Existing comment:
Chopper News:
News organizations used helicopters to cover the news as early as the late 1940s. Their use in news gathering increased in succeeding decades -- particularly at television and radio stations -- because a camera-equipped helicopter can cover a wider area far more quickly than a satellite truck. Images from early TV helicopters were usually jittery and sometimes blurred because the hand-held video cameras were bulky and heavy. Today, lightweight, gyrostabilized cameras provide clear, high-quality pictures. Bell JetRangers like the one above are among the world's most popular news helicopters. They were introduced in 1967 and have a range of about 420 miles at a maximum speed of about 130 mph. More than 4,000 JetRanger IIIs have been built to date. This 206B JetRanger III has been painted to replicate one used in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by NBC5.KXAS-TV. |