page_title: Phoenix news helicopter collision
section_title: Aftermath and investigation
hierarchical_section_title: Phoenix news helicopter collision / Aftermath and investigation
caption_attribution_description: English: At Mactan-Cebu International Airport
context_page_description: On July 27, 2007, two AS-350 AStar helicopters from television stations KNXV-TV and KTVK collided in mid-air over Phoenix, Arizona, while covering a police pursuit. On board the two aircraft were four people in total – a pilot and a photographer in each helicopter – all of whom were killed, while no casualties were reported on the ground.
context_section_description: The collision was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which concluded that "...the probable cause of this accident was both pilots' failure to see and avoid the other helicopter. Contributing to this failure was the pilots' responsibility to perform reporting and visual tracking duties to support their station's electronic news gathering (ENG) operation. Contributing to the accident was the lack of formal procedures for Phoenix-area ENG pilots to follow regarding the conduct of these operations."
  The day of the accident, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris brought up the possibility that the suspect in the chase the two helicopters were covering could "be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy". However, in 2010, when the suspect pleaded guilty to 35 crimes stemming from the 2007 police chase, he was not charged with the deaths of the helicopter occupants.
  Two years after the accident, the families of pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox announced that a settlement for an undisclosed amount was agreed to with US Helicopters, the owners of the Channel 15 helicopter. Both legal teams released a video reconstructing details of the accident. The footage shows the Channel 3 (KTVK) helicopter being struck from behind by the Channel 15 (KNXV) helicopter.
caption: An AS350 news helicopter of ABS-CBN network, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
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