. In reality, TV stations KCBS, KTLA, KABC and KTTV leave at staggered times between 5 and 5:45 a.m. and, depending on weather and wind, try to use different departure routes.

Radio stations KFWB and KABC, with some back-seat reporters working for other radio stations, each run a helicopter. KFWB departs at 5:50 a.m. from the southeast corner of the field. KABC departs from the northwest corner about 6 a.m. KNBC and KCAL television work out of Burbank most of the time.

One other helicopter supporting Air Watch in Orange County leaves from Van Nuys about 6 a.m. During TV sweeps periods, three other helicopters will work. So there are actually seven helicopters on a daily basis, 10 during TV sweeps, all using different departures from 5 to 6 a.m.

All crews are very aware of the noise-sensitive area we work from. As a matter of fact, I live in the flight path of departing and arriving helicopters at Van Nuys Airport, so I assure you that I am very sensitive to this issue.

Regarding Caltrans, yes, the agency has an incredible operations center that offers traffic information to the media and general public. It includes cameras, sensors and all types of technologies, plus a highly experienced staff to put it all together and make it work.

However, it is only a part of the traffic reporting system. Caltrans gets reports of problems from many sources: the California Highway Patrol, 911 calls, fire departments and paramedics, the Freeway Service Patrol, other police agencies, and city and county sources. The problem is, the initial report is subject to a time delay before it is responded to and checked out. You just don’t know what the problem is unless you see it, and doing that from aircraft is the fastest and most accurate way of reporting traffic problems.

Yes, we are often dispatched to reported problems from the Caltrans Operations Center and CHP via our desks and producers, but a lot of the time, the problem is not where it was reported, it’s more serious, not as serious or doesn’t exist at all.

How many times have you been driving around and listened to a studio traffic reporter tell you to watch out for the couch in the fast lane or the crash in the two right lanes only to drive by that spot and see no problem at all? That reporter is reading material from sources without airborne support.

Helicopter reporters find and report to various agencies crashes that no one knew about. Thanks to airborne reporters, lives are sometimes saved. We have all helped police, fire and other emergency services reach the correct location. That requires a good knowledge of available freeways and surface streets, and the ability to see if alternative routes are going to work. Airborne reporting is the only way to do that.

The next time the drivers of a car and a truck loaded with lettuce collide, leaving the eastbound Ventura Freeway closed at the 405 in Sherman Oaks, it will be reporters in helicopters and other aircraft who will let you know which routes are better than others. Only we can see if Ventura Boulevard is just as bad or if Vanowen Street is better than Victory Boulevard.

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It was my colleagues and I who warned you not to drive through the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. And it was we who pleaded with you to stop immediately if you where about to drive through the Newhall Pass the morning of the Northridge earthquake because of collapsed freeways.

I once received a letter from a mom who said that if it wasn’t for me, she would have never been able to pick up her kids the night that a truck crashed through a center divider on the Hollywood Freeway near Universal Studios, causing massive gridlock.

Before you leave your home, check your TV or radio traffic report, the one with airborne support. Once in your car, stick to your favorite radio traffic reporters. Don’t work while you drive, drive to work.