PHOENIX — It’s been 19 years since Phoenix lost four journalists while they were covering the news.
On July 27, 2007, the helicopters from ABC15 and 3TV collided while reporting above a police chase in central Phoenix.
At 12:46 p.m. that day, both helicopters went down in Steele Indian School Park, killing ABC15’s Craig Smith and Rick Krolak, and 3TV’s Scott Bowerbank and Jim Cox.
In the years since that day, covering the news has changed in Phoenix – and many of those changes are a direct result of what happened on July 27.
Pilots no longer report the news while flying the aircraft, and new technology like long-range camera lenses has meant the helicopters can stay at safer distances when covering stories.
While there were five TV news helicopters flying above Phoenix in 2007, the Phoenix TV stations now share one helicopter.
Want more news in your community? Add ABC15 as a preferred source on Google below:
